Greenwings: French Alps, 27th June - 15th July 2017

[David M]

Scarce Copper

This is one of my favourite species and normally I see it in the low tens (and, last year, hardly at all).

This year however, it was ridiculously common, to the point where I'm confident I may have seen over a thousand of them in the space of just over a fortnight.

I'm at a loss to explain why this is, and in any case have limited experience of these kinds of phenomena in a French environment. Whatever was the cause (and I'm sure the prolonged warm, sunny spell in the three weeks leading up to my arrival was contributory), I was very, very grateful. They were often hanging off almost every flowerhead, with yarrow, asters and valerian being their favoured nectar sources.

I knew on my first foray above 1500m that something unusual was afoot. I saw my first before I'd even closed the car door, and then went on to see getting on for two dozen more in a 50 yard strip of roadside:

There were plenty of females about too, particularly during the second week:

...and my first ever mating pair:

Of course, it was renamed Plentiful Copper very soon after arrival, and this continued all the way through the trip. I doubt I'll ever see as many again.

[John Vergo]

Amazing David, I just saw 1 at all, and that was on the road between Isola and Isola 2000 on the 6 july

[David M]

Amazing David, I just saw 1 at all, and that was on the road between Isola and Isola 2000 on the 6 july

Wow! John, you must have been looking for other things. I saw serious numbers at a roadside stop on 29th June and the following week we put down near Isola 2000 on the roadside banks that were littered with orchids. There must have been 50+ Scarce Coppers on that half mile long bank alone, and many, many more elsewhere during the holiday.

[essexbuzzard]

That sure is serious numbers of coppers, David! What a memorable sight that must have been. Even one Copper quickly draws attention to itself, I have seen them in numbers only once, an early morning walk in Hungary.

[Roger Gibbons]

I'll add that we were surprised by the number of Scarce Coppers we saw this year. In some places they were the commonest species and I guess we saw several hundred in total. Most years we get to see maybe fifty in total.

Purple-edged Coppers were also abundant in some places, such as Bonnette east at 2500m where they could be counted in tens.

Dark Green Fritillaries were also exceptionally abundant.

Roger

[Sylvie_h]

Hi Roger, David,

This year I saw an abundant numbers of Niobe, Silver Washed and High Brown Fritillaries in the Savoie but not so many Dark Green Fritillaries.
Likewise David, I saw my first mating pair of Scarce Coppers ever, aren't they beautiful? It is also one of my favourite butterfly.
Sylvie

[Padfield]

This was obviously not just a local phenomenon. On 8th July, on returning from the Simplon to look for christi, I wrote in the journal on my own webpage (http://www.guypadfield.com/butterflyyear.html): 'The commonest butterfly altogether was probably scarce copper, which was bejewelling every stand of flowers'.

Guy

[David M]

Many thanks for your feedback, folks. Looks as though the species has enjoyed a resoundingly successful year over a wide area. I wonder whether it has a parasitic cycle akin to the Holly Blue, for example, which may lead to it being explosively common in some years and virtually absent in others?

Species seen - Lycaenidae (Hairstreaks)

53. Sloe Hairstreak
54. Ilex Hairstreak
55. False Ilex Hairstreak
56. Blue Spot Hairstreak
57. Purple Hairstreak
58. White Letter Hairstreak

Some big surprises were to be found on the Hairstreak front. The first was the lack of Green Hairstreaks. Usually, I see a few worn specimens at altitude but this year they'd clearly all expired earlier than normal.

Sloe Hairstreaks were about in lowish numbers:

The gorgeous Blue Spot Hairstreak would pop up virtually anywhere, though never in great concentrations:

Purple Hairstreaks could also be found if one had the patience to survey the deciduous trees:

As ever, a few Ilex Hairstreaks were seen, but I had my eye out for False Ilex, after one of the guests' images last year revealed that it had been present in close proximity to the first hotel. I'm not great at differentiating between esculi and ilicis, but I have figured that the three main differences are that ilicis, in this region at least, has a brown dusting on the forewings which are visible in flight; it also has a more jagged streak near to the base of the hindwing and the lunules are paler and extend less far up the hindwing margin than those of esculi.

Putting all these things together, I believe this briefly captured specimen is False Ilex:

....as is this one photographed in a more natural setting:

The biggest surprise, however, came on the transit day during the second week when I noticed a solitary White Letter Hairstreak nectaring from a thistle. Then, in the scrubby area adjacent to the second hotel, many more were seen, generally nectaring from the copious umbellifers.

