European Butterflies Magazine

[selbypaul]

Looking forward to reading it as ever Jason!

[David M]

Yup. Me too, Paul. Can't wait for the season to get properly underway too!

[selbypaul]

Not long now David!

[jasonsargerson]

European Butterflies Magazine Issue Seven, Spring 2024 is now printed.

I will send copies to Pemberley Books this week, so they will have theirs soon.

To order direct from me it is £10.00 including postage.

I attach some sample pages.

There are articles about Bulgaria, Corfu, France, Greece, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland.

[jasonsargerson]

John Green has contributed the first article for the 2025 magazine.

He is based in the South of France and has his own website - www.Butterflyportraits.com - with several thousand photos of European species.

He is particularly interested in variations amongst species, illustrated here by Niobe Fritillary.

Other species observed included Common Blue, Spanish Festoon and Mallow Skipper.

[bugboy]

That Common Blue is quite something!

[David M]

That Common Blue is quite something!

Isn't it just!

The eris Niobes alongside the nominative form is a superb effort too.

[Jack Harrison]

The superb quality of those photos makes me wonder why I bother.

Jack

[petesmith]

Looking forward to this - I am a big fan of John's work.

[David Lazarus]

That Common Blue is quite something!

Just wow! I saw a lovely orangey female a couple of weeks ago, but the orangey-brown forewings of that one are stunning.

Common Blue female
St Lawrence, Essex Saltmarsh Coast 11/10/2024

I wish I had come across her when she was fresh - and I was pleased to find her - but pales in comparison.

[jasonsargerson]

John Needham has contributed a further article about the butterflies where he lives in the French Pyrenees.

He thinks that there are more variations in butterflies now that the climate is changing.

He has observed unusual variants locally including, Small Copper, Meadow Fritillary and Adonis Blue, at the same time as continuing his observations of the regions specialties such as Lesser Purple Emperor and Autumn Ringlet.

[David M]

..He thinks that there are more variations in butterflies now that the climate is changing...

That's interesting. I suppose with such wild fluctuations in temperature this is highly plausible.

[jasonsargerson]

Pete Smith has contributed an article about butterflies in the South of France and the Pyrenees.

He has photographed some of the rarer blues and ringlets.

He seems particularly good at ringlets - a measure of a very good butterflier I think.

Butterflies covered included Furry Blue and Ripart's Anomalous Blue, Dusky Heath, Olive Skipper and Pyrenees Brassy Ringlet.

[jasonsargerson]

Pete Smith has kindly helped me out with another article for the magazine.

He has written about his trips to Southern Spain in the spring to look for the special Fritillaries found then.

He visited Andalusia to look for and find Aetherie Fritillary, Marsh Fritillary beckeri and Spanish Fritillary.

Other Spanish delights at this time included Lorquin's Blue, Spanish Marbled White, Spanish Gatekeeper and Spanish Purple Hairstreak.

[jasonsargerson]

Markus Dumke has contributed an article about the butterflies in Bavaria, Germany.

This is the first article in the magazine about butterflies in Germany - hopefully there will be more now.

Bavaria is similar to Switzerland and Austria, with high mountains as well as lower sites.

Butterflies in the mountains include Alpine Blue, Glandon Blue and Cranberry Blue.

Some species more familiar in Eastern Europe such as Bog Fritillary, Scarce Fritillary and Scarce Heath are found.

[David M]

Fabulous! I've often wondered what is on the menu in southern Germany. I guess it gets overlooked due to the richness of its neighbours.

[jasonsargerson]

Dan Danahar has written an article about the complexities of recording for the Corfu Butterfly Survey.

The society are to make use of DNA analysis of some of the more difficult to identify species such as Wood White, Green-veined White and Krueper's Small White.

Another factor he discusses is the flight times of particular species and optimizing the opportunities for recording species at different times of the year.

He is to maximise his chances of recording the widest range of species with three visits in 2025.

[David M]

That's a lovely Krueper's Small White, Jason. Very high on my most-wanted list.

[jasonsargerson]

Happy New Year everyone.

Three more articles to introduce.

David Moore has written about Mariposa Natures first trip to Romania in May.

Like Bulgaria, Romania has a relative abundance of butterflies, with regions of unspoilt countryside.

The trip found rare butterflies such as Danube Clouded Yellow and Spinose Skipper.

Late spring favourites included Large Copper, Reverdin's Blue and Woodland Ringlet.

[jasonsargerson]

Mario Langourov of Wild Tours has contributed an article about the butterflies of North Macedonia.

There are a good number of eastern species to be found here, including the Balkan Clouded Yellow and Eastern and Gruner's Orange Tips.

Eastern Fritillaries are represented by Freyer's and Scarce Fritillary.

Blues included Bavius and Escher's Blue. There are unusual Graylings, including Macedonian and White-banded Grayling.

Other notable butterflies include Esper's Marbled White and Southern Swallowtail.