Holiday to France Part 4

[Philzoid]

The next morning I woke up with the memory of what had happened the night before . On the long journey home from Canet et Rousillon I got so tired, I needed the pick-me-up of a coffee or two and the girls needed dinner. So we stopped off at Foix around 18km from home for a bite to eat. Rather than walk to our favourite restaurant I decided we would try out the nearest one which had signage claiming it was modelled on an English pub . The interior certainly fitted the bill (apart from the French Gnome Rhone 2 stroke motorcycle mounted on a section of the bar ) but that was where the similarity ended. The menu was in French (even the British section) the cappuccino was a latte, the horse burger bloody, the cassoulet cold, and the pizza courtesy of that Dr fella . I decided not to risk a bad stomach so (reluctantly) made a complaint to the manager about my burger. He couldn't understand what I was saying and brought over the young chef to whom I was just about able to get my point across. He offered me another meal but at that time I was just so fed up that I declined . About 5 minutes later Sharon said I should at least ask for a Coke on the house as this will "kill any stomach bugs you may have picked up". Yeah why not I though t ...but this is where it all went wrong. The manager and I couldn't understand each other. Nor could he understand my request to bring back the young chef who could understand. Instead, he brought in one of his (I assume) regulars, an inebriated Scotsman to translate. There we were, me trying to get a coke on the house with a worried looking manager and an interpreter who gave the impression he might just decide to deck me. It was like a scene from Allo Allo; Fawlty towers and The League of Gentleman rolled into one . Fortunately the barmaid cottoned on and handed over a can. I was so glad to get out in the end

Anyway ....

My plan for that day was for some serious butterflying even though I had no idea on where I was going to go to do it. Nevertheless it was time to tell the others of my intentions:- "I've had enough of driving for now so can you find something to do on the campsite, use the campsite swimming pool; do some shopping in La Bastide" "I need some relaxation, some decent butterflying time" . In Tenerife getting time had never been a problem as the ladies were more than happy to spend a lot of time around the resort pool. The campsite pool didn't impress but Sharon agreed to my 'demands', and said she'd do some shopping and then look into hiring campsite bicycles for the afternoon.
A result .

After a short exploration along the roadside verges I took the car into La Bastide to see what I could find out in the tourist information centre. The young chap in charge spoke very good English and after he understood that I wasn't interested in going to a touristy butterfly farm (thought it was a weird request mind you), he advised me to use the meadow that was behind the centre and alongside the road which leads to the campsite. There was even a little space I could park the car on. Sorted

heath fritillary and nearby wasp spider, taken near the campsite

The meadow was a triangular shape, the narrow point at the campsite end and bordered on one side by the road and on the other by a pathway. On the other side of the pathway was a border of nettles and unbellifers; bushes; trees and a stream. The meadow was lush with grass and herbaceous plants many in flower (predominantly yellow hawkweeds) and as expected there were butterflies aplenty

Glanville Fritillary

My first shot was of a Glanville Fritillary but my attention was soon turned on to a small blue butterfly around the size of the butterfly of that name: "Small Blue" (Cupido minimus) but bluer in colouration. I thought it might be a male Osiris Blue but the underside revealed the presence of tiny tails and therefore it was one of the tailed blues: Provencal Short-tailed Blue Everes alcetas my 4th lifer .

Male Provencal Short-tailed Blue

Heath Fritillary

Then another small butterfly caught my eye, Mallow Skipper Pyrgus alceae, my 5th lifer .

Mallow Skipper

The sunshine was getting hot now and the butterflies were moving at speed. And because there were so many it was difficult to focus on any one individual. Distractions also came from the numerous day-flying moths including the familiar grassland species, Burnet Companion

However the next insect to catch my eye had me sprinting across the field to see it. A huge green flying bug which turned out to be a European Praying Mantis Mantis religiosa .

