French Alps 4th - 11th July 2020

[David M]

Friday 3rd July was one of the most dismal 'summer' days in my memory here in Swansea. Constant rain, strong winds and 15c maximum temperatures.

Things were so bad I had to wait until early evening to take my bin bag to the on site waste disposal point, at which point I'd more than had enough....

....so, with the announcement that morning that quarantine was no longer mandatory for returning UK overseas travellers (to certain countries), I booked a return flight from Manchester to Marseille with Ryanair.

I hired a vehicle and booked into an AirBnB and after a tiring day of driving, waiting and flying I eventually arrived in the serene environs of Guillestre in the Queyras region of France just after 7pm local time.

The following morning when I looked out of my bedroom window, any sentiment of fatigue evaporated:

[BarrieS]

Good on you David for getting out there.
I can't wait to read up on your exploits. I hope they include a sighing of Warren's Skipper.

[petesmith]

Best of luck David! I am highly envious - the Queyras is my favourite place in the whole of France. Surely warrenensis awaits you...

[David M]

Thanks, both. Warrenensis was indeed a main target, but unless I can spot one in my many multiple puddling pyrgus images then I'm afraid this one has eluded me again!

[David M]

With this being an independent trip, rather than one where I was leading a group of guests, I wanted to concentrate on areas a little further north than I have previously ventured to in France.

Guillestre seemed a sensible choice of base as it is within easy striking distance of places I was already familiar with and wished to visit again, but it was also handily placed for me to go north beyond Briançon, something I'd never done before.

There was some new scenery as well as some familiar places.

[Padfield]

Hi David. Do we understand you're already back? The thread title suggests this but the first post suggests you didn't leave until 11th ... Either way, well done!

I look forward very much to seeing your piccies, but if you're already back then I fear it was too early to find an armchair warrenensis in one of your pictures. In my experience, they fly later than this.

Guy

[David M]

Apologies for the confusion, Guy; I made an error with my dates.

The depressing day was actually 3rd July (I've corrected this now). That was also the morning that the government announced quarantine upon return from certain countries would no longer apply from 10th July. Therefore, I knew if I left on 4th and returned on 11th I'd not have to be subjected to this.

I acted extremely quickly, although the relative paucity of flights meant I had to travel north to Manchester as well as use an alternative French airport to Nice. In actual fact, having now experienced it for myself, Marseille airport is much more user friendly than Nice, which is an absolute nightmare, and the drive to the Queyras was pretty rapid along the A51 autoroute north, with the toll being reasonable at 13 Euros.

[David M]

I was very lucky with the weather. Every day was warm and sunny, although high winds on the Monday afternoon forced me to cut short my activities that day. It clouded over late Friday afternoon and by 6pm the thunder and lightning began. By the following morning though, the air had cleared and I drove back to Marseille in excellent conditions.

I saw over 100 species, including three 'lifers', although had I visited the forest track in Rimplas I'm sure I could have notched up another couple of dozen. However, I wanted to spend time on the cols and above 1,800m, and you're not going to see the likes of Lulworth Skipper, Southern Comma, Ilex Hairstreak, et al up there!

It was also a useful exercise in losing weight. Working from home since 23 March had seen me sneaking towards 100kg, but hiking up steep slopes for a week saw almost 4kg come off! Who needs diets!

Here are a few more images of the wider area before I get started on the butterflies:

[petesmith]

Hi David. Do we understand you're already back? The thread title suggests this but the first post suggests you didn't leave until 11th ... Either way, well done!

I look forward very much to seeing your piccies, but if you're already back then I fear it was too early to find an armchair warrenensis in one of your pictures. In my experience, they fly later than this.

Guy

David - don't despair yet! I have 2 records of warrenensis from the Queyras, one for 9th July 2012, and one the 12th July 2017, and Roger has one from 7th July. Let's hope there is one lurking in your 1000+ shots!

[David M]

...David - don't despair yet! I have 2 records of warrenensis from the Queyras, one for 9th July 2012, and one the 12th July 2017, and Roger has one from 7th July. Let's hope there is one lurking in your 1000+ shots!

I never despair, Pete, although I DO occasionally get a little disappointed and frustrated. Butterflies don't give up their secrets easily so I'm mindful that irrespective of time spent in the field, I often won't get what I'm searching for.

Warrensis in France is tricky; I know that, but so was Alpine Grayling and Spanish Fritillary and I managed to eventually catch up with both of those.

