Matsukaze

[Matsukaze]

Rather better than expected here so far. Glanville Fritillary outside the front door, a colony of Marsh Fritillary nearby. Mothing amongst thr orchids tonight.

[David M]

Nice start, Chris. That meadow looks interesting. I'm sure you'll find plenty to keep you occupied.

[Matsukaze]

I have seen more fritillaries this week, both species and numbers, than 2020 and 2021 combined. I was not expecting this. They are now getting replaced by Meadow Brown's and Painted Ladies. Male Meadow Browns out by the 15th, females started to emerge the next day. Painted Lady numbers building up quickly from nothing this week, but they look territorial and I doubt they will head north yet. Very few Clouded Yellows.

Off to Sarthe/Mayenne border now, not really looking for butterflies but will see what we find.

[David M]

Today, I was reading that France has set a new record of 39 consecutive spring days where temperatures have been higher than average. No wonder this has translated into early emergences.

Seems there's been a mini-heatwave in the south as well, so you should look out for the unexpected, Chris.

[Matsukaze]

Not bad at all here for butterflies in Sarthe/Mayenne. Four species I would never see at home turning up as 'wider countryside' species, all of which I thought were rare or did not occur this far north. Scarce Swallowtail, Black-veined White, Southern White Admiral. The fourth was behaving so interestingly, it will get a separate post some time soon!

Back home tomorrow, rather reluctantly.

[David M]

I feel for you having to come home, Chris, but you got away which is more than most have done these last two years.

Glad you had a good trip.

[Matsukaze]

Belated photos...

Lac de Ste Croix, Var, France - 9-13 May - first up, the blues

Small Blue - although we're a regular visitor to this area, either we timed it right for their emergence, or they were having a very good year here, as they were abounding.

Chequered Blue - a reading of the PACA Atlas suggests that when the lake was constructed, it wiped out a local colony of the butterfly. I've no doubt it did, but the species persists in the area, in small numbers in at least five locations. It seems to need open, hot conditions with Sedum, and perhaps a bigger threat to it is the gradual afforestation of the area.

Green-underside Blue - just a few, but I've only ever seen this butterfly singly before. Again perhaps a question of flight time. Its close relatives Black-eyed Blue and Iolas Blue also fly here but I must have been too late for the one and too early for the other this year.

Baton Blue - another species having a good year.

Also seen - Common Blue, Adonis Blue, Brown Argus.

[David M]

Some nice lycaenids there, Chris, and yes, Chequered Blue is very much a denizen of warm, dry habitat. I usually see it in the roadside gullies or at the bottom of rock faces.

[Wurzel]

Great report - the Chequered Blue is number one on my 'Wish List'

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Matsukaze]

Hope you get to see Chequered Blue one day, Wurzel. They seem to be fairly easy to find if they are about, but are ridiculously site-specific - I have been visiting this area since 2009 and have found them in a few sofa-sized patches of ground, where they recur year after year.

Lac de Ste Croix, Var, France - 9-13 May - alciphron

One of my favourite butterflies did not disappoint.

[Matsukaze]

Lac de Ste Croix, Var, France - 9-13 May - the rest

Nettle-tree Butterfly is scarce here, but another that seems to show up in the same spot year after year if you are in the right place at the right time. It always seems to be next to the foodplant.

Knapweed Fritillary; another species present in ones and twos. The commonest small fritillaries here at this time of year are Spotted and Pearl-bordered.

Fairly sure this is helice.

One of the Forester moths.

It was good to catch up with the Spanish Festoon again after a couple of years. They were slightly past their best and in smaller numbers than is sometimes the case. They tend to share their habitat with Chequered Blue.

Pyrgus - the first I think may be onopordi, the second I am a bit more confident is malvoides.

I think this is Knapweed Fritillary, but am not sure.

What fritillaries are these? They are one of the Mellictas - I got a glimpse of the underwing, but no photo - but am not sure of which.

Scotopteryx coarctata - an impressive-looking day-flying moth of the garrigue.

This impressive-looking caterpillar was also living in the garrigue, on some kind of broom.

[Wurzel]

Cracking sets of shots Matsukaze I reckon those Frits are Knapweed - the marginal marking at S2 or S3 (the third one up from the base) of the fore wing is much larger than the others and sticks 'into' the wing more looking out of line I hope I'm right now Cracking Nettle Tree butterfly- a species I'd love to see

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Matsukaze]

I always enjoy seeing these smaller fritillaries, but have a much harder time actually identifying them. I am slowly getting better I suppose - I'm starting to form an opinion on which species they might be, even if it's not a very good one, rather than just 'no idea'.

