Greenwings: Pyrenées Orientales - 21st to 30th May 2018

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Coppers & Hairstreaks

24. Small Copper
25. Violet Copper
26. Sooty Copper
27. Green Hairstreak

Not a great deal happening on this front. The usual explosion of late May Hairstreaks had clearly yet to materialise, and only Green Hairstreak was seen. Apart from the iconic Violet Copper, the only other members of this group observed were Small Copper (in small numbers) and Sooty Copper (around 30 seen). Here's a male Sooty:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Aristocrats

28. Small Tortoiseshell
29. Comma
30. Peacock
31. Southern White Admiral
32. Camberwell Beauty
33. Red Admiral
34. Painted Lady

As ever, there weren't too many of this group to see. Most were seen at high altitude although three Camberwells provided fly-by entertainment at lower levels without ever stopping for a photograph.

Southern White Admirals were also quite scarce this year, with the only ones observed being at the Spanish Fritillary site:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries

35. Provençal Fritillary
36. Weaver's Fritillary
37. Pearl Bordered Fritillary
38. Marsh Fritillary
39. Spanish Fritillary
40. Queen of Spain Fritillary
41. Glanville Fritillary
42. Spotted Fritillary
43. Meadow Fritillary
44. Knapweed Fritillary

Southern France always delivers on Fritillaries, and even though we were a bit early for the larger members of the group such as High Brown & Dark Green, there were plenty of others to provide interest. Here's one of the two dozen or so Queens recorded:

The commonest by far is Glanville Fritillary:

Spotted Fritillaries are fairly regular too, although this year I only saw one female. Here's a male:

The occasional two-toned Knapweed would turn up:

Weaver's are quite widespread, but you very rarely see more than one at a time:

Meadow Fritillaries are usually seen in numbers here, but it took till the penultimate day for the first handful to reveal themselves:

I still need to hone my ID skills for Provençal Fritillaries, although given that Heaths hadn't emerged, this made things rather easier. A male:

...and a beautiful female:

[David M]

Papilionidae

45. Spanish Festoon
46. Iberian Scarce Swallowtail
47. Swallowtail
48. Apollo
49. Clouded Apollo

All this group were seen, but in much lower than usual numbers. In fact, only three Apollos were sighted during the whole trip, and I personally didn't get any images of them. The others were about in lowish numbers, and the only pictures I got of Swallowtails were when I was pottering about in the quarry at the Spanish Fritillary site prior to being distracted by the arrival of said Spanish Fritillary - never in my life before have I been so guilty of dereliction of duty in observing gorganus!!

[David M]

Pieridae

50. Orange Tip
51. Provence Orange Tip
52. Black Veined White
53. Berger's Clouded Yellow
54. Clouded Yellow
55. Cleopatra
56. Brimstone
57. Wood White
58. Large White
59. Green Veined White
60. Small White
61. Bath White

Last year, I saw enough Black Veined Whites on this trip to fill a sports hall. This year, however, they had barely emerged, with probably no more than a dozen seen:

Large Whites were even MORE scarce...I think I only clocked two in the entire period!! Wood Whites were the commonest of this group, whilst the others turned up in low to medium numbers.

Bath White was seen several times, and this one was spotted in dull and cool conditions which allowed an abnormally close approach:

[David M]

Riodinidae

62. Duke of Burgundy

Having missed out on this species in the UK, I was grateful that a few were around during this trip. They seemed to pop up in many low to mid altitude sites although there were never more than a handful in any one location.

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Satyrids

63. Pearly Heath
64. Small Heath
65. Large Wall
66. Wall
67. Spanish Gatekeeper
68. Western Marbled White
69. Speckled Wood
70. De Prunner's Ringlet

Of the above, Pearly Heath was only seen once but the rest were fairly regular, with Spanish Gatekeeper being seen in low numbers on a very cloudy day near the coast.

Of the erebia genus, only De Prunner's Ringlet was recorded, although this is an early species that has almost a complete monopoly in late May:

Large Walls would tantalise every now and again around steep rocky slopes. Here's a male:

...and a female:

....and undersides:

[Andrew555]

Thanks for this post David, very interesting for someone like me who is unfamiliar with most of the continental species.
A beautiful range of butterflies, and very nicely captured as well. Fantastic stuff.

