The Marsh Fritillary requires areas of damp grassland with tussocks of grasses and reeds where there is also Devil's Bit Scabious, the foodplant required by the catepillars. In late summer, the catepillars spin webs in these tussocks and they rely on having grassland that has not been grazed too short. The population numbers of Marsh Fritillarys are never constant; it will be abundant on a site some years but a few years later ther will be very few. They are completely dependent on having a number of suitable grassland sites in the local area so that the adults can move from site to site as the populations change and as they seek to avoid predators. One of these key areas is around Penderyn in the south of the National Park.

Read more about the Marsh Fritillary on the Butterfly Conservation website.

Read more about Managing site for the Marsh Fritillary on the Butterfly Conservation website.

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