Marseilles and South of France 2018

Roger Gibbons · Post by **Roger Gibbons** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 6:13 pm

You may well get to see epistygne, David, but whether you'll get to photograph it is another matter.

I spent two hours wandering around in northern Var this afternoon for the one rather poor photo below.

There are three basic weather conditions:
1. sunny - so it flies non-stop
2. overcast - it closes up and settles in the undergrowth
3. windy - it is airborne never to be seen again
Added to that, it is very nervous and difficult to approach.

David M · Post by **David M** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:09 pm

Roger Gibbons wrote:You may well get to see epistygne, David, but whether you'll get to photograph it is another matter.

I spent two hours wandering around in northern Var this afternoon for the one rather poor photo below.

There are three basic weather conditions:
1. sunny - so it flies non-stop
2. overcast - it closes up and settles in the undergrowth
3. windy - it is airborne never to be seen again
Added to that, it is very nervous and difficult to approach.

These are the kind of challenges I like, Roger. Being in France is always a pleasure, and even more so when you've a new butterfly species to pursue...regardless of how flighty it is!

Chris Jackson · Post by **Chris Jackson** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:22 pm

David M wrote: .. These are the kind of challenges I like, Roger. Being in France is always a pleasure, and even more so when you've a new butterfly species to pursue...

Don't worry David, you have the right friends in the right places which can lead to the right sightings.
Chris

David M · Post by **David M** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:13 pm

Chris Jackson wrote:Don't worry David, you have the right friends in the right places which can lead to the right sightings.

This is the kind of language I like, Chris, and, of course, there is a 'payback' element as a matter of routine!

Chris Jackson · Post by **Chris Jackson** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:14 am

26th April - South of France

The olive grove behind my workplace is coming back to life.
This place saw nearly 40 species of butterfly over the year and they are slowly drifting back.
It burnt down 2 years ago and this week it has seen the return of Glanville Fritillary and Spotted Fritillary.
Today I had my first sighting of the year of Southern White Admiral #37:

The path down the side of the olive grove:

Chris

NickMorgan · Post by **NickMorgan** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 12:20 pm

Beautiful. I saw these guys in Corfu last summer for the first time. They really are beautiful butterflies.

Chris Jackson · Post by **Chris Jackson** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 12:30 pm

Hi Nick,
I'm sorry, I didn't reply to you from Tuesday but I was overtaken by things.
Let's hope your sightings in Scotland start picking up soon.
The Southern White Admiral is a real cracker when it is fresh like this one, with the metallic blue sheen.
I was pleased to get this shot because of the wind today so I can't complain.
It is always the same case that you want something that you havn't got, and what is pretty exotic for me would be to see quite simply a regular White Admiral

- now that would be original, but they cannot be found down here.
Perhaps time for you to plan your summer holidays or a spring getaway?

Happy hunting.
Chris

David M · Post by **David M** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:03 pm

Beautiful reducta, Chris; it's a species that's tricky to get a fully open winged image of so well done there.

Nice to see your olive grove recovering too after the awful destruction in 2016. It doesn't take nature long to recolonise, does it?

Charles Nicol · Post by **Charles Nicol** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 10:07 am

cracking photos Chris ! i enjoyed the SWA especially.

chapeau

Chris Jackson · Post by **Chris Jackson** » Sun Apr 29, 2018 8:45 pm

Thanks, David and Charles,

April 29th - South of France,

Weather a bit dodgy for the coming days even down here.
This is what I saw today very locally in Marseilles:
A recently emerged Orange Tip cat on "Arabis sagittata", heavily cropped ...
(FZ150

)

... less heavily cropped ...

... and true size :

its host plant down here, Arabis sagittata:

the woodland context:

In the same place on the outskirts of Marseilles, a Western Dappled White cat, cropped (FZ150

):

on "Biscutella laevigata" (Buckler's Mustard) :

... its context, looking east to Aubagne .. :

A Scarce Swallowtail subdued by the overcast conditions:

In English this may be called "Hound's tongue .. something .." (Cynoglossum creticum). Not good fodder for cattle, apparently:

Chris

Chris Jackson · Post by **Chris Jackson** » Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:50 am

30 April - South of France.

Next up in the Zerynthia saga.
My Southern Festoon (polyxena) eggs having hatched, and the caterpillars steadily growing, today I turned my attention to the Spanish Festoon (rumina) site not far from my workplace.
This species runs slightly later than polyxena, and the females were still laying today.
I was in the right place at the right time.

