MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: RARE SILVER-WASHED FRITILLARY IN CHESHIRE

Today`s Macclesfield Express July 30^th 2014:

“ A nature lover got a shock after a rare butterfly flew into his back garden. David Tolliday,59, was just about to tuck into his tea when he noticed the unusual looking insect land on his ivy plants. And as a member of Cheshire Butterfly Conservation Society David, of Gleneagles Drive in Tytherington, [Macclesfield] immediately identified the rare silver-washed fritillary.

But it was only after calling the conservation society to record what he had spotted that he discovered how rare it was, as his was only the fifth recorded sighting of the species in Cheshire in the last 20 years…” It is a very scarce butterfly in Cheshire with the last known breeding in the county being in the 1930s. It is the rarest butterfly I have ever seen in this part of the country. “It was also a real thrill to have such an uncommon butterfly in my back garden, I would have liked to have seen it anywhere, but to have it right in the garden of my home was great.” (1)

 1. Macclesfield Express 30/7/14 page 21