Butterflies of Var, Southern France

[Roger Gibbons]

Hello everyone, I’ve been down in Var in the far south of France since 9 April and the weather, which is usually wall-to-wall sunshine at a steady 25C at this time of year, has been very unsettled with more rain already than we usually get in a whole summer. The butterflies were very slow to get going but have almost caught up, with some warm sunny days in the past week, and my 2008 species count is now 57 (2007 total 175) whereas I had seen 65 at this stage last year. There are naturally some compensations for the terrible deprivations we’re suffering, and here are a few:

9740 Southern Festoon (zerynthia polyxena). A species that is out at the end of March and has disappeared by the end of April. It’s magnificent when fresh as 9740 is, but tends to start losing the red and blue hindwing scales after a few days.

zerynthia polyxena_9740.JPG (132.02 KiB) Viewed 17420 times

10470 Marsh Fritillary (euphydryas aurinia). While this has very specific habitat requirements in the UK, it seems unrestrained over here and I have seen it in dry arid locations at sea level and, like 10470, at altitudes of 1000m and it occurs much than this. Not something that you’d think of as a mountain butterfly

euphydryas aurinia_10470.JPG (146.92 KiB) Viewed 17411 times

10262 Osiris Blue (cupido osiris). Slightly smaller than a Common Blue but with an underside very similar to the Small Blue (cupido minimus) to which it is closely related. This is a courting pair, female below. The male upperside is totally bright blue, making ID from Small Blue very easy. The female (and often the male) are almost always seen on the larval foodplant sainfoin, which they are on here.

cupido osiris_10262.JPG (86.43 KiB) Viewed 17401 times

[Pete Eeles]

Excellent tale - and excellent photos Roger! Would it be OK to use the Southern Festoon shot on the species pages? Thanks.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Paul]

Fantastic pics. Drooling at the thought of Pyrenees in July.... what else have you seen?

[Sylvie_h]

Hi Roger,

Did you get the chance to go to Lac St Cassien or it's whereabouts? I would be interested to know what you saw there if you did go. There are indeed some very interesting butterflies there.
Sylvie

[FISHiEE]

Some cracking shots. Was in France myself in April about the same time in the Luberon Valley region. It was amazing for me as just about everything I saw was a new species. I met up with a friend who lives there and is a butterfly phoptography nut. I found both Spanish and Southern Festoons while I was there yet my friend had never seen one. They are absolute stunners though a bit rubbish at flying in a breeze!

I must upload some pics from my trip here as the species out there are amazing!

More importantly I must make plans for a return trip!!!

[Roger Gibbons]

To respond to Sylvie’s question: we are just north of the seaside town of St Aygulf, not far from the Lac de St Cassien. There is a huge undeveloped expanse stretching from Grasse in the East across to Aubagne in the West and it is quite similar terrain throughout, especially north of the A8 motorway. The range of species is quite similar throughout this band. It is great butterfly territory, especially in the spring.

Species I have seen to date (24 May), in simple format:
Skippers: mallow, marbled, tufted marbled, dingy, red-underwing
Grizzled skippers: grizzled, oberthurs, rosy, yellow-banded
Nettle tree butterfly
Blues: brown argus, geranium bronze, holly, osiris, small, black-eyed, green-underside, adonis, provence chalkhill, amandas, chapmans, common, baton, chequered
Coppers: small, sooty
Hairstreaks: green, blue spot, ilex, sloe, white-letter, provence
Fritillaries: cardinal, niobe, pearl-bordered, weavers, twin-spot, marsh, queen of spain, glanville, knapweed, spotted, heath, provencal
Vanessids: southern white admiral, camberwell beauty, large tortoiseshell, painted lady, red admiral
Papilionidae: scarce swallowtail, swallowtail, southern festoon, spanish festoon
Pieridae: orange tip, provence orange tip, black-veined white, clouded yellow, bergers clouded yellow, dappled white, portuguese dappled white, cleopatra, wood white, green-veined white, large white, small white, bath white
Satyridae: speckled wood, spring ringlet, small heath, meadow brown
western marbled white, wall

I’m always intrigued by species I see here that also occur in the UK, and how they are sometimes slightly different.