[David M]

Thanks, Andrew. Don't be afraid to dip your toe in the water. Believe me, it's quite an experience!

[Tony Moore]

But Andrew, beware!! It is a VERY addictive pursuit

Tony M.

[Roger Gibbons]

There are some 237 mainland species in France, and it’s surprising how quickly they become as familiar as British species. In fact, it soon becomes apparent that most of them are closely related to British species.

What Tony says is true - it can become VERY addictive – some people even become obsessive about seeing them all. I'd like to say I wasn't one of them (only 7 to go) but then I would have to tell porky pies on UKB.

Roger

[Charles Nicol]

There are some 237 mainland species in France, and it’s surprising how quickly they become as familiar as British species. In fact, it soon becomes apparent that most of them are closely related to British species.

What Tony says is true - it can become VERY addictive – some people even become obsessive about seeing them all. I'd like to say I wasn't one of them (only 7 to go) but then I would have to tell porky pies on UKB.

Roger

that is a very impressive tally Roger !

could you tell us which 7 you are missing ?

[David M]

...could you tell us which 7 you are missing ?

I'm pretty sure Spanish Fritillary is one of them, Charles. I'd be interested to know the others (I've got an idea regarding two or three).

[Padfield]

...could you tell us which 7 you are missing ?

I'm pretty sure Spanish Fritillary is one of them, Charles. I'd be interested to know the others (I've got an idea regarding two or three).

I have a sneaking suspicion Roger's actually missing 8 species - sorry Roger! There are seven grey headers on his species pages (http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/species_list.htm) but they don't include Melitaea ignasiti, which was long reported from France and has now been confirmed from ... Les Pyrénées Orientales!!

The paper can be found here:

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... ymphalidae

Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

Yes indeed, David, Spanish Fritillary is one. The others are Gavarnie Blue, Cranberry Fritillary, Mountain Small White (does it still occur in France?), Larche Ringlet, Lefebvre’s Ringlet and Water Ringlet (the nearest I got to that was that trip we made on the rack and pinion train a few years back, Guy).

For all of these you have to make a special trip to be in the right place at the right time. I went to the Pyrenees on 21 July 2015 for Gavarnie Blue and was too late for the flight period. So I went back on 11 July 2017 and I was too early, 2017 being a late season in that part of the world. I’ll try again in 2019. That's part of the charm!

Regarding, ignasiti, I'll wait till the taxonomists meet again and decide to merge it into another species .

Roger

[Padfield]

... Water Ringlet (the nearest I got to that was that trip we made on the rack and pinion train a few years back, Guy).

I remember it well, Roger! I still see pronoe every year there but it is one of the later Erebia and we were before peak season. The species is locally very common, I have since discovered, in several other places in the region and throughout the Swiss Alps, in August.

Regarding, ignasiti, I'll wait till the taxonomists meet again and decide to merge it into another species .

You can't get out of it that easily, Roger! The most that could happen is that it goes back to being a subspecies of trivia, so if ignasiti isn't a French species, trivia is! Strangely, Oorschot and Coutsis, in their 2014 monograph on Melitaea, give it as occurring in the Alpes Maritimes, though all the specimens they illustrate are from Spain.

Guy

[David M]

... Mountain Small White (does it still occur in France?)

I so wanted to search for this on the road towards Nohèdes, but sadly the weather was pretty grim on the day we passed by the village of Conat. This is one that will have to wait for another year but I read some of the historic literature regarding the presence of this species in this particular spot and one would hope that it is still present, albeit unconfirmed.

[Roger Gibbons]

I spent a day in the region of Conat last July looking specifically for Mountain Small White (Pieris ergane). I saw a lot of white butterflies but none that met the requirements for ergane.

By a strange conincidence, given my question as to whether ergane still occurs in France, I just got an email from an old friend who recently moved to Toulouse (Guy will know, sorry I can't be forthcoming on UKB) who said that he had found ergane in that south-west corner of France. The photos showed it clearly different to Small White (P. rapae) and Southern Small White (P.manii).

Maybe I'll get lucky next year.

Roger

[David M]

Interesting comments, Roger, as (according to the Lafranchis guide), ergane is present in SIX départements! Much as I hesitate to carry a net this is one species where it may be beneficial.

[NickMorgan]

Wow, David! That sounds like a great trip. You managed to get so many good pictures, too. I think I have seen less than half of the species you saw.