I'd hitherto never seen an elm tree on these trips, but once I realised WLHs were about in decent numbers, I went up to the other side of the village, near to the Var river, and found lots of elms growing by the roadside, although I never saw any butterflies flying around them:

[David M]

Species seen - Nymphalidae - (Fritillaries)

59. High Brown Fritillary
60. Dark Green Fritillary
61. Niobe Fritillary
62. Silver Washed Fritillary
63. Weaver's Fritillary
64. Pearl Bordered Fritillary
65. Mountain Fritillary
66. Shepherd's Fritillary
67. Titania's Fritillary
68. Marbled Fritillary
69. Lesser Marbled Fritillary
70. Marsh Fritillary
71. Cynthia's Fritillary
72. Queen of Spain Fritillary
73. Heath Fritillary
74. False Heath Fritillary
75. Glanville Fritillary
76. Provençal Fritillary
77. Spotted Fritillary
78. Meadow Fritillary
79. Knapweed Fritillary
80. Grison's Fritillary

Twenty two species of Fritillary is some going, and general numbers were bigger than I've ever previously seen. Normally, Silver Washed Frits are just getting going but this year they were common from the start, and positively abundant towards the end:

Quite a few valezina forms were noted too. Trying to get an image of one with a traditionally marked SWF was a pastime many of us enjoyed:

High Browns were also very, very common:

Niobe Fritillaries seemed to be far commoner than normal at altitude but in fairly regular numbers lower down:

Strangely though, Dark Greens, although seen in greater numbers than is usually the case, weren't anything like as ubiquitous as the other three 'big' Frits. I'm not at all sure why that was.

[David M]

Fritillaries...continued....

At the first location, the bigger Frits are thin on the ground, but there is a huge range of smaller ones that provide satisfaction. As ever, Heath Fritillaries were exceptionally numerous, with Knapweeds not far behind. Spotted Fritillaries are reliable too, and I'm always fascinated by how much variation they display, even within close knit colonies. Here's a pale male:

....and an unusually marked female:

Weaver's Fritillaries are usually seen singly, but they were about in encouraging numbers:

Marbled Fritillaries were very conspicuous, but not in 'plague' numbers like SWF or High Brown:

In damper areas, Lesser Marbled Fritillary was present too:

Spring Frits had almost vanished. I only saw one Marsh Fritillary and of the three Glanvilles seen, only this one was in reasonable nick:

I also only saw two Provençal Frits, although given their resemblance from distance to Heaths there may well have been more:

[Tony Moore]

Frit heaven, indeed...

Tony M.

[David M]

Frit heaven, indeed...

Absolutely, Tony. Here's more:

Fritillaries....continued....

Higher altitude Frits are always one of the thrills of the trip, and numbers were generally good. Last year, we walked into the absolute peak for Cynthia's Fritillary and saw 100+. This time, they were far more scarce, but several individuals were seen during both weeks, with a fair few still looking quite fresh:

By contrast, Grison's Fritillary, which was barely seen at all in 2016, was seen in the high dozens this time round:

Meadow Fritillaries were around in modest figures:

Titania's Fritillary was a tad disappointing with only 50 or so seen:

Shepherd's and Mountain Fritillaries were extremely abundant though, particularly the latter, with hundreds seen, including many females who possess that wonderful 'verdigris' sheen:

This plant (which looks like a type of robust chive) seemed to attract them in great numbers:

[bugboy]

I think my brain would go into meltdown with so many individuals across so many species

[Padfield]

Hi David. The female deione in your previous post looks to me like parthenoides. I'm always a little wary commenting on deione because the Swiss subspecies I'm familiar with is so different from the nominate subspecies, but if I'd seen that individual I'm sure I would have passed over it as parthenoides.

Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

I agree with Guy. This looks very dusky, typical of female parthenoides especially at higher altitudes. If it was at the first location ("the track"), deione there are a very vibrant orange/red. Also, the upf discal mark looks right for parthenoides and not like the trademark for deione. I saw deione there on 19 July.

It would be interesting to know where you saw it. If indeed it was at the track, then a rethink would be needed as (to the best of my knowledge and experience) parthenoides doesn't fly there and I would not expect it to be so dusky at 1000m. If you saw it elsewhere at higher altitudes, then I think parthenoides is almost certain.