Deadly assassin with a comical face

The mantis is one of those insects you immediately become aware is watching you as you watch it due to its large compound eyes and head movements. Fascinating and eerie. When they catch their prey they don't quickly dispatch it like a spider but leisurely chomp into it usually starting at the head as this is the quickest way to stop the prey from struggling (but it's not a quick process by any means). Note: The leguminous plant that the Mantis was on turned out to be a magnet for certain blue butterflies later on .

At that point Sharon and the girls walked by and gave their 'mad dad' a little wave as they passed on their way into La Bastide.

It didn't take long for another butterfly to catch my attention, another Skipper from the Pyrgus genus. I was hoping to get a British non-native species but this one, I'm pretty sure, is Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae .

Grizzled Skipper

Grizzled Skipper

Another noticeable butterfly was the Clouded Yellow but the ones I zeroed in on were males searching for females. After a while trying to chase them down I had to give up and look for something else to focus on. And it wasn't long before I caught sight of another fritillary and knew straight away it wasn't a Heath nor a Glanville. However at the time I had no idea what it was and suspected it may have been an aberrant Pearl-bordered. I was able to get glimpses of the underside which suggested it wasn't a Pearl. In fact it turned out to be my sixth lifer, a Weaver's or Violet Fritillary Clossiana dia . It led me on a merry dance keeping low but almost always on the move with occasional nectaring stops. The pictures could've been better but I can't complain .

Violet Fritillary

Grasshoppers were a distraction too. A quick glance at this one and the Weaver's was gone .

I put in a concerted search but I couldn't find the Weaver's again nor another one for that matter . So it was back to concentrating on what I could see.

Could this be one of the others: Provencal or Meadow?

Pieris rapae 90% sure

Another Mallow skipper and a Clouded Yellow 'settled' at last (female) .

Mallow Skipper

Clouded Yellow

A nice grizzly Small Heath

Moving off the meadow and onto the pathway to explore the verges I came across Wood White, Map, and Small Copper.

Moving back onto the Meadow again and I was managing to get close up to another female Clouded Yellow. I've never had this much success with the Clouded Yellow back home .

I hadn't brought a sun-hat and in my haste to get out I hadn't used any sun-cream so it was time to move away from being out in the open, or risk sunburn or even sunstroke. I decided to walk into town find a cafe-bar for a drink and to check over my pictures. Taking the shaded path by the stream keep me out of the sun for some of the time. So a quick shot of a more 'conventional' Common Blue and I was on my way.

The path walk provided a welcome relief from the heat of the sun. Along the pathway in the dappled light of sunlight filtering through the trees, there were Beautiful Demoiselles which flitted about temporarily alighting on vantage points around head height but always moving off if you got too close. However what was even better was seeing Speckled Woods taking off from their own vantage points and doing battle with other Specklies forming melees of three four and five individuals at any one time. It was wonderful to watch. My trip to the cafe-bar was a slow one .

Beautiful Demoidelle (female)

Speckled Wood

Total species count now standing at 27 (14 for the day so far which includes Silver-washed Fritillary & Meadow Brown)

Phil

[Padfield]

Hi Phil. Your grizzly is a non-British native - namely, Pyrgus malvoides. This is a postcode butterfly - indistinguishable from malvae without resorting to violence but with a disjoint distribution. In the South of France, malvoides it is.

Guy

[Philzoid]

Another surprise. Thanks Guy .

I've done a cursory check in my Collins book and tinternet and malvae malvoides appears to be one of those that raises debate about whether it should be given specific or sub-specific status. The male genitalia and some of the DNA differ from malvae malvae but the two interbreed where their ranges overlap producing viable hybrids. One of those which will no doubt attract more research .

[Wurzel]

See I told you your haul would outweigh mine - and now you're adding more and more Cracking shots especially the Cloudy and PSTB

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Philzoid]

See I told you your haul would outweigh mine - and now you're adding more and more

Not so sure about that I reckon you'll have quite a few aces up your sleeve

Cracking shots especially the Cloudy and PSTB

Thanks Wurzel I agree, those cloudy close-ups turned out fine as I was able to get so near when they were pre-occupied with nectaring. Even on the day we had to go home I was back in the meadow to see and photo more of them.

Phil