The Map is one of my favourite little butterflies, my first encounter with the Map was at the Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Maillezais Vendee
- Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Maillezais Vendee
a favourite location that my wife and I visit to sample the local regional menu at the Auberge de L'abbaye , that is if you are brave enough to sample frogs legs, snails etc, less adventurous choice of menus are available, I digress , several Maps were seen nectering on Water Mint, ,alongside the old embarcadère de l’Abbaye,
- embarcadère
where they could be reliably seen on our regular visits , unfortunately for the survival of the Map the embarcadère has been " tidied up " and the Maps have now disappeared.
The springtime version of the Map (Araschnia levana) had eluded me until a brief chance meeting alongside the Brest Nantes canal near Héric Loire Atlantique so in the Spring of 2018 a trip to the Loire Atlantique was planed, the targets were the Map and the Camberwell Beauty, ever the optimist but what were the chances,50-50 perhaps ? We made base at St Lmyphard on the edge of the Brière Regional Natural Park
- view over the Brière Regional Natural Park
and immediately set off in search for the Map near Dreffeac, no sooner had I got out of the van..... I had the first Map in the cameras viewfinder, yippee , to add to my excitement a Large Tortioshell presented itself, a real bonus, now for the Camberwell Beauty, I had been given a site by a friend who has extensive knowledge of the district, again lady luck was with me and the Camberwell was added to my account.
All in all a highly a successful visit, sadly my plans for a return visit this year have been shattered like so many other UK butterfly members,I hope my pictures will compensate a little for your disappointment.
A short video of the butterflies seen during my Spring 2018
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p48 ... #hba39567c
