Country diary: A flaming beauty that rewards close inspection | Mark Cocker

Beeston Tor, Staffordshire: The silver-washed fritillary is on a very slow comeback, and this one is so close I can make out the flecks of black in its eyesFor several years, I've made a pilgrimage to a single, indeed the only, buddleia bush I know in this part of the Manifold Valley, and each visit has produced encounters with silver-washed fritillaries. Not only is this butterfly one of the grandest of Europe's 50 fritillary species, it is also immensely beautiful. The wings' upper surfaces are flame-orange incised with black lines and ringed at the rear margin by solid black spots. Imagine a cheetah's flanks and you would have only a muted version of that colour pattern, because "flame" doesn't quite do justice to the full temperature of the butterfly's hue, which is more magma than fire.The upper wings are brilliant, but the undersides are perhaps the more compelling. A subtle marbling of those same base colours is arranged around a plane of lichen green that is traversed by wavering tide-lines of white - the so-called "silver" of its name. There is a final gloss to these butterfly outings because the first one I found was among the first regional records for decades. The fritillary was here until the 1940s, but underwent a severe range contraction southwards and vanished entirely from eastern England. Last century, it began a slow recolonisation, and filled in many old Midlands and East Anglian haunts, while sightings as far north as Newcastle suggest the advance is ongoing. Continue reading...