Commendable article, good to see intensive farming being publicly put in the frame as one of the chief culprits, and getting some flak. The article could also have mentioned the selling off of British woodlands, an indication that the current governing elite have no more concern for nature than the ...

If anyone is interested, I am in the process of examining all of my photos from 2010 and updating my website. I have completed the section for the Blues and am working through the other groups and hope to complete the update by Christmas. 2010 was a good butterfly year for me, as I saw 185 French sp...

Image1.jpg An extract from my school diary aged 9 (it was 1956 and we wrote with pens you had to dip into the inkwell). Note the attention to detail – the time was five to two, clearly a crucial piece of information. The wording suggests that I suffered from the delusion that that the teachers knew...

I have just noticed Guy’s comment on the argus tibia spine. I had been puzzled by the spine question until recently, given that there are two or possibly three spines that looked like obvious candidates but were in fact red herrings. Now I know where the “real” spine is i.e. the one that differentia...

I have just noticed that my Adonis Blue photo has been moved from Overseas to the UK section and that my Marsh Fritillary appears in both UK and Overseas. I entered three photos in the Overseas category because that is where I photographed them. Presumably if they were photographed overseas, that is...

In previous years you have not had to pre-register attendance but you have had to pre-order lunch (if you wanted it), but in this year’s agenda it says you don’t need to pre-order. Parking last year was a nightmare with a full car park and no on-street parking within half a mile or so, but the 2010 ...

I concur completely – no. 6 is an exceptional shot, worthy of winning any “more than one” competition. I would be interested to know what type of tripod you use. The selene are so fresh and orange, too. It is a strange butterfly in my patch in SE France in that it doesn’t occur there for some reason...

Just my observations, but I would have classified the difference between the sexes for Brown Argus ( Aricia agestis ) as more than Insignificant, perhaps Subtle on this classification, based on the extent of the upf orange marginal lunules. I have not seen the UK version of Mountain Argus ( Aricia a...

As my chief butterfly spotter said earlier today, "Why did they have to build that huge church there, for God's sake?".

Roger

To illustrate further Guy's point about the variability, this is my semele page, and all of these are from essentially the same region of south-east France:
http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/html ... semele.htm

I have photos of some 15 individuals, and not one of them is nectaring.

It looks like an Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia) http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/M ... s=&Family=

Nice photos, Bill. I can see why you thought the grayling was a Rock Grayling ( Hipparchia alcyone ) as the two unh discal lines are very strong and very typical of alcyone . Grayling ( H. semele ) is not common, but all the specimens I have seen in southern France do not look like this. The area ar...

I would go for Chalk-hill Blue ( Lysandra coridon ). They can be very pale. There is just enough of the upperside showing to tend to confirm this. Here is one I took at an altitude of 1700m in the Valais, Switzerland, which looks quite similar. http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/html/lysandra%20cori...

Indeed, Paul! They do breed them different up north.

The furthest north I have ever been butterflying is Glapthorn Pastures in Northants. Must be more adventurous...

Roger

Thanks, Lee. I didn’t see this twin ocelli Meadow Brown, mainly because I am in France between April and October with three weeks in the UK in August, and I don’t get to see UKB when I am away. I must admit is unlike any Meadow Brown I have ever seen. I have looked at a lot of Meadow Browns on web s...

So UK Meadow Browns can have twin ocelli... that’s something I have learnt today. I have looked back at all my Meadow Brown photos and had not seen one (other than southern France) with twin ocelli, nor with such a clearly defined post-discal band. My doubts about Scotch Argus were that the shading ...

The underside of rezamink’s 23 August underside looks to be alceae rather than boeticus judging from the Lafranchis book where it says that the boeticus underside spots are poorly contrasted. Mind you, the alceae underside he shows also looks rather “poorly contrasted”. Alceae : yes, I remember now ...

It is very difficult to say for sure, but I would have guessed at Scotch Argus because of the twin ocelli and the clearly defined hindwing post-discal band. These are strongly indicative of Scotch Argus and I have never seen twin ocelli in a UK Meadow Brown, only in the form hispulla in southern Fra...

I wonder if the second Carcharodus species might be Oriental Marbled Skipper ( C. orientalis ). It looks a good match according to the Lafranchis book, which says that it flies in Corfu. Just a thought. An underside shot would help, often the key in this group, although the opportunity to get an und...

I have put up some of my highlights from 2010 so far, here: http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/2010_highlights_grid.htm I have also experimented with a few highlights in 1920 pixel width, although I am not sure how many people have monitors of this resolution: http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/2010...