CARDINAL (ARGYNNIS PANDORA).jpg With little else to do sat in lock down I can at least relive some of the happy moments that I have spent searching for the butterflies of France. I had not yet been taken by the butterfly bug so my first encounter with the Cardinal sent me along a path of discovery ...

I echo Pete’s comment, I am in awe of Mark Colvin’s powers of patience and observation, 82 L t Blue eggs amazing.

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After hours sat waiting my manic Small White finally came in for a pit stop this afternoon.

Despite large numbers of Small whites in my garden last year , they reduced our Cabbage plants to stumps, oh well , our contribution to nature was my wife's comment, this is the only one I've seen this year

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/ As a landowner who had to contend with the behaviour that you describe, my home paddock situated in the centre of the village has a footpath running though it , I can confirm your observations Allan, I was constantly having to remonstrate with inconsiderate dog w...

"Stick to the whisky, Jack. Probably help you sleep better too. Hello Jack I have also given up Whiskey, Scrumpy, well I learnt before the age of fifteen it had an undesirable effect upon me, but having been introduced to the French way of life many years ago as a result of a twining arrangemen...

The butterfly, the ant, and a plant. The Alcon blue is indeed a rare  butterfly, it took me a considerable amount of effort to track down my first, in the first picture the dark female was the only one seen on my first visit to a protected site , invitation only, the second visit two years later was...

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Goolge birds egge,Starling. or thrush

Hello Lee. You may find an off the peg hosting site such as Zenfolio that I use offers an easy way of creating a website,it offers three price ranges from £5/MO* to full professional at £25/MO*  adaptable templates that allows you to create your own personal site , it has  a blog site,search,videos,...

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com Graellsia isabellae Hi Pete chance in a lifetime, if its of interest the link will give location details, I was aware it flies in the Pyrenees  but surprised to see the Alpes-Maritimes listed as a location. https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s1...

Hit and run casualty Returning to my previous post, "A needle in a haystack", I was treated to two new and unexpected sightings, the first happened early one morning as I wandered up to the village of Llo to photograph the handsome chapel from the advantage of a higher position, I happened...

A needle in a haystack Certain butterflies for some reason I can't explain have captured my imagination, the Violet copper is one, when I first became aware of this little beauty I had not a clue where to look other than France,a rather large country, the Internet was the first port of call, informa...

A few more to add to the Papilionidae magazine, a question Guy, I may be mistaken but there appears to be a shphragis on both the Clouded Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne) and the egg laying Small Apollo (Parnassius phoebus) shown in the pictures, I take it your picture shows a shphragis on an Apollo, d...

Keep em coming folk, a birding friend once said to me  "when you get tired of watching Kingfishers your tired of life"  seems to apply to the Apollo as well. https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com

A few  Chequered Blue (Scolitantides orion) all from the Pyrénées-Orientales 2015 showing quite a variation of colour.
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Seeing the  Appoll for the first time was and remains for me an unforgettable experience, so here is a selection of my favourite Apollo photos as a distraction from the gloom and doom of our current house bound predicament. Please add your favourite butterfly photos. https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio....

Very nice to have feedback on the Map butterfly, heartwarming when confined to barracks. The Map seems to have a wide distribution ,take a look at Observation.org Matsukaze, It may be of interest that in France I have seen the Map in six different departments,I am sure more experienced members of UK...

The Map is one of my favourite little butterflies, my first encounter with the Map was at the Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Maillezais Vendee Abbey of Saint-Pierre.jpg a favourite location that my wife and I visit to sample the local regional menu at the Auberge de L'abbaye , that is if you are brave enoug...

looks spot on to me , thanks Neil.
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Apologies for the poor quality photo,but hoping someone can ID this critter https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/