France/Spain late 2015.

[LancsRover]

Tuesday 22.9.2015. Overcast day 24c
Another trip out with Mike the birder, to another nature reserve for birds and butterflies and all things nature, this time we went just north of Castello(we really are spoiled for nature in this area of Spain)
On the b/f scene were; Small Copper, Common Blues, Speckled Wood, Wall, Mallow Skipper, Clouded Yellow, Long-tailed Blue and plenty of "Whites"
On the bird side; Great Egret(beautiful, elegant bird), Flamingos, Grey Heron, Spoonbill and loads of other birds & ducks I can't remember.

Russ

[LancsRover]

A few more bits & bobs from the last report;(22.9.2015)

ID's very welcome.

Russ

[David M]

Some lovely images there, Russ, particularly the female Common Blue, which is a cracker!

[bugboy]

Those speckled Woods are gorgeous. That last image in your latest report is a female Scorpion fly, and yes there is such a thing as Cork Oak and that is Cork Oak in your picture . Not sure about the cat or the juvenile Sheild Bugs but your Dragonfly looks like an aged Orthetrum sp.

[LancsRover]

Cheers David and Bugboy for your kind comments and ID's, many thanks.
Russ


Thursday 24.9.2015.Warm & sunny, 25c.
A short trip out for groceries allowed me a little more time up the monastery road to the usual spot, the dusty track halfway up the hillside, around 800ft above sea level.

I had a short walk up the track whilst my lovely wife made sandwiches for our lunch, there were the usual suspects flying( as mentioned previously in this area), and a battered Tree Grayling allowed me a couple of quick pics.

After lunch I saw the large orange/brown b/f's that have been whizzing around every visit here but still they won't stop for an ID , I just get a split second view.

I started following a Swallowtail up the tarmac road( with only the occasional car to distract me and the b/f's) and whilst I was trying to get a photo of the same, I noticed a Grayling was also working it's way up and down the side of the road, I managed to get a photo and it turned out to be a Striped Grayling, my first this year It wasn't in the best of condition but it is getting towards the end of September so I was lucky to see it at all.

Russ

[David M]

After lunch I saw the large orange/brown b/f's that have been whizzing around every visit here but still they won't stop for an ID , I just get a split second view.

Russ, could these insects be male Oak Eggar moths?

Practically everywhere I go abroad I have these sizeable specimens bombing around me without ever settling.

http://www.wildlifeinsight.com/wp-conte ... r_male.jpg

[Mikhail]

Russ
I've been pondering on your orange butterflies, and like David I suspect they are day-flying moths. The time of year is wrong for Oak Eggar, and there is another candidate in the shape of Lemonia dumi, the Patrician's Shrub Moth, or if you prefer Brune du pissenlit which flies in the autumn. Their wing span can be upto 50mm and according to my book "flight activity both diurnal; (very jerky) and nocturnal." They are, however, more brown than orange in my opinion. See http://www.leps.it under Lemoniidae for pictures.

M.

[LancsRover]

Thanks David and Mikhail for your interest, it's very frustrating to say what it looks like because I never get a clean look at it, it's nearly always going across my vision and coming out of a wooded area and back into a wooded area and there is no chance to follow because of the dense scrub.
It is a large insect about the size of a swallowtail and it's flight is a kind of "jerky" going from side to side, it could be a Lemonia dumi, I did think it looks like a Lesser Purple Emperor in flight and colour but I can't say what it looks like for sure.
I'm afraid it's going to haunt me for the rest of my life because I think I've "done" this area of Spain and we will try somewhere different next year(all being well).
The picture below is of the track it crosses but further down in the wooded area.

Cheers Russ

[David M]

An Emperor would probably glide some of the time (in fact, most of the larger butterfly species do), but moths are constantly flapping their wings, so if the flight pattern is like a permanent 'buzz' then I'm confident that a moth is what you're seeing.

[LancsRover]

Sunday 27.9.2015.

A quick walk in the local fields south of the campsite, still no Plain Tigers but managed a couple photo of Long-Tailed Blues.

Russ.

[LancsRover]

Friday 2.10.2015. Overcast, then sunny intervals, 22c.

After a couple of days of heavy rain and a couple of days of drying out(see earlier report), we took a walk down to the beach area to see what was flying.
Parts of the beach and scrubland behind the beach were still flooded, but we found a lovely Scarlet dragonfly(think that's what t is?) and a Silver Y moth(pics below).
We continued into the fields which had dried out very well, here we found Clouded Yellow, Common Blue, Whites and Five-Spot Burnets.
Still no Plain Tigers!

Russ

[Paul Wetton]

I think your dragonfly could be a Violet Dropwing or another of this family, possibly Red-veined Dropwing

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Russ,

Glad to see you're having a good time out in the fresh air while many of us are stuck in our workplaces. Roll on retirement !!
Your juvenile Shield Bugs from Octber 9th could be Southern Green Shield Bugs :

http://www.animalphotos.me/insect4/shbg-sthn.htm

Cheers, Chris

[Charles Nicol]

After lunch I saw the large orange/brown b/f's that have been whizzing around every visit here but still they won't stop for an ID , I just get a split second view.


Russ

as David suggested, these are likely to be Oak Eggar moths. they were very common in the south of France; after a while you learn to ignore them

here is one at rest:

[LancsRover]

First, thanks to Paul for the dragonfly ID.

Cheers Chris, we do love those little shield bugs

Cheers Charles for your comments.


Saturday 3rd October 2015.
My last day in Spain today, so we visited the northern end of the Aiguamolls nature reserve, coming in from the EMPURIABRAVA side, on the advice of a lovely French lady we had met on the southern end of the nature reserve a couple of days ago.
Being we had our wives with us and we were all going out for lunch, time was a little in short supply, so it was only a quick visit, which was a shame as there was still plenty flying.
There were many Whites flying mainly Green-veined and plenty of Clouded Yellows too, Small Copper, Speckled Woods, Common Blues and 5/6 Swallowtails.
We also came across a Praying Mantis in amongst all the butterflies, she was keeping a low profile in the bush, obviously after anything she could catch. Many of the b/f's had pieces missing including a 2 winged Speckled Wood, and all the Swallowtails had there tails chewed, was it the Mantis or the wild, noisy Parakeets of which there were 100's.
Also found was a nest of PAPER WASPS (as advised by MIKHAIL last year) I didn't get to close.

Russ

Photo's to follow.

[LancsRover]

Photo's from last report;

[Sylvie_h]

Your dragonfly is a Trithemis Annulata (Violet Dropwing), this species is spreading northwards very quickly and has been spotted in the Departement de l'Isere (Grenoble area) in France recently.
I have seen pray Mantis catching grasshoppers, this is quite impressive and in 5 mins nothing is left of the poor victims.... They are voracious insects. It reminds me of the story of the Gecko and the Pray mantis in one Gerald Durrell's book....
Sylvie

[LancsRover]

Hi Sylvie, thanks for the further confirmation of the Violet Dropwing dragonfly, it was certainly eye-catching on what was a dull day.

The Mantis was a surprise, being 3 or 4 feet up in the bush but that is where the butterflies were. I have seen quite a few Mantis over the past few years and they were all on the ground.

The attached photo's are of a Mantis dissecting a "blue" on the edge of a large field in the Dordogne(not a pretty sight) a couple of years ago.

Russ

[LancsRover]

8th October 2015. Part 1.
On our way home through France we stopped at a lovely site at Sully-sur-Loire, a great site on the banks of the Loire itself, some 30 miles south-east of Orleans. We stopped here on our way back home from Spain in March and the little nature reserve(next to our site) had a few butterflies flying then, so I was optimistic of still seen something in October.
I have quite a few photo's to show so I'm going to split the report into 3, 1st the flowers of the reserve, 2nd the butterflies and 3rd the fungi.
So part 1 the flowers;

If anybody would like to names these beautiful flowers please do(I know only a couple)

Russ

[LancsRover]

8th October 2015, Sully-sur-Loire.

Part 2 Butterflies,

Red Admiral,
Wall,
Small Heath,
Small Copper,
Speckled Wood,
Painted Lady,
Common Blue and
Small Whites.