New Site for Snake's-head Fritillary

Lynne Farrell sends news of a new site for Snake's-head Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) at Arthur's Meadow Nature Reserve (VC31). Lynne went with Roger and Sarah Orbell, to see if there were any Green-winged Orchid (Anacamptis morio) in flower. It was not a great success for the orchid, but Roger came across a white-flowered individual of the fritillary.

Snake's-head Fritillary had not been recorded from the nature reserve previously, with the main site in the county being at Portholme SSSI (where Lynne counted 704 plants today). The origin of the plant is unknown but Lynne speculates, in lack of another explanation, that she may have been an inadvertent vector for a seed. Lynne has been involved with monitoring the Portholme population for a number of years and is the warden for Arthur's Meadow.

Photo by Brian Robert Marshall from Wikimedia Commons website