Greenwings: Pyrenées Orientales, 24th to 31st May 2023

[David M]

After all the problems in Morocco, it was good to drive overnight from Gatwick to Stansted to meet up with my regular co-guide Jon and travel to one of my favourite butterfly destinations - the Eastern French Pyrenees.

A few days prior to flying out, I'd been concerned about the weather prospects, as a low pressure system had been dumping rain in this area. Thankfully, this front moved south and (apart from the final afternoon) we had a relatively warm and sunny week.

The precipitation had made the vegetation quite green, although I got the impression that the season (certainly from a flora perspective) was a little behind. The butterflies were right on cue however, with approaching 90 species recorded, whilst the views were as good as ever:

[David M]

The undoubted highlight of this trip was the appearance of at least 2 Two Tailed Pashas at the top of Força Real on the penultimate day.

Last year we saw them at this location for the first time and I was apprehensive about lightning striking twice.

Strike it did though...although it took a little while for them to appear (some guests had given up and walked back down to the car park).

One in particular put on a formidable show, swooping around regularly before landing back on the same favoured perch and allowing close approaches:

It then developed a fancy for the stone wall:

It then spent more time on its original perch:

Finally, to everyone's astonishment, it decided to settle on a low-growing curry plant flower:

Surprisingly, it remained here for several minutes, even though we were all within 5 feet of it:

The entire spectacle lasted over half an hour and was right up there with the most satisfying butterfly experiences I've ever had.

[selbypaul]

An absolute stunner of a butterfly David. Bringing back all those fantastic memories of last year.

[David M]

It really does quicken your pulse rate seeing these, Paul.

Had to wait half an hour for them to turn up but it was worth it.

[David M]

The main target butterfly of this trip is Violet Copper, so, having arrived a day prior to the guests, we headed up to the site to ensure they were around.

We had only been there 5 minutes when this stunning female appeared:

We found several males too, but for me they are not quite as impressive:

When we returned with the group a few days later, there were five males lekking in the main area at the bottom of the slope, so it was probably the easiest audience we've ever had with this delightful species on this tour.

[David M]

Our Apollo count this year was very poor, with only three seen. This was because of cloudy conditions when we ascended above 1,300m on the first full day. Of course, this helped to bring these huge, heavy insects to the ground where they were easy to photograph:

Roadworks prevented us from visiting for a second time later in the week, but everyone was happy with the close encounters at the beginning of the tour.

[David M]

Clouded Apollos were seen in larger numbers, although they too were becalmed by conditions at altitude on Day 1:

[David M]

Provence Orange Tips, as per usual, turned up here and there:

A few females were seen too:

[David M]

Two species I wasn't expecting to see were Provence Chalkhill Blue and Western Dappled White.

The Chalkhill was seen on the penultimate day and looked in very good condition:

The Dappled White was seen the day before guests arrived but no more were recorded over the next seven days:

[David M]

De Prunner's Ringlets were around in small numbers. This one posed perfectly:

[David M]

Saw two forms of Marsh Fritillary, with plenty of beckeri below 1,000m:

The mountain form was seen at 1,500m:

[David M]

There were plenty of Spanish Gatekeepers and Western Marbled Whites at lower elevations further east:

[essexbuzzard]

A mouth-watering sample of species there, David. Looking foreword to more...

[David M]

Thanks, Mark. Over 80 species seen which I'll break down by family next.

[David M]

Hesperiidae

Not too many in terms of sheer numbers within this group, and we didn't see Lulworth Skipper at all, which is unusual. We did manage to find Chequered Skipper though on our day in the Aude valley:

1. Mallow Skipper
2. Tufted Marbled Skipper
3. Chequered Skipper
4. Dingy Skipper
5. Large Skipper
6. Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper
7. Large Grizzled Skipper
8. Olive Skipper
9. Safflower Skipper
10. Southern Grizzled Skipper
11. Red Underwing Skipper

The commonest Pyrgus was armoricanus:

There were small numbers of alveus:

Mallow and Tufted Marbled Skipper often confuse those travelling on these tours. When you see them side by side though the differences are clear:

[David M]

Riodinidae

Small numbers of Dukes seen on two separate days.

12. Duke of Burgundy

[David M]

Papilionidae

We saw both podalirius and feisthamelii, whilst machaon turned up occasionally (especially in hilltopping areas):

Like last year, only one Spanish Festoon was recorded, although it was in very good condition and unsurprisingly proved popular with our fellow travellers.

13. Spanish Festoon
14. Iberian Scarce Swallowtail
15. Scarce Swallowtail
16. Swallowtail
17. Apollo
18. Clouded Apollo

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Coppers and Hairstreaks

Aside from Green Hairstreak, Blue-Spot and Ilex were the only other Hairstreaks seen:

We surprisingly missed out on Purple-Edged Copper, but we saw a few Purple-Shot and plenty of Sooty Coppers:

19. Green Hairstreak
20. Ilex Hairstreak
21. Blue-Spot Hairstreak
22. Violet Copper
23. Small Copper
24. Purple-Shot Copper
25. Sooty Copper

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues

Plenty of variety in this group. A small number of Amanda's Blues were seen:

Osiris and Escher's Blues turned up in small numbers:

This mating pair of Green Underside Blues was unexpected as we'd seen virtually none prior:

Chequered Blues are always welcome, although they were only commonplace at one location:

This female Chapman's Blue was nice:

Silver Studded Blues were only seen in the Aude département where they were around in their dozens:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues

26. Brown Argus
27. Holly Blue
28. Small Blue
29. Osiris Blue
30. Mazarine Blue
31. Green Underside Blue
32. Lang's Short-Tailed Blue
33. Silver Studded Blue
34. Mountain Argus
35. Geranium Argus
36. Escher's Blue
37. Amanda's Blue
38. Adonis Blue
39. Common Blue
40. Chapman's Blue
41. Chequered Blue
42. Provence Chalkhill Blue
43. Baton Blue
44. Long Tailed Blue