I was also intrigued to see cardinals clinging to the shade, even roosting in deep shade in the middle of the day. You seem to have had a similar experience. Spain is a wonderful country, with lots of endemic species and subspecies, as well as fascinating behaviour in response to the extreme heat (...

Hi David My view is France in the Ariege region in August was better for butterflies. I prefer the more rural and rustic feel to France too but Spain does have a lot to offer and you will undoubtedly see new species when you go there :) . I’ve have only been to Austria once on a school trip some 45 ...

I've enjoyed following your story and am glad you got so many lifers.Cheers, Thanks for your comment Chris :D My reports have been a labour of love as much a record for posterity as well as to inform others and to this end I’ve tried to capture the events surrounding the sightings if sometimes seem...

continued on from part 6 Then I was into some good ole’ ever-present Southern Gatekeepers a butterfly I’d grown rather fond of over the time I’d spent here :D . Strangely though all bar one appeared to be females :? . A 2017.08.18 IMG_9890 Pyronia cecelia, Southern Gatekeeper, MP.jpg B 2017.08.18 IM...

Thanks for providing these interesting and useful links Roger :) . The paper info is in French but there is a map which shows the relative distribution of both podalirius and feisthameli in Southern France. My sighting in 2015 at La Bastide de Serou, appears to be on the borderline between the two s...

In the newest books : feisthamelii is flying in the southern France as well : Pyrenees-orientales, southern parts of Aude, Haute Garonne, eastern part of Ariége I'm not entirely familiar with the region. I saw my butterfly in La Bastide de Serou nr. Foix in 2015. I'm not sure if there is an overlap...

Hi It has been great to follow your trip (holiday ) in Spain, and great that you got a photo of Scarce Swallowtail, BUT it is not the Scarce Swallowtail (podalirius), but Southern Scarce Swallowtail ( feisthamelii ) it was in 2015 considered as a speices on it own right, and thats the one flying in...

16/08/17. No butterflying for this day as we used the refund for our aborted Cordoba excursion for a one to Seville. After the booking agent or tour company’s mistake, you’d have thought we wouldn’t be due any more cock-ups .. but you’d be wrong :roll: . Due to the travelling distance involved, we h...

Chris Jackson wrote:I suggest Leuzea conifera which in plain language is Pinecone Thistle.

Thanks very much Chris . The plant is aptly named. It's the flower bracts that make it look like a pine cone. I've googled it and agree that they look better in their growth phase. This one has already gone to seed.

Phil

A cracking set of Skippers Philzoid and Cardinals as well - you really did play down your sightings on the trip, they're definitely worthy of a few more :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :D Thanks Wurzel. I did (slightly :wink: ) underestimate my lifers in the first instance until their ID's became clear. The Ca...

Loving all things Hedge Brown/Gatekeeper seeing the 'Southern' in particularly envy inducing I suppose you are Wurzel getting that striking welsh aberrant too :shock: :mrgreen: Southern Gatekeeper is on my wish list, Phil. I envy you for having seen it. Sadly, my visits to continental Europe tend t...

It was also great to see Red-rumped Swallows , the last time I saw them I was in Kefalonia and they were flying over a swimming pool and drinking(?) Hi Wurzel :) The red-rumps were mixed in with Barn Swallows and they occasionally came down to drink from our swimming pool too. Also, lots of House M...

That aberrant Hedge Brown takes some beating Wurzel :shock: as do those Brown Hairstreaks :mrgreen: :mrgreen: . That spot at Shipton comes up trumps year on year: it’s a shame I couldn’t make it this time :( . It’s difficult to say which was my favourite :? . I suppose in truth it was the Swallowtai...

Lovely reportage there, Phil, and I'm envious of both your Striped and Tree Graylings as I have yet to see either! Thanks David :) Our semele Grayling is one of my top ten butterflies and the ones abroad don’t disappoint either :) . Their habit of sitting tight and relying on their camouflage gives...

Moving on from my last stop, the A-402 road doubled back on itself and in ½ a mile I was pulling-in again at a higher elevation with the scrubby woodland still present. Scrambling down a small embankment I found myself among the thick scrub hopeful of encountering another Cardinal. No Cardinal but a...

A good story line, Phil.And your IDs look good to me!! Thanks for endorsing my ID's. The anvil marking on the skipper's underside hind-wing is why I went for onopordi. Some more lifers in the next part (tomorrow). It is a great place for a holiday as you can have a bit of everything, sun sea sand; ...

And so, my big day arrived but I didn’t get off as early as I would’ve liked as I needed to ensure that everyone else would be OK, had enough money etc. I’d been thinking of following in Nick Morgan’s footsteps and going to the Sierra Nevada but chickened out over the distance involved :oops: . I co...

Part 5a … a short interlude 14/08/17 As our last day’s holiday was the 19th I was acutely aware that time was running out for my “big trip out” :cry: . However, it wasn’t to be on this day though. My daughters were set on going out on a dolphin spotting trip so that’s what we did on a boat from Fuen...

Sorry for the late reply Wurzel :) . Just got back from a few days in Sunderland (and saw a couple of species up there without having to try too hard :) ). I agree that paired female in the first shot isn’t noticeable and I was asking myself the question “what’s this” :? when I first saw that image ...

Sorry for the late reply. Just got back from a few days in Sunderland :) . It would be good if they got their skates on a bit and hopped the Channel more often... I fully agree with you on that one Dave. My very first encounter with Papilio machaon was with larvae seen at Jugon-les-Lacs in Northern ...