A week in La Drôme, France

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Folks,
Here we are for a week in Montbrun-les-bains in the Drôme département in France. To situate us, we are at an altitude of 600 m ASL, north of the Luberon, west of Sisteron, and a stone's throw north east of the Mont Ventoux.
View looking back over Montbrun, with the Mont Ventoux in the background:

The Mont Ventoux rises to 1911 metres.

It can be cool in the morning, around 5°C today, and can rise to 17°C.
I got out early to try and catch some butterflies warming up. By 10.00 am I had already bagged 3 new sightings for 2016 including 1 lifer.
Holidays don't start better then that !
A lifer for me - Short-tailed Blue:

A different individual with different markings:

Any confirmation for the Pyrgus would be welcome.
Pyrgus 1 - Oberthür's ?

Pyrgus 2 uppersides - Oberthür's ?:

Pyrgus 2 undersides - Oberthür's ?:

First sighting of Weaver's this year:

Here is the patch of rough ground next to the Holiday village where I saw all three species:

Also flying in the area : rhamni, megera, baton, machaon, podalirius, rapae, atalanta.
I'm wondering what I'll see next? I hope the weather holds out.
The Short-tailed and Weaver's were an unexpected surprise.
Cheers, Chris

[Roger Gibbons]

The Pyrgus is malvae/malvoides, I would be fairly certain.

Cupido argiades is indeed a good find. It doesn't occur in Var or eastern Bouches-du-Rhone.

Roger

[Padfield]

I'm going to throw a baby spanner in the works and say that argiades 1 and 3 look much more like alcetas to me. No. 2 is unlike any alcetas I've seen - though also unlike any argiades I've seen. I'm not at all certain either way and will take another look tomorrow (I've just got back home). It may be a generational thing (the butterflies, not me). But the pattern of orange on the first one is something I've only ever seen in alcetas and the last just looks wrong for argiades. I hope my doubts are unfounded!!

I agree, the Pyrgus is definitely malvoides/malvae (presumably malvoides).

Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

Either way, the blue is weird. Received wisdom has it that alcetas has no orange on the lunules (although you might be able to see a few with the aid of a clear close-up). I have only seen a limited number of argiades but this one doesn't look like any I've seen, but equally it doesn't look like any alcetas I've seen, and I've seen quite a few of those across France. Cupido jacksonensis?

A view of the female upperside would be revealing perhaps, as alcetas is in my experience nearlly always black, but the argiades female has a liberal smattering of blue scales. I don't suppose you saw it clearly in flight, Chris?

Roger

[Chris Jackson]

Hello Roger and Guy,
I agree with your malvoides identification. The pointers to malvoides rather than armoricanus would probably be the earlier flight period, the complete series of uph white submarginal marks, and the non-linear inner edge of the post-discal mark in unh s3 ?
As for the argiades / alcetas, I saw at least 4 different individuals (of which the above 3) in the rough patch in the photo, all males. No other blues (nor male nor female).
Throughout the day, around the village on walks, I saw a further 20 or so argiades / alcetas (all males, no females) and only 1 other ‘blue’ (a Baton Blue).
The photos in my books all point to argiades with more than 1 visible orange unh lunule.
I will now redouble my vigilance for female blues and concentrate on female uppersides if I see any !
Cheers, Chris

[Chris Jackson]

Hello Roger and Guy,
I agree with your malvoides identification. The pointers to malvoides rather than armoricanus would probably be the earlier flight period, the complete series of uph white submarginal marks, and the non-linear inner edge of the post-discal mark in unh s3 ?
As for the argiades / alcetas, I saw at least 4 different individuals (of which the above 3) in the rough patch in the photo, all males. No other blues (nor male nor female).
Throughout the day, around the village on walks, I saw a further 20 or so argiades / alcetas (all males, no females) and only 1 other ‘blue’ (a Baton Blue).
The photos in my books all point to argiades with more than 1 visible orange unh lunule.
I will now redouble my vigilance for female blues and concentrate on female uppersides if I see any !
Cheers, Chris

[Chris Jackson]

Hello All,
Finally, a pair of Short-tailed Blues this week.

Female on the left with the larger orange submarginal lunules.
This single photo is finally the clearest (the most representative) of 140-odd shots I took.

Monday in the Drôme:
Montbrun-les-bains - my wife with plenty of patience for a butterflying husband (don't worry, I'll buy her lunch ):

Black-eyed Blue hanging around with 'Spanish broom' not far away

Wood White, head-on:

An excellent salad plus dessert plus coffee for 11.90 Euros

Are you there, Charles?

[Padfield]

I've had a look at my own spring and summer brood pictures of argiades and think you are probably right, Chris, though I'm still not certain. There may be geographical variation.

