Greenwings: French Alps, Mercantour, Queyras, 29 June to 13 July 2019

[David M]

Papilionidae

It's an occupational hazard in the sense that one eventually becomes a little over-familiar with this family when travelling regularly to the continent and having seen enough Clouded Apollos to sink a freighter as well as plenty of the other species in this group in earlier trips this year, I didn't pay a great deal of attention to them here.

Pleased to say though that the main target, Small Apollo, was around in low double figures, including this female:

Its larger cousin, Apollo, was commoner, with perhaps 40 or so seen during the trip.

Surprisingly, a handful of Clouded Apollos were seen, with a couple actually looking in decent nick.

Swallowtails could be expected practically anywhere in ones and twos, particularly in hilltop areas, whilst Scarce Swallowtails were just exploding onto the scene during the second week, and I suspect would have hit serious three figures had we stayed another week.

[David M]

Papilionidae

43. Scarce Swallowtail
44. Swallowtail
45. Apollo
46. Clouded Apollo
47. Small Apollo

[David M]

Hesperiidae

This group was, as ever, very well represented. One species that I usually overlook/ignore is Mallow Skipper. I only saw a handful, but I made sure I got an image this time:

Marbled Skipper is too striking to ignore. Usually, I photograph the uppersides, but this docile individual was content to bask on my fingertip giving a view of the gossamer white undersides:

Lulworth Skippers were about in small numbers. Very conveniently, a few were seen nectaring on a lavender bush in a village garden:

As per normal, Large, Essex and Small Skippers were around in stratospheric numbers.

[David M]

Hesperiidae - pyrgus

Whilst many dread this group of butterflies, I positively love them. It's almost a world within a world, with many found flying together in the same habitat.

Some are easy, like this Safflower Skipper:

With time, I'm getting my eye in for Olive Skipper:

We tend not to see Oberthur's on this trip, but at real high altitude up in the Queyras, Dusky Grizzled Skipper is quite common:

Sadly, in spite of being on full alert, no Warren's Skippers were seen, but we did get the next best species in the form of this lovely Alpine Grizzled Skipper, seen at 2,400m:

Southern Grizzled Skipper was frequent at altitude this year, and we also had Foulquier's Grizzled Skipper nectaring on lavender in a residential garden, whilst Large Grizzled Skipper was recorded several times.

[essexbuzzard]

What can we say? the Alpine Blues deserve a hundred of these

[David M]

What can we say? the Alpine Blues deserve a hundred of these

Yes, a hundred and more have already been sent to my co-guide who spotted this taking place, Mark.

Stand in the field for long enough and you will surely be rewarded...

[bugboy]

Hesperiidae - pyrgus

Whilst many dread this group of butterflies, I positively love them. It's almost a world within a world, with many found flying together in the same habitat.

Some are easy, like this Safflower Skipper:

To the uninitiated, like me, finishing these opening lines of with a picture of any Pyrgus is a bit of an oxymoran

[David M]

It was like that for me a few years ago, BB, but with a little time and effort these butterflies aren't quite so difficult as people make out. It's also helpful that they're easy to catch in a plastic pot....and they're often reluctant to come back out!

[David M]

Hesperiidae

48. Mallow Skipper
49. Tufted Marbled Skipper
50. Marbled Skipper
51. Dingy Skipper
52. Large Skipper
53. Lulworth Skipper
54. Essex Skipper
55. Small Skipper
56. Silver Spotted Skipper
57. Dusky Grizzled Skipper
58. Foulquier's Grizzled Skipper
59. Large Grizzled Skipper
60. Alpine Grizzled Skipper
61. Safflower Skipper
62. Southern Grizzled Skipper
63. Olive Skipper
64. Red Underwing Skipper

[David M]

Pierids

Lots of interesting Pierids to see, although both Large and Small Whites were decidedly down in number compared to what I'm used to. By contrast, Green Veined Whites were much commoner - there remain many things that I simply can't work out!

I guess the highlight for me was finally seeing a Peak White at rest. In fact, this happened a few times, making me wonder whether the heatwave that preceded my trip might have taken some of the energy out of them!

[David M]

Pierids....

Another altitude member of this group seen a couple of times was Mountain Dappled White:

Southern Small White is usually about, but hard to differentiate if flying constantly at distance. This year, we had the luxury of them nectaring most conveniently at the lavender bushes at the top of the village:

[essexbuzzard]

Wow, a Peak White! More

[David M]

Yes, there were quite a few Peak Whites this year, Mark, including no fewer than four battling for supremacy around one of the cols!

All I need do now is finally locate a female!

[David M]

Pierids...

Always nice to see a few Bath Whites, particularly the more strongly marked females:

There were plenty of Clouded Yellows:

Cleopatras were about in good numbers too:

This image of Black Veined Whites taking minerals was indicative of how common this species was:

[David M]

Pierids

65. Orange Tip
66. Black Veined White
67. Berger's Clouded Yellow
68. Clouded Yellow
69. Mountain Clouded Yellow
70. Cleopatra
71. Brimstone
72. Wood White
73. Large White
74. Small White
75. Green Veined White
76. Mountain Green Veined White
77. Peak White
78. Southern Small White
79. Bath White

[David M]

Riodinidae

There were a handful of Dukes of Burgundy during my first week but they'd all vanished by the second.

80. Duke of Burgundy

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Aristocrats

Hundreds of Painted Ladies, single figure Red Admirals! Work that one out.

Commas seen in low numbers, Small Tortoiseshells regular companions round the summits.

Large Tortoiseshells showed well, particularly during the first week, when at least a dozen fresh-looking individuals were found taking honeydew from fruit trees.

Southern White Admirals were quite scarce, although we also got to see the much rarer White Admiral as well. Just the one Camberwell seen in the first week.

As for Southern Comma, it was reliable as ever in the first village we stay in, patrolling round the steep rock faces in the afternoon and occasionally being seen nectaring on the lavender bushes.

I only got to photograph this one individual, holding territory at a hairpin bend on a track:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Aristocrats

81. Small Tortoiseshell
82. White Admiral
83. Southern White Admiral
84. Large Tortoiseshell
85. Comma
86. Southern Comma
87. Red Admiral
88. Painted Lady
89. Camberwell Beauty

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries

Once again, it was a Fritillary-fest in spite of some of the larger species such as High Brown, Niobe & Dark Green being remarkably thin on the ground.

There weren't huge numbers of Silver Washed either, but we still caught up with a few valezina forms:

By contrast, Weaver's Fritillary was commoner than I've ever known it:

Lesser Marbled Fritillary was also reasonably commonplace:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries....

At medium altitude there were quite a few False Heath Fritillaries flying:

Titania's Fritillaries were fairly common as well:

By contrast, Meadow Fritillary was only seen in single figures: