Padfield

[David M]

Amazing that butterflies can be active in parts of Switzerland when they are dormant far further south on the continent.

You really must have a rare micro-climate chez toi, Guy.

[Chris Jackson]

Can Queen of Spain Fritillaries be seen throughout the year in your part of the world ?,
assuming favourable weather.

Yes - uniquely, so far as I know, in Europe. Chris or Roger might correct me, but I don't think they fly in winter even in the South of France. ....
Guy

Hello Folks,
Not only they don't fly in the winter in the Marseilles area, but I rarely see them at all.
Have a look at this Queen of Spain distribution map from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Atlas. The QoS doesn't seem to like lowland coastal areas.

Tristan Lafranchi's QoS distribution map in 'Papillons de France' also shows a great void in the lower Rhône valley (Vaucluse and Bouches du Rhone départements (Marseilles + Avignon)), although this species is shown to be present all over the rest of France. Tristan L. mentions March - October as the flight period.

Over 5 years, I have only ever seen 2 vagrants around Marseilles towards the end of the season. They didn't hang around, and this species definitely (unless proven otherwise) doesn't breed within a large radius of Marseilles.

Here is a link to a more recent and permanent register of observations in the PACA region :

http://www.cen-paca.org/index.php?rub=3 ... _nom=53908

Colin (CFB) may have winter QoS sightings further east in the Alpes Maritimes.

Cheers, Chris

[Jack Harrison]

From France

The QoS doesn't seem to like lowland coastal areas.

That might go a long way to explaining why QoS hasn't become established in England. There is no substantial high ground in England near the arrival area of vagrant QoS in the south and east. The South Downs are presumably too low.

Yet QoS occurs on coastal dunes in Netherlands. Puzzle.

Jack

[Roger Gibbons]

I’m not sure that they are a species that needs a bit of altitude e.g. 500m or more, as some species do, but I see lathonia when I arrive in southern Var (circled area on the map) about the second week in April and they look like hibernators, so they may well fly on sunny days over the winter. I’m not there from 10 October to 10 April, so have no personal experience.

This region is at sea level (the Argens basin) and 5km from the coast. I have, however, seen Striped Grayling (H. fidia), Grayling (H. semele) and several other species there that are normally only seen at medium altitude, so maybe it’s a non-typical region.

I suspect lathonia is just one of those species that doesn’t fly in the Marseilles region, Chris. There are some dead spots in southern Var such as the Massif des Maures where very little flies. The good news is that you don’t have to travel far to find the hot spots (like Sainte Baume! I’ve just checked my records and I find I have seen 94 species there – you must be close to that, Chris, if not more).

Roger

[trevor]

Many thanks Gentlemen for the answers concerning QoS., as it is a species rarely encountered
in the UK, I was curious, as images of these Butterflies ' out of season ' sometimes appear in these diaries.

Trevor.

[David M]

Not only they don't fly in the winter in the Marseilles area, but I rarely see them at all.

Must admit, the only ones I've seen in the Alps have been at fairly high altitude rather than the base areas. They have been more conspicuous at lower levels during my trips to the Pyrenees & Massif Central.

[Padfield]

Thank you all for these comments and insights into the Queen of Spain. Sorry not to have responded sooner - to be honest, I hadn't seen there were any replies, having had very limited opportunity to visit UK Butterflies recently.

I had planned to post photos of Queen of Spain on 1st Jan - they are surely on the wing - but unforeseen circumstances have detained me in England and for the first time in years I greet the New Year from Suffolk. Little Minnie is still waiting for me in CH - I will join her in a few days, I hope.

SO instead of winter lizards and butterflies from the Rhône Valley, here are some Suffolk residents, photographed yesterday on the Deben at Woodbridge. Happy New Year to all!!


(little egret - a super-rare bird not very many years ago but now commonplace on the East Coast)


(part of a large group of brent geese drifting down the Deben - normally these remain more coastal but they seemed quite happy near Woodbridge yesterday)

Guy

[David M]

I hope everything's okay with you, Guy. Nice shots of the waterfowl.

Safe journey back to la Suisse where I'm sure Minnie will be delighted to see you.

[Wurzel]

Lovely shot of the Little Egret Guy, safe passage back to Switzerland.

Have a goodun, 2016 that is!

Wurzel

[essexbuzzard]

And you even saw the sun while you were in East Anglia-no mean feat recently! Don't worry,the unsettled weather is heading towards CH as well...

