What's flying in Marseilles 2015

[Charles Nicol]

There's an LPE photo for you Charles, below.

Hi Folks,
Back up into the Var today. I discovered a place less than 60 km from Marseilles where there are Lesser Purple Emperors. A miracle.
Lesser Purple Emperor (full zoom and heavily cropped - better than nothing at all)

ilia4_83 Gorges du Caramy 06Sept15 (1a).JPG

Context for the LPE

context - ilia4_83 Gorges du Caramy 06Sept15 (1).JPG

Elsewhere, near the Sainte Baume,
Striped Grayling uppersides:

fidia16_83 pair uppersides Vallon du Cros 06Sept15 (2).JPG

Spotted Skippers in cop:

comma7_83 Vallon du Cros 06Sept15 (2).JPG

At home in Marseilles, any ideas for this moth ?

moth1.JPG

The season is holding out down here.
Cheers, Chris

very nice LPE ! the stream looks wonderful.

Charles

[Chris Jackson]

Hoping for better LPE shots next year, Charles
Chris

[Chris Jackson]

South of France - Low of 12°C and high of 25°C
Monday 21st September

Hi Folks,
The temperatures are still holding out in the South of France, but only right on the Mediterranean coast.
Last weekend I went 40 KM inland and upland from Marseilles and spotted 26 or so species still flying.
Skippers => Silver Spotted, Oberthur's, Sage, Mallow

Pierids => Clouded Yellow, Small White, Berger's, Bath White

Lycaenids => Common Blue, Adonis, Small Copper, Chalk Hill / Provence Chalk Hill, Lang's STB, Long Tailed Blue

Nymphalids => Spotted Frit, Southern White Admiral, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Great Banded Grayling, Silver Washed Frit, Woodland Grayling, Wall Brown, Grayling, Large Wall, Tree Grayling, Red Admiral.

Some of the species seen:
Berger's Clouded Yellow:

Provence Chalk-hill Blue female (until I'm told otherwise - coridon ?)

Large Wall Brown female (perhaps form adrasta ?)

Silver-washed Frit female

The longer the seasons lasts, the shorter the winter
Cheers, Chris

[David M]

The longer the seasons lasts, the shorter the winter.

Didn't realise you had one, Chris.

Personally, I'm hoping for a proper cold spell this winter, as it seemed to do butterflies no harm at all in 2013.

[Chris Jackson]

I do not wish you a proper cold spell, in particular, David, but I'm sure you'll get it.
Otherwise, France will be waiting for you next Spring
Chris

[Charles Nicol]

I do not wish you a proper cold spell, in particular, David, but I'm sure you'll get it.
Otherwise, France will be waiting for you next Spring
Chris

http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/60 ... now-freeze

they say this every year

glad you are still seeing plenty of papillons !

[Chris Jackson]

South of France, 26th of September, Lo of 14°C, Hi of 25°C

Hi Folks,
Temperatures holding out in the South of France.
Today I went inland and upland from Marseilles, into The Var.
20 species still flying.
Skippers => Silver Spotted, Rosy Grizzled, Sage.

Pierids => Clouded Yellow, Small White, Berger's, Bath White

Lycaenids => Common Blue, Adonis, Small Copper, Lang's STB, Long Tailed Blue

Nymphalids => Spotted Frit, Southern White Admiral, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Wall Brown, Large Wall, Tree Grayling

Sage Skipper :

Rosy Grizzled :

Meadow Brown :

Spotted Frit :

Context :

Context :

LTB :

Brown Argus :

Chris

[David M]

That's one hell of a Meadow Brown, Chris. Do you get many like that down there?

[Roger Gibbons]

It's the normal form down here - hispulla, David. Keep your eyes open next May!

Roger

[Charles Nicol]

glad you are still finding plenty of species to share with us Chris

are the Pashas still flying down there ?



Charles

[Chris Jackson]

That's one hell of a Meadow Brown, Chris. Do you get many like that down there?

David, I did notice that it was a bit more orangey than the regular jurtina, but now that Roger mentions form hispulla, and that I've checked through my archives, all my other female uppersides shots do resemble the above photo !!
Out of interest, many of the female undersides are quite contrasted, like this one :

are they less contrasted in the UK ?
I only seem to get upperside shots at the begining and end of the season. The uppersides shot taken above was also in overcast conditions.

Thanks then for the ID Roger.