Here’s a female Grizzled Skipper (pyrgus malvae) (10596) with quite arrow-shaped hindwing marginal marks, which I don’t recall as being normal in UK specimens.

pyrgus malvae_10596.JPG (129.18 KiB) Viewed 17251 times

And a female Holly Blue (celastrina argiolus) (10199) also with faint marginal hindwing markings.

celastrina argiolus_10199.JPG (96.37 KiB) Viewed 17246 times

And finally, a Red-underwing Skipper (spialia sertorius) (10546) showing why it gets its name; it’s actually much smaller than a grizzled skipper, and probably the smallest butterfly that occurs in France.

spiala sertorius_10546.JPG (72.48 KiB) Viewed 17232 times

[FISHiEE]

Superb captures Roger and makes me want to get back to Southern France ASAP! For a butterfly enthusiast it is paradise!

That final shot of the red underwing is superb!

[Sylvie_h]

Hi Roger,

Thank you for sharing the information and for posting your stunning photos!!
It is interesting to know that you have seen the provence hairstreak. In the 3 years I lived in Grasse, I never saw them. The first time I saw them was in Southern Spain last year (it is a shame to go so far when I know I could have seen them in the Var). You also mention the Nettle tree butterfly. I saw them in the Andon-Greolières area twice (2 butterflies in all in 3 years) and managed to get a picture of one at least, did you see many of them? France in general is a wonderful place for the butterfly enthusiast because of (or thanks to) the diversity of landscapes and habitats , something I really miss in Britain!! - and the climate of course!
Sylvie

[Padfield]

I remember when you swore you'd never go digital, Roger!! But these must be some of the best pictures you've ever taken!

Fantastic pics. Drooling at the thought of Pyrenees in July.... what else have you seen?

Remind me when and were, Paul - as you know, I'll be in the Pyrenees in July.

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

I remember when you swore you'd never go digital, Roger!! But these must be some of the best pictures you've ever taken!

Hear hear!

So, Roger, what are your settings and ... did you use a tripod? A consistently excellent serious of photos. I feel a Mr. Green moment coming on

Just one tip - get your sensor cleaned (between the Southern Festoon and the Marsh Frit you picked up some dust)

Cheers,

- Pete

[Roger Gibbons]

I saw only a couple of Provence Hairstreaks, and only at one site. They are very hard to find, even in this part of the world. I was told about a site (in strictest confidence) but I have never seen them there, and then chanced upon the one site where I have seen them, and there were only two there. Here’s a photo (9864). They are very strange, almost a cross between a Small Copper and a Green Hairstreak and very hairy for a butterfly of the far south, although the flight period is over by the end of April.

tomares ballus_9864.JPG (197 KiB) Viewed 17022 times

Nettle tree is also hard to find, although I have seen more of these. The only place I can suggest with any confidence is in the village of Mons in northern Var in late April, where an ornamental nettle tree grows, and for the past two years has had a Nettle Tree butterfly whizzing around it, despite the fact that the tree has no leaves, flowers, buds etc.

Yes, Guy, I did stick faithfully to my film camera, probably for too long. As I now take about 5000 photos a year (often 20 or more of the same target) I’d be bankrupted by the film and developing costs.

Re kit, I always use a tripod. I had a cheap tripod last year which self-destructed through excessive use and I bought a Manfrotto Neotec at the beginning of this year, with a ball-head joint. Not cheap, but it is getting plenty of use. Settings are shutter priority, initially 1/160 sec and then if I can, I reduce the shutter speed to increase the depth of field. I find you don’t get much more depth, but using a tripod with a still subject sometimes enables a shutter speed of 1/25 sec. I’m not sure about the dust, Pete, as I think these marks may be the result of a loss of scales which seems more evident as the photo is enlarged. The same marks appear on other shots of the same butterfly in the same places, rather than on the same places in the frame. But I’ll get the sensor cleaned anyway.

Here’s a final question: some species of heaths have a silver marginal line, e.g. Pearly and Dusky. Here’s a shot of a Dusky Heath (11117) to illustrate the point, albeit this silver band seems very broad to me. So why do these otherwise quite dull (relatively speaking) butterflies have a silver line? Would Small Heaths fly better if they had one?

coenonympha dorus_11117.JPG (117.78 KiB) Viewed 17015 times

[FISHiEE]

It's a bit of a way away from you, but I was in the region or Gordes/Goult in April and there were Nettle Tree Butterflies in several areas. Often when spooked they flew up into the trees so perhaps they are often missed because of this? They were quite tatty overwintered specimens generally so I didn't bother much about photographing them and as I say often settled up high in trees.