[Chris Jackson]

Happy New Year to you, Guy.
We spent the New Year at the Bassin d'Arcachon, near Bordeaux, and no doubt without coincidence, also spotted Little Egret, Brent Geese and Eurasian Coot.
It will be interesting to hear from you how the weather is treating nature back in Switzerland at present.
Cheers, Chris

[Goldie M]

Happy New Year Guy, I love the Egret photo because of it's reflection in the water, Goldie

[Padfield]

Thank you, David, Wurzel, Buzzard, Chris and Goldie! I was pleased with the egret shot - this species is a great addition to our birdlife.

I got back to CH on 4th and picked up Minnie yesterday. Snow has started falling in the Alps but it is still quite warm for the time of year in Huèmoz, where I live. To my delight, my first lep of the new year was Gautama, the purple emperor caterpillar I watched last autumn until he went off to hibernate. I couldn't find him anywhere then, but there he was today, pressed up against a bud and now bright green:



I'm sure I'd already looked there - and I am 100% certain he was Halloween coloured when he went off to hibernate. I think he has changed hibernation location and changed colour to suit. There were no other iris cats on that branch last autumn ...

Guy

[Pieter Vantieghem]

From France

The QoS doesn't seem to like lowland coastal areas.

That might go a long way to explaining why QoS hasn't become established in England. There is no substantial high ground in England near the arrival area of vagrant QoS in the south and east. The South Downs are presumably too low.

Yet QoS occurs on coastal dunes in Netherlands. Puzzle.

Jack

In Belgium also, one of the strongholds of Issoria lathonia is the westcoast dunes where larval foodplant is Viola curtisii. Much closer to England than Marseille and the highest dune over there is 33m above sea level.

(And I almost forgot to mention I am very jealous on the Apatura caterpillar sighting...)

[Matsukaze]

http://bsbi.org/maps/?taxonid=2cd4p9h.w5z

Unless it can get to the London basin or perhaps the area around Poole its chances of colonising are not good.

[Padfield]

Don't forget that the Queen of Spain is a natural migrant, that regularly breeds throughout the summer in places it cannot overwinter. I'm not suggesting it doesn't overwinter on the coast in Belgium and the Netherlands - only that in the event of a local extinction due to an unfavourable (long, mild, wet) winter a population could easily be reseeded from the continental pool. In Switzerland, QoS breeds throughout the summer in the mountains, even very high in the mountains, but is only resident all year round locally at valley level. It seems the species is not too keen on crossing the channel, so any British populations would be much more vulnerable.

Matsukaze: Viola tricolor grew freely and plentifully in Suffolk in my childhood. I must admit, I haven't consciously noticed it for some years but will keep a look out next time I go back.

I spent a therapeutic few hours last night trying my hand at painting butterflies, using the Apple Pencil. I thought I might, little by little, add paintings of species I've never seen to my website, to make it more complete. Here's my first attempt - a southern festoon. The model was a specimen from the BMNH, illustrated in d'Abrera (a photograph of the specimen). As every single brushstroke is mine, I don't think there's any copyright issue. It took a lot longer than I expected but was strangely satisfying.



(Yes - the left and right sides are almost identical - I took advantage of electronic tricks the real artist doesn't have at his disposal!! ).

Guy

[Pieter Vantieghem]

The dunes populations of QoS in Belgium/The Netherlands are indeed resident populations, wintering however happens - if I'm correct - as half grown/nearly full grown larva and not as imago as suggested higher up. In Belgium we have populations inland also, mainly on sandy or calcareous soils (soils that heat up quickly). In the northeast abandoned fields and wastegrounds on semi-sandy soil are sometimes used as (temporal) habitat where Viola arvensis is used as larval foodplant. This pic I made early october 2013 when several individuals were flying over an abandoned field in the NE of Belgium where loads of the larval foodplant where present.



Interesting technique for making images, by the way. I also have done a bit of experimenting recently with making pictures of set specimens into educationally usable images but by far can't reach this quality...

[trevor]

HI Guy;

They say don't give up the day job, but I think you probably could!, superb stuff.

I had not realised that QoS. reside so close to the UK ie. Belgium. Is it the lack of wild
violas in GB. or our island climate which is not to their liking ?.
Some were thought to have bred near Chichester a few years back, but did not thrive.

Wishing you a great new year,
Trevor.

[Jack Harrison]

I don't know what happened an earlier post I made. I had said [to the effect]: "watch out Lewington. You have a rival."

Jack

[Padfield]

Lovely picture, Pieter. That's very similar in appearance to the Viola (in the tricolor complex) used in the Rhône Valley in Switzerland.

I certainly won't give up on the day job, and RL has nothing to fear!! But I do wonder if the scientific artists and illustrators of the future might increasingly use electronic paint. The 'undo' function is particularly useful.

All rain and low cloud here. I don't think I'll even get Minnie to go as far as the iris woods.

Guy