Map of area covered for records
Butterfly Survey 1976-2025
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary m
Dark Green Fritillary f
Wingspan - 60 mm
The Dark Green Fritillary is one of the UK's most beautiful larger butterflies and is to be found widespread on the downland ridge from Eynsford and Shoreham through to Otford and Kemsing, and on the other side of the valley on the Lullingstone Golf Course. It is also present in High Elms. The flashing golden appearance and direct flight is unmistakable where the male butterfly is found seeking a mate among the tall grasses and wild flowers, which can include various species of violet, the butterflie's chosen foodplant.
The first time I discovered the central range of this butterfly was following a tumble from my racing cycle on the road overlooking Castle Farm, below Preston Hill. Two out of range sights also occured at each end of my study period. The first was in the 1970's at Ruxley Reserve, a repetition of which was in 2019, when I photographed a male of the species on Bromley Common, Elmfield, chasing bird shadows, which might have accounted for a degree of disorientation.
Single brooded: on emergence the larvae descends to the ground below the foodplant - a whole group of violet species, then over winters as a first instar larvae, wherupon it hibernates, emerging in spring to feed until pupation in May. Spun in a web of leaves and ground litter, the butterfly emerges a few weeks later.
Status: Local steady, numbers fluctuate, but probably diminished from former times in certain local areas. 2025 drought summer is a good metric for all species in our area. Ommisions in the yearly record data does not imply an absence of the butterfly.
WH - White Hill Shoreham Fack -Fackended, BC - Bromley Common, Ha - Hayes --BN -Bromley North , Ey- Eynsford (in Prestons), Lull - Lullingstone Golf Course, Orp - Orpington HE - High Elms nr - not recorded!
Thanks to: Howard Walmsley, David Davis, Chris Borrows and all the other recorders who submit records, or blog in our area.
©Rodney Compton