Time and patience are essential requirements. I may not have a great deal of the former but I have plenty of the latter, as well as oodles of determination. Missing out regularly makes eventual success all the sweeter, as I'm sure you know.

[David M]

Sunday 5th July 2020 - Getting started.....

I had to wait a little while to start on this first full day as I needed to visit the supermarket for essential provisions and they don't open until 8.30am round these parts.

Once I had overcome this time related problem, I headed for a col south of Briançon, which I have visited before and am familiar with.

I figured that at 2,400m I'd not be overwhelmed by a plethora of butterfly species at such an early hour, and in fact that was an understatement as in the half hour after I arrived at 9.30am nothing was flying at all except for a few hardy Peak Whites round the trig point of this col.

This species is constantly on a flying mission, but 16c temperatures and weak, early morning light seemed to make them rather more docile than I am used to. Quite a few came down to nectar on the flora growing out of the rocky scree, and although I didn't dare put my macro attachment on my camera, I still managed to get a few close(ish) encounters:

[David M]

After 10am, butterfly activity started to increase....my second species of the morning was this Shepherd's Fritillary:

The area where the Peak Whites were flying is at the top of the slope, but by 10.15am there were suddenly butterflies taking to the wing in the grassy areas lower down. Small and Large Blues were seen, as well as the first of many hundreds of Alpine Heath seen during the week:

There were also a few erebia starting to get active. I was ready to get an image of a grounded False Mnestra Ringlet but it spooked just as I was about to hit the shutter. I had to wait a while before getting close enough to the next one and I managed to get it into my vial for examination.

I was intrigued as although it looked like aethiopella it was 'blind'. Many thanks to Messrs Padfield and Gibbons for pointing out that there IS a blind form of this species called caeca; another very useful piece of information.

[David M]

At around noon, it was time to move on. I wasn't able to find Alpine Grayling, nor Warren's Skipper, and I wanted to move to another col near the Italian border. Here is an image of the location:

I was immediately tripping over Dewy Ringlets:

Not quite sure why they are always so common at this location; I rarely see them on any of the other cols in the area.

Another species around in good numbers was Dusky Grizzled Skipper, a chunky but delicately marked pyrgus:

I also saw around a dozen Cynthia's Fritillaries. This was encouraging as for the last two years they have been very thin on the ground in the part of the Alps I visit:

Another delicate denizen of this 2,500m world was Grison's Fritillary:

On the lycaenid front, Small Blues were prominent, but they were neck and neck with Glandon Blue, which has to be the most enthusiastic 'puddler' within this group. I hardly ever see it away from damp spots and often wonder what it actually does with its time when not imbibing minerals:

[essexbuzzard]

Well done David, and good for you getting over there. A quick response to the easing of restrictions for sure, but I’m sure you don’t regret it!

Looking foreword to seeing what else you’ve found...

[David M]

Sure don't regret it, Mark. I was going stir crazy looking out of the window at the awful July weather here knowing there were all those fabulous continental species on the wing in far sunnier climes. I just had to take my chance.

[David M]

On my way back down from the col, I stopped at a sheltered spot near a little river surrounded by flowery meadows. There were plenty of butterflies here.

I never got to see malvae in the UK this year so it felt somewhat like compensation to come across a few malvoides:

Mountain Argus was on the wing too:

A few worn Marsh Fritillaries were still about:

Pretty sure this one is Olive Skipper, serratulae:

What I had come to look for though was Alpine Blue. You can never guarantee it, but if you spend sufficient time above 1,800m you usually stumble across one, and this one was a mint fresh male:

I stopped off opposite a wooden snack hut on my way back, but the region had clearly seen plenty of rain lately as the river was higher than I have ever seen it, submerging some of the historic puddling spots. There were a couple of Small Apollos flying around but they didn't stop to give me a photo opportunity.

[Pete Eeles]

What I had come to look for though was Alpine Blue. You can never guarantee it, but if you spend sufficient time above 1,800m you usually stumble across one, and this one was a mint fresh male:

Another for my wish list Very nice indeed!

Cheers,

- Pete

[bugboy]

You're right, I have had to resort to your text a few times here David, although Peak White, Cynthia's Fritillary and that final Alpine Blue, no mistaking those !

[Padfield]

A lot of vicarious pleasure from your piccies, David!

100% for serratulae. I viewed the post walking back from the pub (for the first time since March) and actually said out loud, 'lovely serratulae' even before I looked at your comment.

Guy

[David M]

Thanks all, and Guy, there will be plenty more pyrgus to come so keep having a pint in the pub so you're on your game.