The story behind the butterfly...
Prior to planting Hattingley’s vineyards, Simon Robinson had already commissioned a survey of flora and fauna on his farm in Hampshire, which lead to the discovery that the Silver-washed Fritillary Butterfly, common in Europe but rare in Britain, was a summer resident. The delicate eco-system in this part of Hampshire was enhanced by his planting of around seven miles of hedgerow under a countryside stewardship scheme.
The presence of such an iconic butterfly now found in our South facing chalk-based vineyard in rural Hampshire indicates that the vineyard is a healthy environment with a rich biodiversity due to the extensive farmlands around us. This is something we take great pride in and seemed a natural choice to weave into Hattingley’s brand identity.
The Fritillary isn't seen everywhere but it's a lovely thing to behold, a bit like our English sparkling wines actually...
The Silver-washed Fritillary is one of Europe's largest and most magnificent butterflies. The common name refers to the suffused silvery markings on the underside hindwings. The male, shown above, is easily distinguished from the female by the 4 prominent horizontal dark streaks on its forewings. The butterfly is common and widely distributed across much of Europe, but rarely found in northern Britain. The butterfly is a powerful flyer and quite mobile, being often found on scrubby downland or along hedgerows or railway cuttings where these habitats are close to its woodland homelands. Thus, it is able to recolonise neglected woods which have been thinned or returned to coppice management and once again become suitable as breeding sites. The butterflies emerge in June and July and have a life expectancy of about 3-4 weeks.
(Find out more from: learnaboutbutterflies.com)