[David M]

Your analogy regarding Spanish Festoons and Chequered Blues is a good one, Chris. Both seem to prefer sheltered, dry gullies where the lhp is present.

I'm confident that those Fritillaries you flagged up are Knapweed, btw.

[Matsukaze]

Dordogne, 15-20 May 2022

This started out as something of a fritillary-fest - the first butterfly we saw on arrival was a Glanville Fritillary in the cottage garden, nectaring on chives, and there were another couple of fritillary species about there, one large, one small, joined by Southern White Admiral and Wall Brown amongst others. I never saw them, but we were constantly serenaded by Golden Orioles.

Walking in the area was not altogether pleasant, more because of the psychotic dogs that infest the area than the heat, but I did turn up this small bright Mellicta fluttering along a path on the edge of a vineyard - does anyone know what it is?

I drew a blank in an area of parched, chalk-like calcareousness that I had been meaning to take a look at in the spring for a good number of years, but shortly afterwards was surprised to see a Marsh Fritillary by the side of the road - not what I was expecting here at all:

There was another fritillary present too - parthenoides perhaps?

And also this mating pair:

The fritillaries tailed off somewhat after this - perhaps the repeated night-time thunderstorms did not help - though they were replaced by a substantial emergence of Meadow Browns. Southern White Admirals continued to delight. Large Coppers occur in the valley, and should have been on the wing, but I did not see them, as I did not have a particular site in mind and could not find any likely habitat.

I find these small fritillaries very difficult to identify, and would greatly appreciate any help!

[David M]

Both those Fritillaries look like parthenoides to me, Chris. They are extremely delicately marked, and I think the first one is an aberrant given the 'blind' look to the unfs.

[Wurzel]

A Frit fest indeed. I agree with David those UFFs are Meadow - the mark on the fore wing is oblique. I looked it up in Tolman and it's called the 'discal spot in the sb1'

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Matsukaze]

Mayenne/Sarthe border, May 2022.

My wife comes from a long line of family historians, and after marrying me was quick to find out from my father everything he knew about our ancestors. He was keen to find out more about his great-grandmother, who was a French ladies' maid who moved to Gloucestershire in the 1860s, married a local gardener, and as far as we can tell, lived happily ever afterwards as they say. My wife traced her back to a chapel on the slopes of Rodborough Common which she attended around 1868, which we visited a few summers ago. As we left the chapel, we found a small colony of Adonis Blues dallying on the bank outside.

We could not trace her French background - all the documentation we had gave the rather unhelpful location 'France' - until the records of the 1921 census were released this year. That gave us a location, which led us to a small pilgrimage chapel on the Mayenne/Sarthe border. This once had a farm associated with it, from where her father and grandfather worked. The chapel had a note on the door outlining the history of the place, which tells us that their ancestor bought the chapel and surrounding lands from the French state after the revolutionaries had confiscated the church lands - the chapel later reverted to the Church, but the family kept the lands. As we left the chapel, a single female Adonis Blue came fluttering down the lane outside.

It is a peaceful spot, with Common Blue and Small Heath in the fields, and a Southern White Admiral at the woodland edge (I did not realise they got this far north). The Sarthe butterfly recorder was a bit sceptical of the Adonis Blue sighting, as there is no foodplant in the area for some miles; the chequered fringing to the wings was clear enough to see. The butterfly is considered extinct in Mayenne, 50 metres to the north, from whence it appeared to have come.

[Matsukaze]

Mayenne/Sarthe border, May 2022 (part 2)

That evening, I took a short walk from where we were staying and came across the old bridge in the centre of the photo below.

As I walked up to it, a Wall Brown fluttered up, and came to rest on the bridge, wings folded. I stood and watched for a little while, and soon realised that the bridge was warm to the touch and the butterfly was using it to heat up. I looked for others, and found a couple. Then one of them opened its wings:

Large Wall Brown. The clever butterflies must have been using this bridge for decades if not centuries.

We noticed something similar the next evening, in the village of Epineux-le-Seguin. This time the Large Wall Brown was the only species we saw, but there were at least five of them, using an ancient stone cross and the old wall of the lane that led down to the cemetery. They seemed to ignore newer structures. The villagers objected to the Revolution in no uncertain terms, so I suppose the behaviour of the butterflies is historically appropriate, but could it be that the irregular surfaces of the old walls provide hot-spots that recent, regular surfaces do not?

[Wurzel]

I love the continuity of the Adonis Blue as you left both Chapels Matsukaze Great to see the Walls living up to their name as well - I reckon you could be onto something with the irregular nature of the walls offering hotspots - could alos be down to the different colours and hues of building materials whereas on the newer surfaces the colour wold be much more regular

Have a goodun

Wurzel