[Roger Gibbons]

Talking of Nettle Tree butterflies, I mentioned that I had only ever seen them in ones or twos, and not very often. I visited one of my favourite sites here in Var (southern France) a few days ago (it’s the one you visited, Guy) and counted them into double figures, so clearly June is the best month. Here’s a photo (11369). When it comes to getting your snout in the trough, no butterflies can compete with these!

libythea celtis_11369.JPG (132.43 KiB) Viewed 16907 times

The number of butterflies at this site was incredible, measurable in thousands, probably 70% of them False Ilex Hairstreaks, a very common butterfly around here. There were also a few Blue Spot, Ilex and Spanish Purple Hairstreaks as well, but hard to pick out among the False Ilex. The sight of Nettle Tree butterflies puddling in company with Spanish Purple Hairstreaks isn’t something you see too frequently.

The season has started to improve weather-wise after a fairly disastrous spring, but the density of butterflies generally is quite low. I have a small buddleia in a pot in my small garden and in the last few days it has been visited by Cardinal, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Southern White Admiral, Cleopatra, Great Banded Grayling, as well as Meadow Brown and Marbled White, the latter being perhaps the most common butterfly in France.

[Padfield]

Fantastic nettle tree, Roger! Well do I remember that site, not least because for the first time in my life I found I needed to know the collective noun for southern white admirals:



A silver line seems to be the norm, rather than the exception, in European Coenonympha. Certainly amongst the closely related group containing things like arcania, gardetta, darwiniana, hero, oedippus &c. What it might mean to the butterflies, or whether it means anything at all to them, I have no idea (though it certainly isn't a go-faster stripe!). Since butterflies see in a different range of the spectrum from us I can't even imagine what it looks like for them. It does seem to me, though, that the appearance of shiny silver is an illusion, caused by varying densities of rather short white scales on a dark background:



The white scales that make up the 'silver' band are distinctly of a different colour from the long white scales in the white band, but I think they are simply white, not especially shiny in some way. I could be wrong - I expect your pictures show the detail rather better.

Guy

[Bryan H]

I'm enjoying this thread tremendously!

Thanks for the wonderful photos, Roger; also Guy, for that exposition and close-up of the silver line.

The Red-underwing skipper has gone to the top of my 'must see one day' list. It may be France's smallest, but that's one laid-back dude of a butterfly! Any ideas what it nectars on?

Bryan

[Pete Eeles]

... for the first time in my life I found I needed to know the collective noun for southern white admirals:

Since the admirals are known as "gliders" in other countries, I'd suggest a "squadron"

Beautiful pic

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

At Roger's site, Pete, the squadron spends most of its time off duty, hanging around in bars and beating up on smaller fry...

Red underwing skipper nectars on lots of things, Bryan. In my (present) garden, birds foot trefoil is probably the favourite. But the males, like the males of most skippers, spend a lot of time perched at the top of tall plants defending their tiny territory. Note the flame shoulders - a characteristic of this species.



Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

As I mentioned on my June competition entry, high altitude species are very thin on the ground at the moment and hopefully this is only because their season is a couple of weeks later than usual. However, there was one big thrill at the end of an otherwise disappointing day today – a Poplar Admiral, the big brother of these Southern White Admirals (I remember you vaulting a fence when you saw the first one, Guy) and a butterfly that makes a Purple Emperor look a bit on the small side. Here’s the only photo I could get as it glided majestically stopping briefly on the road, and I was grateful for that. A life-tick and a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

limenitis populi_11909.JPG (227.51 KiB) Viewed 16744 times

[Padfield]

Fantastic Roger!

I haven't yet been granted a 2008 glimpse of this incomparable species. It's a tricky one to go out and look for - I've only ever seen them (almost literally) out of the blue, when I've been looking for something else. Apparently (according to Matt) they have favourite hot spots, often on tarmac roads, where they warm up at 7 or 8am though sadly I've not yet found my local one despite hours of wandering around. I've also collected my dog's 'crottes' and distributed them as bait on tracks near where I've seen the butterfly but never had a bite there either. You were very lucky!!

Guy

[Martin]

Great stuff Roger, you must be exstatic...I know I would be