The pearl-bordered fritillary is among the UK's fastest declining woodland butterflies — warm clearings with violet plants are its welfare requirement, met only by coppiced or recently burned woodland.
Pearl-bordered fritillary welfare depends on temporal habitat — clearings that are warm for only 2-5 years after felling or burning before shade returns. Caterpillars on violets in closed-canopy woodland cannot thermoregulate adequately and have poor survival. Continuous canopy closure eliminates the species from forests. Welfare recovery requires coordinated coppice management maintaining a mosaic of different-aged clearings across woodland complexes. This is only achievable through active woodland management.