On the Trail of the Marsh Fritillary

BY DAVE BROTHERSTONE

Eric’s plan: a two hour drive to Ynys Hir, mid Wales to try to get some shots of the Marsh Fritillary. My plan: a two hour drive to Ynys Hir, mid Wales, to try to learn something and not to look too stupid behind the camera.

We made good time, and were there for around 1pm. Having a wander round the shop and information point, with murmurs of how these RSPB places always have better facilities and why do butterflies always take second place, we asked the RSPB chap whether the information we had off the web was correct, and they had the Marsh Fritillary. A sharp intake of breath through the teeth, and the reply came like a line from an Eagles track – “We haven’t had that here since 1971”. Apparently the information on the web is out of date – he wasn’t wrong. Head in hands, Eric asked him if there was anywhere close that did have it, and, to give Mr RSPB his due, he did do some research on the web for us, and came up with a place an hour and half further south.

Well, we’d come this far.

“Turn north from the coast road at Plwmp Post Office, and it’s 300m on the left, you can’t miss it” were the gist of the directions. You can’t miss Plwmp Post Office – Plwmp Post Office is Plwmp. We guessed which way was north, and found nothing 300m down the road. After some deliberation, we asked at the post office. “Yes, just around the corner, where the road used to be thinner, walk up to where there used to be a telegraph pole, and you’ll see a green track on the left. It’s just down there”.

Despite the uselessness of these directions, we found the green track. 100 yards down it, a small A4 laminated sign, “Rhos Pilbach Nature Reserve” – Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

There were a couple of small white butterflies on the wing, but a short wander into the boggy field and the shout came: “That’s it! Keep your eye on that while I sort the camera out”. We needn’t have worried. Later we discovered just how many Marsh Fritillaries there were in this field. I tried to get some pictures, whilst learning how to approach them slowly, and how to get the wings parallel with the lens, in order to maximise the depth of field. If shadow hit them, they’d fly off to catch more energy from the sun. The problem is, they try and get their wings parallel to the sun, so to get the camera parallel to the wings, you have to be in the way. Countless times I “head butted” the butterfly with my shadow.

There was a small pond in one corner of the bog, with a broad bodied chaser dragonfly, several common blue and small red damselflies. The technique is the same, getting it parallel to the lens, but slightly easier because you can be side on, and not in the way of the sun.

As the day drew on, shouts came from across the field all the way from questioning the poor butterfly’s parenthood as it flew off, to words that would be new even to the Viz Dictionary of Slang and Profanity.

Around 7pm, as the sun was heading in and the day had cooled off, we’d all but given up. We hadn’t seen any for a while, and any we had seen had still been “flighty”. We decided to do one last swoop of the field, hoping to disturb one just enough for it to move such that we could see it. Two leapt out of our way, settling on a clump of grass. They were settling for the night, and were going to stay still for us. I realised the inadequacies of my lowly tripod that unfortunately didn’t come with a spade accessory to dig a hole such that it was low enough to be parallel with its closed wings. Clearing the background by folding down the grass around it and ensuring the background was diffused enough with the depth-of-field preview button, made sure we got the best shots possible. Using a small piece of grass extremely gently, it was possible to “ask politely” if the butterfly would move slightly higher to compensate for my Tesco Value tripod.

The midges were onto us. We finished off with jumpers wrapped round our heads to save being eaten alive. But, I didn’t care. I’d learnt lots, and hopefully got some decent shots.

We’d had a good day, I’d learnt much more than if I’d read a book or gone on my own, and Eric had his Marsh Fritillary.

Please send any comments to DAVE