Provencal Fritillary ( mellicta dejone ) is one of those butterflies, I find, that when you’ve seen one for sure, you’re in no doubt, and Heath Fritillary ( mellicta athalia ) is just so variable it can lead to many false alarms. In the female, the contrast between the bands, as Guy says, is very ap...

Amanda's Blue (polyommatus amandus) is quite variable according to locality and altitude. Before 2008 I had only encountered it in ones or twos and only at a few localities, but this year I have seen it in about 6-8 places, maybe more (I haven’t analysed my records yet) and most have had dark border...

Off topic, but the BBC used Sleepwalk by Santo & Johnny as background music, issued in 1959 which I guess is way before the time of most visitors to this site. For anyone who wants to hear this fantastic track in full, here's the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyM7SNn4SCg&featu...

Interesting programme, presenting butterfly enthusiasts in quite a positive light, I thought. Some great video footage, even if some of the specimens were slightly moth-eaten (sic) and one or two were slightly crippled. It showed the Adonis Blue with marginal spots, as I think someone commented here...

Yes, the Col de Vars and Isola 2000 (locations over 2000m, not 200m as per my earlier post) are in the same “corridor” as the Col de Larche. I visited the Col de Larche in the second week of July both last year and this year – last year the temperature was 12C and a biting cold wind so only a few Ge...

7613 was from Isola 2000, 12178 and 12194 from the Col de Vars, and 13427 from Mattmark. All locations over 200m. Pure gardetta were flying in good numbers at both sites at the same time. If their respective distributions must be studied more deeply, I look forward to the conclusions. I suppose this...

I'll have a good look through all the photos of that trip and see if I can find anything that throws more light on it. As you're in analysis mode, I was in the process of studying these photos for possible Darwin's Heath ( coenonympha darwiniana ) (I've got to see one someday?) and have been analysi...

You can have the advantage of seeing the blow-ups! I think the fringes are just worn, rather than chequered. blues_group_13323_minimus400.JPG The deeper blue may well just be the camera angle. The marginal markings look Eros to me, based on my experience of only seeing this species maybe 12 times. T...

I've blown up the original photo and I think the blue is Eros - it looked very much like others that I know were Eros for sure, and there were a few of them around (it was at Mattmark). I didn't see any Silver Studded there. I think the brown one was Small/Little - I blew up the original and there w...

Green-underside Blue ( glaucopsyche alexis ) is very much a spring butterfly. I used to spend holidays in France in July and never saw it except for one holiday to the Pyrenees in May, so I concluded then that it was localised. But having spent the last three summers in France, I find it is actually...

I thought I put this up earlier, but clearly not. Any that are mis-identified, please feel free to inform me of corrections.

http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/2008_highlights.htm

Some highlights of 2008 so far. These are the blues, I'll put up other pages in the next few days.

http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/2008_highlights.htm

You do know that there are some species unique and endemic to Corsica, such as the fabulous Corsican Swallowtail, Fritillary, Heath etc? Whether you’re there at the right time or in the right localities, is another matter. There are some details in Tolman & Lewington and on Matt Rowlings site: h...

What a great idea!

I would have loved to have come, and so would my long-suffering wife Ann who spends too many hours out in some remote wilderness or other, but we're not back in the UK until mid-October.

I think it's actually a Tufted Marbled Skipper. The white marks on the hindwing discal (mid) area are the clue - Mallow Skipper doesn't have these. Here's a photo I got a couple of days ago. Tufties are considered quite uncommon generally in Europe, so you've started with the difiicult species! Not ...

Nothing arty, so nil points. I'm not sure I could improve on nature.

Am I too late for the “More than one” photo competition? aporia crataegi_12529.JPG This is where the Wood Whites hang out for lunch. leptidea sinapis_12746.JPG My third sighting of a Poplar Admiral in a week. You wait a lifetime and three come along at once. Like London buses. Compare the size of th...

I have some experience from Dordogne and Lot & Garonne. I would suggest that you take ID photos of everything you can as it will be difficult to identify everything you see in the field, especially blues (ideally undersides) and fritillaries, as they will be highly active in flower meadows. You ...

Bryan, I find Red Underwing Skippers can vary greatly in size, some being almost minute. I tend to find they don’t nectar very often, but do have a welcome habit of returning to the same spot to defend their territory (as Guy says), which is good because they can be difficult to follow in flight. Th...

Sorry, I should have given a clue as to size. It was appreciably larger than Small or Osiris, and it was puddling in company with several normal Small Blues, although the odd one can be unusually large, so this remains a possibility. I didn’t see the upperside except in short flight and it was quite...