Sightings - South Of France Part 3

[kevling]

The next excursion of our family holiday took us up into the Parc Du Mercantour. We drove from Monaco towards St Martin-Vesubie before leaving the main road at Belvedere and heading down the Gordolasque valley. At an altitude of 1500m this dramatic alpine setting was just over an hour away from the beaches of the Cote d'Azur.

The beautiful Gordolasque Valley

No sooner had we entered the valley, when we came across a lay by with several Buddleia on bloom. Although they were slightly elevated (which made photography a challenge) it was amazing to see such a wide variety of species sharing the blooms. These included Scarce Swallowtail, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Marbled White, Western Marbled White, Dryad, Great Sooty Satyr, as well as a variety of Erebia, Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae.

First shot captured was this Rock Grayling

Dryad

Great Sooty Satyr

Marbled White

Also seen was this female form leucomelas

Not 100% with this one, but I believe it could be a female daphnis (Meleager's)

A little further up the valley and you pass the Cascade Du Ray. Whilst enjoying this waterfall, we were joined by this White Letter Hairstreak (certainly the closest and friendliness encounter I have had with one).

We reached the far end of the valley at Relaise De Merveilles for lunch and by this time the temperature was up to 34 degrees and not a drop of breeze. As a result the butterflies were reluctant to settle for more than a few seconds, which meant I had to be a bit lively with the camera. Now this is the bit of the log where identification errors may become slightly more frequent. But it's better to try and fail than not to try at all.

Large Ringlet

I'm thinking montana (Marbled) or meloans (Piedmont) for the next couple

Could the next two be neoridas (Autumn)?

Really not sure about this final one

We end this post with Scarce Copper, a species I was particularly hoping to see.

Female

Male

Male/Female

The final report from the Parc Du Mercantour follows in my next post. Thanks in advance for any corrections.

Regards Kev

[Chris Jackson]

An interesting set of photos, Kev. That buddleia was a useful focal point.
I've never seen a Meleager's before, so that's original.
Looking forward to the rest.
I must visit the Parc du Mercantour next Spring, it can't be much more than 3 hours' drive from Marseilles.
Chris

[Charles Nicol]

lovely pics Kev... i look forward to more from your trip

[kevling]

Charles & Chris,

Thanks for your kind comments and hoping I have my identities correct

Regards Kev

[Roger Gibbons]

Kev,

I also had lunch at the Relais des Merveilles (June 26).

Your daphnis is certainly that. If you saw the upperside you would be able to tell if it was the brown form steeveni that seems to predominate in the region.

Your Erebia are not clear-cut, especially with that degree of wear and no underside view. My instincts say you have euryale and then meolans, probably females. I don’t feel that you have neoridas there.

Did you go to the far end of the valley? That’s undoubtedly the best area. There is a large car park and then some good tracks though Alpine flower meadows alongside the river. I would go in the morning though, if my experience is anything to go by – on the two occasions I have been there the heavens have opened at 1pm.

Roger

[kevling]

Thanks Roger,

I was certainly more confident of euryale followed by meolans, but Neoridas was a punt if I'm honest.
What I did notice was that I was trying to identify erebia by the number and position of spots and that sometimes I could not find anything to match in the books and websites that I used. As you say it's not that clear cut.

We didn't quite make it to the end of the valley, as we had already walked the socks of the children and I'd had a good run for my money. There is always next time.

Kind Regards
Kev