Reverdin

[Reverdin]

New to the site, so to start a blog with some images from here and there, and experiences to share.
Today, 29th May...

Male Speckled Wood attending to his territory..

and a Large White clinging on to a Yellow Rattle head in the breeze today.

[Reverdin]

Not much of a day here, cold grey and rainy, but ran a moth trap last night and thought I just had to show these... sorry I know they're not butterflies, but they do have wings and they are gorgeous...

Elephant Hawk

and something I've never seen before, a Campion

[Padfield]

Two very lovely moths!

Guy

[Reverdin]

Collard Hill pilgrimage Saturday 4th June.

7.30am First rays of sun hit the downslope

First wings to open

Feeding

more glimpses of that gorgeous blue

who would not want to see these in England

last one of my day

Great to finally meet Mr Hulme and to bump into Roger again

[David M]

Is there a particular time of day/specific weather conditions where Large Blues exhibit a greater propensity toward opening their wings?

[Reverdin]

Well, judging by Saturday... there weren't that many around, and I know there were comments about the lack of wing opening... I was there from 7am, until 2 ish, and spent a lot of time carefully wandering around the slopes after them... they were quite jittery and did not settle for long, and flew very easily when approached....
... however... with patience, nearly all of them ( 4 or 5!!) eventually showed me upperside, not particularly sun related, but spent ~ 95% time with closed wings, opening for 30 seconds at most. I saw more males than females and they were all quite fresh.... a great day out.

[Reverdin]

Sunday 5th in Devon. Not great weather but some Fritillary success... first time I have seen Heath Frit in this country, and seem to be darker than their European counterparts to me... lovely to see and thanks indeed to Roger and Rose for their wonderful hospitality.

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary, Devon style

Underside of Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary, Devon style

Heath Fritillary

Heath Fritillary

Heath Fritillary on Common Cow Wheat

Heath Fritillary

Heath Fritillary

[jenks]

Sunday 5th in Devon. Not great weather but some Fritillary success... first time I have seen Heath Frit in this country, and seem to be darker than their European counterparts to me... lovely to see and thanks indeed to Roger and Rose for their wonderful hospitality.

Where in Devon did you see the Heath Frits ? I was returning to South Wales that day after 3 days in Hampshire & Dorset, made a detour to Lydford Gorge, and watched never ending rain from 11 am till 2pm. Not one butterfly of any description ( they`d have been mad to have been out in that weather !) But I couldnt find any HF`s sheltering in the grass either. Hence my hesitation to travel to East Anglia this coming weekend (see Swallowtail thread ) in view of the weather that is forecast. I may make a trip to Haddon Hill if the weather looks good (less distance ) if someone can point me to the area where HF`s are found.

Thanks for any help.

[Rogerdodge]

Where in Devon did you see the Heath Frits ?

Actually, we were in Somerset - Haddon is just over the border.
It was misty, cold and drizzly, but we found a couple of roosting HFs.
I shall PM you a map later today.

[Reverdin]

Sat 24th June - Lake District, Hartsop Dodd.
In the company of Roger Harding, made the climb to the high fells to see mnemon, and despite not quite ideal conditions achieved the following. Apologies to those who hate photographers and who hate butterflies on sticks... I suggest you look away now

[Reverdin]

Day 1 – Spent the morning along the riverside in our Haute Savoie base at 700m with weather gradually improving. Investigated any rough waste ground and gradually accounted for Marbled White, Small Heath, Small and Large Skipper, Small and Large Whites, Wood White, Short Tailed Blue, Provencal Short Tailed Blue, Holly Bue, White Admiral, Marbled Fritillary, Heath Fritillary, ubiquitous Meadow Brown and Ringlet and penultimately Arran Brown. Finally, an Emperor put in a brief aerobatic display, taunting us by not revealing it’s true identity!!

Arran Brown

Provencal Short-tailed Blue

In the afternoon we set off to the top of one of the local peaks, a flattish basin at 1700m with a small lake. Here we had a very warm afternoon, and saw Mazarine Blue, Moorland Clouded Yellow, Alpine Heath, Dark Green Fritillary, Mountain Ringlet, Bright Eyed Ringlet and my first totally new species of my trip.... Blind Ringlet.

Mazarine Blue

Moorland Clouded Yellow

Marbled White

Alpine Heath

? Blind Ringlet

Lesser Mountain Ringlet ( ID edited from Mountain Ringlet)

We ventured slowly down the Alpine road back into our valley base, stopping off in the early evening sun in several places, finding some further amenable local species as we went...Titania’s Fritillary, Black Veined White, Geranium Argus ( all well worn) and False Heath Fritillary.

Titania's Fritillary

Black-veined White

All in all, a good day, and a promising start, with weather set to be fair and new pastures to investigate. It was already evident that 2011 was an early season for many butterfly species, and this was indeed clear from the start, with the promise of some early emergent later flying species ahead. We were’nt to be disappointed.

More days and photos to come

[Rogerdodge]

Excellent stuff Paul.
Really envious of you.
You are getting great results with that new camera/lens combo.
Can't wait to see the next edition!
I am away from internet access for the next fortnight, so I will have your whole trip to read up on when I get back.
Can't wait.

