Pearl-bordered Fritillary Sites in Dumfries & Galloway requiring surveys in 2011

There are a number of sites in Dumfries and Galloway and one at the southern tip of South Ayrshire 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).

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 2011, 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.

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

2010 Pearl-bordered Fritillary records are in blue and pre-2010 records in red.

Site Name	Compartment Name	Last Record	Last Visit	Grid Reference (Click for OS map)
Dalbeattie	Kippford	1995	1995	NX838545
Dalbeattie	Lot's Wife	2000	2000	NX908558
Dalbeattie	Barcloy Hill	1997	2004	NX870550
Dalbeattie	Laggan	2000	2003	NX8956
Dalbeattie	Southwick	1980	1980	NX9057
Dalbeattie	Drumstinchall Moss	2010	2010	NX885593
Mabie Forest*	Lochbank Hill	2010	2010	NX9269/NX9270
Mabie Forest	Lochanhead	1992	1992	NX9171
Mabie Forest	Mabie House	2010	2010	NX9471/NX9470
Mabie Forest	Auchenfad Hill	2010	2010	NX944697
Castle Douglas	Kissock Forest	1998	1998	NX907681
Castle Douglas	Castramont Woods	1997	1997	NX5960
Castle Douglas	Loch Stroan	1978	1978	NX6470
Dumfries	Dalswinton	1999	1999	NX9387
Forest of Ae	Ae Village	1995	1995	NX989893
Dalry	Hannaston Glen	1978	1978	NX5982
Moniaive	Scaur Water	1978	1978	NX8096
Moniaive	Craigdarroch Wood	1978	1978	NX7491
Barrhill	Feoch Meadows	1993	1993	NX267821