Pearl-bordered Fritillary Sites in South Aberdeenshire requiring surveys in 2011

There are 18 sites in Aberdeenshire where the last record of Pearl-bordered Fritillary is prior to 2003. Volunteers are needed to visit these sites in 2011 to confirm that Pearl-bordered Fritillary is still present.

The map below shows these sites and if you place your mouse over the site name, the name and date of last Pearl-bordered Fritillary record will appear in a little window and if you click on the site name, a 2 X 2 km square OS map of the site area will open in a new window. These maps can be printed out and taken out into the field (you will also need the relevant OS map). Not all 18 site names are shown on the map below owing to lack of space where sites are close together but there are 18 red dots- all sites are listed in the Table below.

The Table below the map shows more information. Sites close together have been given a common site name and the individual names shown on the maps are called compartment names. Date of last record relates to the most recent year in which Pearl-bordered Fritillary was recorded here whereas date of last visit relates to the year in which someone last visited the site. These two dates will differ where the last visit failed to record Pearl-bordered Fritillary. This does not mean that Pearl-bordered Fritillary is no longer present here, it may be that the weather was poor or the timing of the visit was not ideal. Such sites need further visits to confirm whether or not Pearl-bordered Fritillary is present.

If you are able to visit one or more sites in 2010, it would be appreciated if you could complete a Pearl-Bordered Fritillary Timed Count Sheet for each site which records some details of habitat characteristics such as abundance of Dog Violet & Bugle as well as numbers of butterflies. This form should also be used to note down whether any management of the site is required. There are two main issues to look out for:

• scrub regeneration - Pearl-bordered Fritillary requires open sunny habitats so developing scrub needs to be removed before new woodland shades out the site.
• dense bracken litter - while some bracken litter is an essential component of a Pearl-bordered Fritillary habitat, too much litter smothers both the foodplant, dog violet and nectaring plants. Most sites are bound to have some areas of dense bracken litter which won't be problem but where a high proportion of the site has dense bracken litter, management will be required to make the site more favourable for Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

And please remember to record any other butterflies that you come across.

The ideal way of recording Pearl-bordered Fritillary numbers and distribution is with a GPS device. There are some relatively inexpensive models available eg Garmin eTrex Venture is £122.20 from Amazon.co.uk and can store the positions of up to 500 butterflies with Waymarks. Data is then downloaded onto a computer using software provided with the GPS device.

Taking photographs of sites with a digital camera is a great way of providing information on the state of a site. A photograph must be linked to a grid reference, site and date, so please record these data in a long descriptive file name and

Click here for a printable word document of the map and table of sites below.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary sites in South Aberdeenshire: 2010 records in blue, pre-2010 records in red.

Site Name	Compartment Name	Last Record	Last Visit	Grid Reference (Click for OS map)
Muir of Dinnet	Dinnet	1983	1983	NO463990
Muir of Dinnet	Loch Davan	1993	1993	NJ4501
Muir of Dinnet	Lochead	1968	1968	NJ425011
Ballater	Pass of Ballater	1998	1998	NO366972
Ballater	Glen Muick	1981	1981	NO333895
Mar Lodge	Creag Phadruig	1998	1998	NO054896
Mar Lodge	Doire Bhraghad	1998	1998	NO066911
Mar Lodge	Glen Luibeg	1998	1998	NO021937
Mar Lodge	Glen Derry	1998	1998	NO043943
Mar Lodge	Clais Fhearnaig	2002	2002	NO063930
Mar Lodge	Glen Ey	2002	2002	NO087883
Balmoral	Crathie Wood	1969	1969	NO2795
Balmoral	Balmoral Castle	1970	1970	NO2595
Balmoral	Morrone Birkwood	1997	1997	NO1390
Balmoral	Alltdourie Farm	1995	1995	NO158934
Glendoll	Glendoll Forest	1997	1997	NO269760
Banchory	Banchory	1981	1981	NO6996
Banchory	Potarch	1993	1993	NO5997