
A trip along the Rhône Valley today (bike and train) produced 40 species, despite my missing nearly all my targets for the day (because they weren't flying yet at their sites - the missed targets being Provençal fritillary, Zephyr blue, turquoise blue and Osiris blue). Here are a few highlights. I might add some tomorrow, as I will be visiting a different site then.

Swallowtail and scarce swallowtail taking minerals together, not far from...

... a grizzled skipper and green-veined white.

Camberwell beauties are absurdly common this year. They were almost constant companions today and I found it more enjoyable just to admire them than to worry about getting photos.

This one did insist on sitting next to me, though!

This is a close-up of a fresh grizzled skipper.

This dingy skipper, at the other end of its life, had taken on a beautiful golden hue.

Chequered blue, flying at a site where I never knew it flew. One of the wonderful things about butterflying is discovering new things in new places.

A reminder of the Suffolk coast - small copper form caerulopunctata.
Yesterday I stayed more local and found this female short-tailed blue laying eggs on sainfoin, a plant I didn't know the species used:

This male Provençal short-tailed blue, by far the commoner of the two species, was in my local woods:

Today's outing took me up to 94 species for the year. I'm aiming for 200 (=20 x 10) this year, to celebrate 2010 in style!
Guy