Aughnadarragh Lough SAC
Topics:
Protected area type:
Special Areas of Conservation
Feature type:
Habitat
County:
Down
Council:
Newry, Mourne and Down
Guidance and literature:
Aughnadarragh Lough SAC
The marsh fritillary butterfly frequents damp meadows and, more rarely, chalk grassland, where its larvae feed on devil’s-bit scabious Succisa pratensis.
It has declined and is now extinct from the eastern half of its former range in the UK (except where it has been reintroduced) and has shown a similar decline throughout Europe. The UK, Ireland and the Iberian peninsula are now its most important strongholds.