[Reverdin]

Have a great time!

[Padfield]

Hi Reverdin! I'm looking forward to your further instalments too!

Your mountain ringlet is a lesser mountain ringlet (Erebia melampus). Typically, mountain ringlets (epiphron) fly on higher, more wild terrain than lesser mountain and the other species you feature. The blind ringlet is just that.

I've been in similar country with a group from UK Butts today - must get on and process the few photos I permitted myself after they had had their pick!!

Guy

[Reverdin]

Thanks Guy, thought I must have seen melampus, but not sure which!!!... now I know. Look forward to hearing how your current group do.

[Reverdin]

02/07/11
Day 3 - We ventured early, up to a ski base at 1600m and walked slowly uphill, steeply at times to a lofty 2100m. At 1600m the first Erebia visible turned out to be Manto Ringlet, my first experience of this one. Images as usual were difficult to accomplish well. Glorious Sooty and Purple Edged Coppers, and Small Blues were evident a little further up the path.

Manto Ringlet ( Yellow Spotted )

Manto Ringlet underside

Purple Edged Copper

Purple Edged Copper female

Sooty Copper

At about 1800m the debilis form of Marsh Fritillary was seen and a male Queen of Spain Fritillary appeared. Blind Ringlet was once more present. Large Grizzled Skipper put in a tantalizing but unphotographable appearance, and many Erebia continued to taunt, as the thin mountain air took a toll of my legendary lack of fitness! We settled for lunch at a promontory at 1900m and enjoyed a hill-topping Machaon Swallowtail, Small Tortoiseshell, Bath White, a pristine Mazarine, and Grizzled Skippers. The Erebia continued to taunt, flying 10m on disturbance within 2m, and always settling in long grass, rarely still. As we approached our 2100m vantage point, only a rather worn Dewy Ringlet added to our tally.

debilis Marsh Fritillary

Blind Ringlet

Blind Ringlet underside

Mazarine Blue

The descent was similar in reverse, with species appearing, and then disappearing as we staggered down the very unstable scree like path. Rewardingly, some better photo opportunities began to afford themselves as the day wore on. Just below 1800m a Niobe Fritillary showed off. I was then enthralled to improve my Manto Ringlet images. I am sure Lesser Mountain Ringlet was also in the throngs of dark Ringlets along the way.

Purple Edged Copper

Manto

Manto underside

[Reverdin]

Day 4 – A visit to the head of the valley at 1000m. After driving as far as we could go, a long brisk walk bought us to unstable mountain grassland which one felt was basically a boulder field on which lush vegetation constantly tried to smother the expanding collection of rocks as they dropped off the surrounding amphitheatre towering 500m above on three sides.
The species were initially a little disappointing. A Mountain Argus, worn Woodland Ringlets and pristine Arran Browns provided some distraction, and an Orange Tip was seen.

Mountain Argus

Not until the lunchtime heat did much else happen. Riverside scat provided the breakthrough. A flurry of Blues scattered as we walked nearby. On closer inspection Eros, Chalkhill, Damon and Small Blues were all enjoying the mineralogical feast.

Eros

Damon

Chalkhill

Among the Sanfoin nearby Osiris Blues, a Damon Blue and a Large Blue had chosen a sweeter food source!

Large Blue

Damon

Descending back to the car, we furthermore saw Silver Washed Fritillaries, Commas and another rather large Pyrgus Skipper for which I am endeavouring to find an identity.

Large Grizzled Skipper

An evening trip up to the last venue of day 1 yielded further photo opportunities for several species, but none new for the trip.

Alpine Heaths

Damon

Chalkhill

[Reverdin]

Day 5 – A trip across the Beaufort pass in Savoie to a site I had been before at 1500m. This turned out to be a relatively bad day. Most species were to active to photograph, until the sun went in at lunchtime, not really to re-appear. Almond-eyed Ringlet was definite and numerous, and my first witness of a female Mountain Fritillary was a pleasant suprise.

alberganus

alberganus

alberganus

female Mountain Fritillary

female Mountain Fritillary

and my favourite..

alberganus

Two or three species of Pyrgus were present, identities being worked on!

amoricanus

alveus

serratulae

I then drove down the steep switchback road and promptly deposited my car accidentally on a precipitous edge. - ?ironic smile from NickB??

I spent the rest of the day in recovery vehicles, taxis and finally a new Hire car and arrived back at base rather bedraggled and dejected, but at least no-one had been injured..

[Padfield]

I think it would be a little optimistic to try and identify those Pyrgus with certainty, Reverdin! But I agree that the second does look a lot like alveus. The first looks like armoricanus to me. I'm not sure how the voltinism works there, but if it was at altitude it could have been the very last of the first generation, which would explain its condition. Alveus is currently very fresh here in CH. The last could be female alveus, but I couldn't rule out female serratulae just from one angle like that... In some ways it looks more like serratulae than alveus.

Great pictures, especially the very last one, of your car!

Guy

[Reverdin]

Thanks for that Guy, those Pyrgus frustrate me+++. I didn't dare think amoricanus... but I'll take it as my first of that species, albeit battered a bit .. and the car...
Stand by for the next weary instalment