Pictured: marsh fritillary, Euphydryas aurinia
Notes from Jenyns: Not rare in Bottisham fen, from the middle of May to the middle of June, but locally distributed. ~ Occurs also sparingly on the Devil’s Ditch.
200-year trend in Cambridgeshire: Decline to local extinction.
Modern records
This butterfly has experienced a huge decline in the UK, which is thought to be due to the agricultural improvement of its wet meadow habitats. It formerly occurred at a number of fenland and fen-edge localities in Cambridgeshire. However, drainage and conversion of these sites is thought to have led to this butterfly falling in number, changing from ‘not rare’ to being extinct in the county.
National records map
Marsh fritillary national records map: https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0000516340
