Having had a closer look, I feel 1625 is a very strong candidate for eumedon . The cold brown colouring looks to me like a sure pointer. I have only seen one female nicias but it was warmer brown than this. I don’t think there are any other options, apart from a female semiargus and the colouring an...

A very quick look, just inspection without analysis: 1625 looks good for eumedon (female?). 1637 is clearly Aricia , probably artaxerxes , but I am not sure the forewing apex is sufficiently pointed (is this only important if it is a male?) , so agestis is also possible. 1519 may well be the same, a...

Just a quick look, but it ticks all the carlinae boxes. Nice to have both surfaces. The upf cell spot looks spot on. If Guy doesn't agree I will have a more detailed look, and we have had the debate about the degree of the "C" shape of the carlinae cell spot in the dim and distant past. Th...

I would say that these are all hispana , Paul. It is easier to extract the text from my coridon page: " Coridon and Provence Chalk-hill Blue ( L. hispana ) can be difficult to tell apart, especially so from the female upperside. The male upperside of hispana is a rather duller silvery blue, oft...

The Lafranchis ID book rather suggests that you were (or might have been) out of range for albicans . You might want to check your exact location against Lafranchis’ distribution map. Hispana in Var is almost finished by mid June. The altitude effect of where you were may well extend that flight per...

BC are doing a special membership offer, details here:

http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/t ... rship.html

I got a response from Tim Cowles who feels it is Lysandra and from what can be seen of the upperside, bellargus . He added that there is no reason why odd individuals should not be missing this cell spot, and has experience of Common Blues with a cell spot on one side only. I think Tim has answered ...

Robin, you are absolutely right that Adonis Blue should have a cell spot. I think you can see enough of the forewing of Pete's #13 to be reasonably sure there is no cell spot. Cell spots are nearly always a sure ID pointer, but not 100%. I have a photo of a Turquoise Blue ( Polyommatus dorylas ) tha...

You could well be right, Guy. I was going on these factors which I felt indicated parthenoides to me, in order of significance: 1. the uph discal gap 2. the neatness of the neatly arched and delicately edged uph bands 3. the heavy black borders 4. the generally uncluttered upf (not really heavy enou...

Well spotted, Lee. If I had seen the flash of blue, I would have gone for Adonis, too, even though the underside does seem to be a very cold grey for Adonis, more the unh colour I associate with Chalk-hill in the Pyrenees.

Roger

I agree with Pete’s IDs except: 7. from what I can see, this looks like a Turquoise Blue ( Polyommatus dorylas ), in fact I am fairly confident it is 9. Escher’s Blue ( Polyommatus escheri ) – easier to ID in the field as escheri is large and thersites is icarus -size 11. this looks like a female Os...

First impressions: 1 / 2. Marsh Fritillary ( Euphydryas aurinia ) 3. False Heath Fritillary ( Melitaea diamina ) form vernetensis 4. Meadow Fritillary ( Mellicta parthenoides ) - male 5. Meadow Fritillary ( Mellicta parthenoides ) 6. Meadow Fritillary ( Mellicta parthenoides ) - female 7. Spotted Fr...

First impressions: 1 / 2. Safflower Skipper ( Pyrgus carthami ) 3 / 4. Large Grizzled Skipper ( Pyrgus alveus ) – more on the basis of the underside shot 5. Safflower Skipper ( Pyrgus carthami ) 6. Safflower Skipper ( Pyrgus carthami ) 7. Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper ( Pyrgus armoricanus ) – hard to ...

Meridionalis is the southern form of M. didyma occurring commonly in southern Europe. It is a very common species in southern France. I have looked at my didyma photos from France and none have the sagittate marginal black marks and even the more crescent-shaped ones are still clearly rounded. 2606...

The width of the unh discal spot in s4/5 looks possible for armoricanus but these marks look similar for both armoricanus and malvae/malvoides , both flat edged internally and sort of uneven anvil-shaped externally. The basal marks, especially the one in s4/5 which looks rather V-shaped, are possibl...

I agree with your IDs, Guy, but isn't that dejone actually a female, based on the body shape? It certainly looks right in terms of colour and markings for a male dejone , and I would have expected some significant colour contrast between the bands for a female dejone , but there is clearly none here...

Some observations: No. 4 (3335) looks like a possible Oberthur’s Grizzled Skipper ( Pyrgus armoricanus ) based on the uph markings, especially the highly arched submarginal series. This is often true for Grizzled Skipper ( P. malvae/malvoides ), but there are several reasons why I don’t think 3335 i...

The niobe around Cannes are always of the form eris and a delicate beige and orange, often with very little black lining. I have never seen the much-quoted basal black spot in this region. People who know little about butterflies would, I guess, describe any forewing as "distinctly" triang...

I think the answer to that is no, at least not in my experience. There are some that have uncertain status in the border areas, such as Mother of Pearl Blue in the Pyrenees and Swiss Brassy Ringlet in the Alps, and the Plain Tiger only occurs in certain south coastal regions. There are regular migra...

Paul, the seven life ticks were: Southern Marbled Skipper ( Carcharodus boeticus ) – Tim Cowles and I were searching for Sage Skipper ( Syrichtus proto ) at a site in Var where he had seen them a few years previously; no sign of proto but we were very fortunate to see boeticus (now called baeticus )...