My this years target species was Papilio alexanor, most comment read on the internet suggested that I was facing a challenging task but as sometimes happens lady luck offers a helping hand, passing what seemed a likely spot my wife suggests ,"lets try in there", no sooner had I parked and stepped out with the camera three Alexanors were spotted, great, but the species is a restless creature it rarely stops, eggs are laid on the wing the butterfly fluttering all the time, getting focus was a challenge, but over the course of several days despite high temperatures and a steep scree slope I managed some video and stills, these can be seen on the link below,not only alex the site also provided a fresh Cardinal (Argynnis pandora),and a Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) form valezina my first for this locality plus many other species including Papilio machaon ,Iphiclides podalirius and Parnassius apollo.
http://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p577876181#h9111ed21 video
http://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p828460121#h8de3a4a8 photos
A very interesting account of the life of P alexanor in French can be read on the following link
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https://www.insecte.org/forum/viewtopic ... o+alexanor
. I love the video footage of the egg laying as well.