Roger

[David M]

Thanks for the analysis, Guy/Roger. Yes, I'm sure you are both right having now revisited things. In fact, I thought at the time it was strange to see a specimen in such decent nick because it was on the final day of week 2 at about 1500m and the only Provençal I saw earlier was in my recce period prior to Week 1, which was a faded and rather scruffy individual, as you would expect.

I had a good look at this female in the field, and I suppose what persuaded me was the very notable orange colour around the palpi. This made me rule out Heath but going forward I will remember not to rule out Meadow!! I have always struggled to differentiate these species from one another (although Meadow Frit has become easier with time).

When I'm in the Pyrenees next year, I'll be sure to spend extra time studying Provençal Frits to better recognise them in future.

Thanks again.

[Roger Gibbons]

Titania's Fritillary was a tad disappointing with only 50 or so seen:

They will have to try harder next year...

Stéphane (quite a few people on UKB will know who I mean) asked me to send him some photos and text about Southern Comma as he is planning to put up a wall plaque on the hotel wall at the point where we saw one this year on 12 June. So look out for the plaque in 2018.

Roger

[Catteraxe]

A vote of thanks is also due to the local gent who allowed several of us to invade his garden on July 2nd in pursuit of a Southern Comma!

Kevin.

[David M]

Species seen - Nymphalidae (Aristocrats)

81. Small Tortoiseshell
82. White Admiral
83. Southern White Admiral
84. Comma
85. Southern Comma
86. Red Admiral
87. Painted Lady

Whilst most groups of butterfly are tremendously well represented in this part of Europe, this group is certainly less numerous than generally seen in the UK, albeit with a greater range of species.

Once again, no Peacocks were sighted (I have still to see one in all the years I've been coming here), and those few Small Tortoiseshells seen were at altitude. Red Admirals and Painted Ladies were similarly scarce, whilst Lesser Purple Emperor, which has been reliable at the second hotel historically, was disappointly absent this time round.

One notable species, yet again, was the highly sought after Southern Comma. One was seen in both weeks, and as Catteraxe mentions in the preceding post, a neighbour of Stéphane at the first location allowed several of us into his garden after seeing us all pointing our cameras at his bramble patch! I told him he had one of France's rarest butterflies on his territoire and, as is common round here, he was only too willing to help:

In Week 2, another was found on the lavender at a house on the other side of the hotel. I have become friendly with the home owner, and she was curious to know more about this species as she regularly sees it in her garden and, indeed, on her front door, which seems to be a favoured spot for it:

The Comma we're more familiar with was seen in greater numbers than usual; probably two dozen plus. This one 'gatecrashed' an image I was taking of a Scarce Copper:

Southern White Admiral was seen in decent numbers this year, but, interestingly, it was almost out competed by its close relative, White Admiral, which I had previously thought to be extremely scarce in this region.

The first camilla was found fluttering on the vast car park of the local ski resort. It looked injured so I popped it in my vial but it made a full recovery and flew off a short while later with gusto. Most of the others were seen along with reducta in the light woodland behind the second hotel. I spent quite some time trying to get a shot of both these species on the same flowerhead, but the nearest they got was about 2 metres away from each other. I did get a pair of Southern White Admirals together though:

The undersides are something I never tire of:

White Admirals themselves are lovely, but they don't quite have the 'lustre' of their relative:

[David M]

Species seen - Papilionidae

88. Scarce Swallowtail
89. Swallowtail
90. Apollo
91. Clouded Apollo
92. Small Apollo

The full range of this group were seen on the trip, with Scarce Swallowtails up in the multi-hundreds:

Gorganus Swallowtails were pretty common too, though in nothing like the numbers of podalirius:

It seemed incongruous for this colossal specimen to suddenly arrive amongst a myriad of tiny Skippers and Blues at a puddling spot, but within a few minutes the small ones had practically all vanished, just as sparrows do when the crows appear:

Apollos were seen in good numbers, certainly more than is usual, with a couple of hundred seen in total. This one dropped into the long grass during a cool spell and displayed all four of its hindwing red spots, which doesn't happen very often:

Small Apollos were about in reasonable numbers, though such was my resolve to allow guests on the trip to photograph them I rather neglected them myself:

With the season being so much in advance, I doubted that any Clouded Apollos would be seen. Thankfully however, two were seen in both weeks at the same roadside location: