Marseilles South of France 2017

[Padfield]

Hi Chris. That osiris looks like semiargus to me. Does that makes sense in the context?

Guy

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Chris. That osiris looks like semiargus to me. Does that makes sense in the context?

Guy

Thank you Guy,
You are right, that is Mazarine Blue.
Retrospectively it was hanging around clover and not sainfoin !!!
I did notice that at the time but chose to ignore it - lessons to be learnt hey ?.

Chris

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Folks,
Here are a few images from the last few days in the South of France:
Montpezat in the area of the Gorges du Verdon, in the Var.
Field of lavender looking over towards the Alps:

The only BF species I saw on the lavender was G. cleopatra - most peculiar, I was expecting a much larger variety of butterflies.

In a different environment - Purple Hairstreak:

In the scrub - a pair of M. jurtina:

In French this is called a "cigale". There must be different species as this one was really as big as it looks. Normally they are much smaller than this.

This is a caterpillar of S. proto - Sage Skipper on Phlomis herba-venti.

It was not I who woke it from its rest. I was just a witness to some rough-neck who had preceeded me .

Cheers,
Chris

[David M]

That pristine Purple Hairstreak looks like it's freshly emerged, Chris.

Shame about the lavender field. I guess with a bit of altitude there'd have been quite a variety of species imbibing?

[Chris Jackson]

... Shame about the lavender field. I guess with a bit of altitude there'd have been quite a variety of species imbibing?...

David, to be so unattractive to butterflies, I really wouldn't be surprised if the lavender is treated or genetically modified.

Currently on the wing in my area, Spanish Purple Hairstreak.
This is a discrete butterfly that likes to nectar on brambles in the semi shade. It mingles with other hairstreaks (spini, esculi, ilicis) so you have to double check for candidates.

A bit of context:

Chris

[Charles Nicol]

very nice hairstreak pics Chris !

that pond looks like a good place to find les papillons

[Chris Jackson]

... that pond looks like a good place to find les papillons

Quite right Charles, plus all sorts of flying predators, dragonflies, robberflies.

Today in the South of France :
A new-be for me at this site between the Var and the Bouches du Rhone, A. pandora:

A. niobe is no surprise:

Marbled White:

Furry Blue female:

Furry Blue male:

High Brown

Black Satyr

This is the high point of the season down here. Today I saw all the Argynnis species together except Dark Green Fritillary.
Chris

[Charles Nicol]

... that pond looks like a good place to find les papillons

Quite right Charles, plus all sorts of flying predators.

Today in the South of France :
A new-be for me, between the Var and the Bouches du Rhone, A. pandora:
pandora1 Vallon du Cros 06Jul17 (8a).JPG
A. niobe is no surprise
niobe1 Vallon du Cros 06Jul17 (2a).JPG
Marbled White:
galathea1 Vallon du Cros 06Jul17 (4a).JPG
Furry Blue female
dolus2 female Vallon du Cros 06Jul17 (1a).JPG
Furry Blue male
dolus1 male Vallon du Cros 06Jul17 (2a).JPG
High Brown
adippe1 Vallon du Cros 06Jul17 (2a).JPG
Black Satyr
actaea1 Vallon du Cros 06Jul17 (6a).JPG
This is the high point of the season down here.
Chris

chapeau !!

[Matsukaze]

... Shame about the lavender field. I guess with a bit of altitude there'd have been quite a variety of species imbibing?...

David, to be so unattractive to butterflies, I really wouldn't be surprised if the lavender is treated or genetically modified.

There seems to be a substantial amount of lavender honey produced from these fields, so I doubt it is being treated in some way. The little oak copses studded amongst the lavender fields all have a few hives in them during the flowering season.

The reason there are so few butterflies to be seen is that it is fairly intensively farmed (by the standards of the area), and so has a relatively low butterfly population with a vast nectar resource available. The butterflies end up being spread very thinly across the lavender. Here in Somerset much the same thing happens in some of the abandoned quarries where huge areas of buddleia scrub have developed. The buddleia draws in all the butterflies from the surrounding area, but there are so many bushes each butterfly has a few of them all to itself.

[Chris Jackson]

Thanks for your reply, Matsukase.
Your reasoning about the distribution of the butterfly population over the extensive lavender cultivations is plausible.
I would invite anyone who goes on holiday in the South of France in the area of the Plateau de Valensole to go and see these fields full of lavender.
Cheers,
Chris

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Folks,
Here is an update from my lunch-time patch in Vitrolles, South of France.
You may remember that it was razed to the ground in wildfires on August 10th last year.
Minutes before the fires hit my olive grove :

The next morning:

Well a year has passed and the low lying vegetation (grasses) has rapidly grown again.
Even the strawberry trees are pushing back up from their roots, as can be seen here.

Today from a distance I saw fluttering and a largish butterfly showing interest in one of these strawberry trees. I instinctively guessed what it was.

And sure enough I found one egg.

So, in just over a year after the fires, nature is getting a grip again. There used to be a maximum of 47 species of butterfly in this olive grove and I have counted 21 in very small numbers this year; it will be interesting to see which will be the new arrivals next year.
Chris

[David M]

Hopefully things will recover still further next year, Chris. I take it you missed those fires that were raging in the Var a few weeks back?

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Folks,
Here are a few images of what we can see in the South of France at the moment, at the beginning of September:
This is a male Chapman's

Here we have a Wood White:

This is S. proto:

A. paphia, form valesina:

Male Chalk-hill

L. bellargus:

Woodland Grayling:

L. coridon - female and male:

P. onopordi (I think):

Large Wall:

Chris

[Charles Nicol]

Lovely images Chris !

The vaselina was especially belle. I enjoyed my French expedition this year despite its brevity.

Charles

[Chris Jackson]

Thanks Charles,

A few more images from the start of September down here in the South of France:
Purple Hairstreak well above head height on full zoom :

Small Heaths mating - form lyllus:

Woodland Graylings courting, although worn :

Weaver's Frit - its season is long down here :

Clouded Yellow female form helice :

CORRECTION : The C. crocea f. helice is in fact C. alfacariensis female
Chris

[David M]

Still quite a few interesting species flying by you, Chris, although many look to be at the latter end of their lives.

Well done with the Woodland Grayling upperside shot. I've been trying for a few years for this but have not yet been successful (yet I have managed Great Banded Grayling on occasions).

[Charles Nicol]

Still quite a few interesting species flying by you, Chris, although many look to be at the latter end of their lives.

Well done with the Woodland Grayling upperside shot. I've been trying for a few years for this but have not yet been successful (yet I have managed Great Banded Grayling on occasions).

this one hardly moved at all

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Folks,
The South of France is still mild at the moment with a lo of 13°C and a hi of 25°C.
Things are calming down seriously on the butterfly front but we can still see this :
Lang's Short-tailed Blue - plenty around, some fresh some worn

Two-tailed Pasha Caterpillar:

Context for the TTP:

P. brassicae:

C. argiolus:

Chris

[David M]

Always good to see a few butterflies, but it's even better to know someone is still having the luxury of basking in mid-twenties temperatures! Make the most of it, Chris. The season is all but done here in the UK. I suspect you will have a few more weeks yet!

[Chris Jackson]

... The season is all but done here in the UK. I suspect you will have a few more weeks yet!

We must be getting some warm air up from Spain, David, because today in the south east of France we have a lo of 18°C and a high of 25°C although overcast.
I was surprised yesterday to see these Graylings in such good condition. Two-tailed Pasha eggs were quite easy to find, but I should think that at this late stage many of them are un-viable. The star species at the moment is Lang's Short-tailed Blue - this is easily the most common species around. If the winter is mild, it can run right into January and through to any cold snap we may have in February (as is the case for Red Admirals).
Grayling in good nick:

Lang's Short-tailed Blue (L. pirithous):

TTP egg case on Strawberry Tree leaf:

TTP egg:

Tree Grayling (H. statilinus) (the last of the 'Graylings' to emerge):

Cheers,
Chris