Female laying on Aristolochia pistolochia:

Topsides of same female at rest:

The egg (not always on the underside of the leaf):

The host plant:

The context:

Cheers,
Chris

Andrew555 · Post by **Andrew555** » Mon Apr 30, 2018 2:12 pm

Great reports Chris, what a beauty that SWA is.

David M · Post by **David M** » Wed May 02, 2018 11:05 am

Lovely though rumina is, I'm afraid it doesn't age well! Nice to see the context again, Chris. Always gives me pointers for the future.

Charles Nicol · Post by **Charles Nicol** » Fri May 04, 2018 8:20 am

Blue Hound's Tongue

Chris Jackson · Post by **Chris Jackson** » Wed May 16, 2018 1:24 pm

Thanks Andrew, David and Charles for your comments.

I've been rushing around recently and getting nowhere, that's why I've been so long in replying.
Down here the weather is still far from predictable at the moment and with one thing and another I'm not getting the sightings that I should at this time of the year.

Here is a follow on from my local Southern Festoon colony. The SF adult is (obviously) no longer flying on this date.
This is a short summary of the progress of my Southern Festoon cats this year on their host plant Aristolochia rotunda, near my workplace in the Bouches du Rhône:

Reminder, April 24th:

Reminder, May 3rd:

Today, May 16th:

In this last photo, the large cat = 2.5 cm (its head is on the right); the smaller cat = 1.0 cm (its head is on the left).

Cheers,
Chris

David M · Post by **David M** » Thu May 17, 2018 10:53 pm

Wow! That’s quite an increase in size, Chris, particularly when comparing it to the smaller larva. Do either of these species go on to have restricted second broods like Dingy Skipper?

Matsukaze · Post by **Matsukaze** » Thu May 17, 2018 11:05 pm

In southern Spain, they do, but I'm not sure if that is the case in southern France.

Chris Jackson · Post by **Chris Jackson** » Mon May 21, 2018 2:01 pm

Hi David and Chris,
I think I would have heard reports if there were any restricted second broods.
Here at low altitude (150 m ASL) both these species have stopped flying this year, but higher up there were reports of Southern Festoon still flying last weekend.

Here are a few of the recently emerged species down in the south of France.
The Marsh Fritillary has been around for a couple of weeks now,

whereas I had my first sightings this weekend of Spanish Gatekeeper

and Meadow Brown. Western Marbled White is on the wing in good numbers, and today at lunch I saw my first False Ilex Hairstreak #49 of the year, not affected by the offset that affected earlier species this year.

Here is some context. You can see the mountain of the Sainte Baume in the centre background.

Orchis pyramidalis

Red-underwing Skipper

Spotted Fritillary, female

Adonis Blue

Small Heath

Southern Heath Fritillary

Green-underside Blue

Cheers,
Chris

David M · Post by **David M** » Wed May 23, 2018 7:53 pm

Lovely Red Underwing shot, Chris. Are things warming up for you yet? Seems like France is being squeezed out of the high pressure zones right now.

Chris Jackson · Post by **Chris Jackson** » Fri May 25, 2018 1:03 pm

David M wrote:Lovely Red Underwing shot, Chris. Are things warming up for you yet? Seems like France is being squeezed out of the high pressure zones right now.

Thanks David,
The weather has got better these last few days, with 30°C announced for tomorrow (Saturday 26/05). However a look at the forecast shows some more damp for next week. As a general comment I would say that down here the butterfly phenology has rejoined its norm, and that the 10-day lag in butterfly emergence noted with the early spring species no longer seems to apply. I had my first Two-tailed Pasha sighting this week which is bang on time for me

.

Following the wildfires in August 2016, my lunchtime olive grove patch has been steadily growing back. Honeysuckle is visible and yesterday I made an interesting discovery which fits in with a sighting of a Southern White Admiral at the end of April.