Fritillaries on Trust reserves
As a useful summer activity, we invite you to take. an identification guide and help us monitor Cornwall's "magnificent seven" frititlary butterflies. Paul McCartney suggests some starting points on Trust reserves.

The Trust's nature reserves contain a wide range of habitats from sand dunes on the coast to sheltered ancient woodlands in the inland river valleys. A multitude of animals depend on the semi-natural elements of the landscape of which these reserves are some of the prime examples.

The fritillaries are a small family of butterflies which are dependent on a range of habitats which require careful management in order that

 this rather vulnerable group of creatures does not become extinct in the county. For while it is known that certain common flowers like dog violet are a food plant, a wide range of conditions needs to be met for an individual species to survive. Fritillaries are known to have declined because of afforestation, the loss of flowery grassland and moorland, and the cessation of coppicing and traditional grazing. There are seven fritillaries in the county, all of which are uncommon. Indeed several of them are rare or very rare, restricted now to a few locations and always on the verge of extinction. They are medium-sized to large, subtly beautiful, generally of a tawny colour on the upper surface of the wings, covered with a fine tracery of black or dusky lines and spots.