Charles, last week I did not see one TTP, so their season could be over. Having said this, the wind direction at my lunchtime site was in a different direction, which may have only 'interrupted' their hilltopping - I will be checking this coming week.

Cheers, Chris

[David M]

Shows just how much attention I pay to Meadow Browns when in France!!

Chris, UK MBs are never so heavily suffused with orange on the upperside (at least, not in my experience).

That underside you have posted would be uniquely unusual too.

[Chris Jackson]

Monday 28th September - lo of 15°C, hi of 25°C

I checked out my lunchtime patch on the plateau of Vitrolles today and there were still 12 species flying.
They did not include the Two-tailed Pasha, its season may be over.

My biggest shock was to see this butterfly below. Unfortunately I only had my smartphone with me, hence the appalling photo.
(It's Sod's law, you can be sure that the day a spacecraft lands, you don't happen to have your camera with you )
I think this is a Queen of Spain Fritillary and it should not be anywhere near here (Vitrolles). The last time I saw a vagrant QoS was in Marseilles (30 km) away on the 10th October 2013.
I'm at work and don't have any distribution maps with me, so I can't guess which direction it came from.

Queen of Spain Fritillary :

Context - plateau of Vitrolles :

Cheers, Chris

[Charles Nicol]

Monday 28th September - lo of 15°C, hi of 25°C

I checked out my lunchtime patch on the plateau of Vitrolles today and there were still 12 species flying.
They did not include the Two-tailed Pasha, its season may be over.

My biggest shock was to see this butterfly below. Unfortunately I only had my smartphone with me, hence the appalling photo.
(It's Sod's law, you can be sure that the day a spacecraft lands, you don't happen to have your camera with you )
I think this is a Queen of Spain Fritillary and it should not be anywhere near here (Vitrolles). The last time I saw a vagrant QoS was in Marseilles (30 km) away on the 10th October 2013.
I'm at work and don't have any distribution maps with me, so I can't guess which direction it came from.

Queen of Spain Fritillary :

The attachment 20150928_123442.jpg is no longer available

Context - plateau of Vitrolles :

The attachment 20150928_124443.jpg is no longer available

Cheers, Chris

it looks definite for Queen of Spain

here is one i took on 30th August:

[Padfield]

Hi Chris. As Charles says, this is definitely a QoS. I'm not sure this species has a fixed idea of where it is 'supposed' to be. It is a notable migrant and can turn up pretty well anywhere. In Switzerland, it is resident only in warm, lowland areas in the south, like the Rhône Valley. But by October you can see it at 2000m on any mountain in the country. My nearest resident colony is about 30 km away but already by March they are in my local meadows, at 1000m. They seem to have a built-in dispersal drive, which just occasionally takes them as far as South-East England ... If they don't find the violets, of course, they won't hang around.

Guy

[David M]

Another local first, Chris! Well done.

Must say, I see QoS every time I visit France but never in great numbers. They usually turn up at high altitude, keeping the erebia company.

[Chris Jackson]

Thanks for your remarks Charles, Guy and David.
QoS seems anyway to be only a very occasional and late-season occurence down here ... and a pleasant surprise
Cheers, Chris

[Chris Jackson]

Wednesday 30th September - South of France - lo of 15°C and hi of 22°C

Hi Folks,
Mild and breezy today at work in Vitrolles, we are however losing a degree or so each week.
This week there are 12 species still flying on the plateau of Vitrolles during my lunchbreak :
Swallowtail, Lang's Short Tailed Blue, Long Tailed Blue, Bath White, Clouded Yellow, Tree Grayling, Grayling, Wall Brown, Small White, Large White, Common Blue and 1 Berger's Clouded Yellow and 1 Queen of Spain Fritillary (far from home).

Many of the Clouded Yellows and Bath Whites were females, attempting to lay in the strong breeze:

crocea32_13 female Vitrolles scrub 24Sept15 (2a).JPG (53.47 KiB) Viewed 444 times

Context - plateau of Vitrolles:

Cheers, Chris

[Charles Nicol]

thanks for the latest pics Chris. are all the Skippeurs finished now ?

[Chris Jackson]

Skipper coming up, Charles.

Thursday 01 October - South of France - 22°C

Down in the olive grove at lunchtime there were 9 species flying :
Meadow Brown, Spotted Fritillary, Common Blue, Small White, Bath White, Mallow skipper, Wall Brown, Lang's STB and Clouded Yellow
Context :

TTP caterpiller

Common Blue female

More context:

Mallow Skipper

Cheers, Chris