Alcetas does often show orange. When it does, the orange is usually crescent-shaped, following the line of the lunule interior to it. In argiades, the orange is generally not crescent-shaped. In the summer brood it fills the space between the black spots but in the spring brood it often leaves a gap exteriorly.

This is alcetas, showing crescent-shaped orange on both black spots:



This is typical spring brood argiades:



This is a more weakly marked spring brood argiades:



The tail is another indicator. It is distinctly longer in argiades, extending to at least the length of the fringe width beyond the fringe. It is also quite durable, so it often looks longer as the fringe wears. The tail is very variable in alcetas, from vestigial to fringe width, and sort of less taily - often more like hairs. As Roger says, the blue scaling in the female is a giveaway for argiades and the blue in the male is also deeper and richer. In practice, in the flesh, they are actually quite different butterflies.

Summer brood argiades has full, conspicuous orange patches. You really can't make a mistake then!!



Most of my pictures of argiades are of the summer brood because it used not to be a common butterfly in my own region or any of my spring sites. But last year I found it very commonly all over my home patch in July and August and watched females laying. If the brood survives, I should be able to make plenty of spring brood observations in a few weeks' time.

Guy

[NickMorgan]

Whichever Shot-tailed Blue that is, I am very jealous!! You have some great pictures there.

[Chris Jackson]

Thanks for your interest, Nick. I understand that the weather in the UK is not great at the moment, so I hope that some of my images give you courage for brighter days which cannot be far away.
If you think my last post was good, look at what comes next.
Cheers, Chris

[Chris Jackson]

Guy,
Thanks for your insight into a very interesting and variable species. I have some updates coming up now.
Roger,
You asked whether I had seen a female argiades, well... I think I have now. This is not at all for the faint hearted.
I managed to get this upperside shot of a female argiades / alcetas with the aim of settling some of the uncertainties mentioned above in this thread. This image is from the same patch of rough ground (and colony ?) as indicated higher up

however, as soon as I took the photo, a spider jumped out from nowhere and grabbed the female

by the time I rescued the female from the moss and weed roots, the spider had already had 30 seconds to do in the poor girl
Shortly after, I got my 3rd lifer of 2016 with a brief encounter with a Spring Ringlet . This was on my wish list for 2016, but not particularly here in La Drôme.

First female Provence Orange Tip photo of 2016

Better views of Southern Grizzled Skipper (uppers and unders - same individual)

We went to visit Vaison la romaine today, and on the way we saw this road sign, being eaten by a tree. If I were the guy on the adjacent road sign, I'd start to get worried

For lunch today, we had take-away Couscous Royal from a Moroccan stallholder in the market in Vaison la romaine, which we ate (the Couscous) opposite the famous bridge which, incredible as it may seem, was totally and tragically submerged in floods in 1992.

[David M]

Mouth-watering stuff, Chris. It's a year to the day since I arrived in Var and how I wish I were there again right now!

[Roger Gibbons]

That's a female argiades in my book. I haven't seen enough to be 100% certain, but I would be very surprised if it turned out to be alcetas. I also thought that alcetas usually has distinctive underside marginal markings, which may well have been another pointer to yours being argiades.

The epistygne looks somewhat worn even on 12 April. Strange that this is such an early Erebia when all the others are later season (with the exception of triaria).

You're chalking up the life-ticks quite rapidly Chris, and there may be more to come.

Roger

[Padfield]

Agreed - definitely argiades, and a beautiful girl. She lived, she flew, she died. Which of us can hope for better?

I've yet to see epistygne ...

Guy

[Chris Jackson]

Today we went up to 1400 m altitude on the west flank of the Mont Ventoux. It had snowed during the night so we could not go higher. The roads should have been opened today however for Spring.
This is the Mont Ventoux (alt 1912 m) seen looking back East from the Mont-Serein (alt 1400 m)

A different view looking North over La Drôme (from alt. 1400 m):

At 1400 m alt., the only species flying were Small Tortoiseshell and Brimstone. Cool ..., because neither of these species fly 'chez moi' in Marseilles.
A new tick for 2016 for Small Tort.
I'm at about 32 species so far this year. About time I slowed down. My wife would rather I did something more useful but I can't understand what . I've done the washing up, so this should be my free ticket to the nearby waste land.

Back down in the valley I saw these skippers at 630 m alt.):
Skipper 1 uppers (malvoides ?):

(Photo Panasonic FZ150)
Skipper 1 unders (malvoides ?):

(Photo Panasonic FZ150)
Skipper 2 uppers (malvoides ?):

(Photo Panasonic FZ150)
Cheers, Chris

[Chris Jackson]

Mouth-watering stuff, Chris. It's a year to the day since I arrived in Var and how I wish I were there again right now!

I remember the unsettled weather last year, David. I'm sure its a lot warmer in the South of France at the same period now in 2016 .
Chis