Glanville Fritillary - Glanville Fritillaries in The UK

Glanville Fritillaries in The UK

In the UK the Glanville Fritillary occurs only on soft undercliff and chine grassland and the slopes above where its main larval foodplant Plantago lanceolata occurs in abundance on sheltered, south facing slopes. The Glanville Fritillary is a highly restricted species in the UK being confined to the south coast of the Isle of Wight. It also occurs in the Channel Islands and since 1990 there has been a mainland site on the Hampshire coast, possibly an introduction. There are small introduced populations on the Somerset coast and near Wrecclesham in Surrey.

Historic UK records suggest a distribution which went as far north as Lincolnshire. However, by the middle of the 19th century the Glanville Fritillary was known only from the Isle of Wight and the coast of Kent between Folkestone and Sandwich. It became extinct in Kent by the mid 1860s.