I'm truly flattered my admission of ignorance made such an impression on you, Roger! :D I remember that trip to Bretaye. We took a walk along a cow track where various Erebia come to take minerals - and I think we failed to see water ringlet ... It's a late species there. We did see a stoat among t...

University Challenge has finally got under way today :D We are just catching up on the rounds that we recorded, just watched semi-final 1 from the last series. As the rounds progress, the questions get harder and the knowledge of the contestants is just mind-blowing. There was one question on a cla...

Hi David, Fascinating trip and report! I have absolutely no knowledge of the Arctic Circle butterflies, and there are some endemics that resemble the Alpine species quite closely. With that caveat, the hindwing angularity looks good for aquilonaris . The mark in upf discal s1 that you mention: I loo...

Hi Guy, It looked fairly normal for alveus in that region, where it is usually encountered but not common. For foulquieri ( bellieri ), I would expect the upf markings to be stronger and rather jagged at the edges. This seems to be constant for males, females being very different (which I mention fo...

Just back on the subject of aurelia for a moment, here is an extract from the CEN-PACA Atlas showing the distribution of aurelia in the Hautes-Alpes. It may come as something of a surprise to those who are used to thinking of aurelia as essentially a lowland species, that it has such a stronghold at...

12-13 July: Various locations around Briançon. An exploration of tracks and dead-end roads leading off the N94 south of Briançon, just see what was flying there. Not many unusual species, male Provence Short-tailed Blues ( Cupido alcetas ) seen in two locations, a species that I suspect is often ove...

Correction – the underside image is not of the Melitaea in question. It was taken on 8 July at a site known for aurelia as the upperside showed some indication of aurelia , but I am fairly sure it wasn’t. So the reservations we all expressed about the unf s2 heavy shading would no longer apply. Whic...

I'm guessing you haven't got an underside for her ... Yes, just about. Bearing in mind that the colour and contrast of the marginal band might be vital evidence, I managed to get this crouched-below shot. Melitaea aurelia_52557.JPG It's not remotely conclusive but there is a suggestion that the ban...

You should write a book Thanks, Pete, I’ve seen the amount of work that goes into a book, notably your latest masterwork on Rarities. I’m not sure I’d live long enough to complete it. I had quite a lot of input into this publication: http://www.naturedugard.org/doc/2022_commande_papillons_de_france...

5 July: staying in Savoie, another very rich location that produced some 40 species, although the road to get there can only be described as “interesting” (Pete S may concur). A male intermedia turns up here as well, and andromedae which is starting to become an ever-present. 6 July: my plan was to ...

Thanks for the comments, more to come.

I think if all I had seen in 24 days was that populi, it would still have been worthwhile.

Roger

2 July: one of my main objectives was to travel north to Savoie to a site for Asian Fritillary ( Euphydryas intermedia ) within a few days as I have previously arrived there when they were showing signs of wear, and this meant heading north over the Col de Vars, a region becoming more popular every ...

Trip reports seem to be very popular at the moment, so I’ll follow the trend. Each year in July I spend a few weeks in the Alps (even-numbered years) or the Pyrenees (odd-numbered years), so this year was the Alps. I tend to visit known sites for specific species plus I do quite a lot of research, m...

Only to show the forewings was rather sneaky (shame on me). My main reason for showing the two together was to compare the size. One more clue - the images were taken at just over 2000m. The camera angle shows a slight sheen which didn't seem to be apparent in the field. Here are the two shown separ...

Another pair.

IDs anyone? Roger

Due to a shortage of leaves, we now have to share. Roger

Hi Andy, The orange band is one of those clues where if the band is strong orange right up to the costa, then it is very likely (maybe almost certainly) Reverdin's, but it is quite possible for Reverdin's to have less than convincing orange bands. Yours certainly extends to the costa, but doesn't lo...

Looks like the underside trumps the upperside! I think this re-writes the rule-book on the range of the strength of markings for serratulae . The unh marks (especially basal s7, discal s1, discal s4/5, marginal s2) looked exactly right for serratulae, just the upperside that created any doubt. The m...

Good question, Bert-Jan! This is clearly carthami on the upperside and serratulae on the underside, if nature should permit that to be possible. :D This is one of those individuals that just does not fit the accepted ID features. There are very good reasons why it cannot be either of them but it has...

Yes, a great read, Pete, thanks for sharing. It seems like you could have got the first four lifers in a day trip. I had a similar but more explicable experience in a hotel in the Champsaur a few years back. It was a huge hotel and I was the only person staying there. That was, until midnight when t...