Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterfly

This beautiful butterfly, with white patches (‘pearls’) on the back of its wings, has declined drastically across the UK. Cannock Chase supports the only remaining population left in Staffordshire of this nationally declining species.

On Cannock Chase the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary is a butterfly of damp grassy and heathy habitats. The adults need plants like brambles and thistles for nectar for food, whilst the larvae feed on violets, particularly the marsh violet.

The best time to see the adults on the wing are on warm days between late May and June.

Action for Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterfly on Cannock Chase

Targeted scrub control and bracken management helps to maintain open areas where their food plants – Marsh Violets can thrive.

In 2025 Cannock Chase Country Park Rangers and volunteers planted 4000 marsh violet plug plants and cleared huge amounts of bracken to create more habitat. This has been funded through Defra’s Farming in Protected Landscapes programme.

The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology are carrying out habitat suitability modelling of marsh violet to identify potential habitat for the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary on Cannock Chase, and opportunities to expand the population.