Butterflies of Var, Southern France

[David M]

I echo aeshna's comments, Roger. A lovely commentary on a trip undertaken in difficult circumstances.

I pray that 2022 will see a change to rather more normal travel restrictions (or lack of). For many of us, the UK simply does not have sufficient numbers of species to satisfy our cravings.

[petesmith]

Day 22 was a trip to one of my favourite spots south of Modane. The last section of the road isn’t great (at least UKBer will know where I mean from this description), just about OK for our car given that we don’t risk car damage on roads that are too rocky or uneven. But the trip is worth it.

I remember that road very well Roger! "Isn't great" is wonderfully understated, in my humble opinion, and I am not easily fazed by dodgy French alpine roads
But as you say - the end destination is well worth the effort. We had some of the best ever mud-puddling action up there a couple of years back.
I am getting all nostalgic just thinking about it.

Sincerely hope French travel is back to as near normal as possible next year - the withdrawal symptoms are a bugger...

Excellent report - I have a feeling we all know where you will be putting the effort in during 2022

[Roger Gibbons]

We did manage to get back to Var at the beginning of September, mainly because we had not been able to get to our place there for two years, but Var in September is still interesting butterfly-wise. We had been assured that NHS Covid passes would function abroad as now, in France at least, it is necessary to show passes and have them zapped whenever going into (even on the terrace) a café or restaurant. This just seems another missing part of the jigsaw as the QR codes don’t zap, either on mobiles or on paper. No matter, they were taken on trust.

There has been very little rain over the summer, we hear, and this continued until a couple of days ago when we had an overnight downpour, but nowhere near on the scale of the floods in Gard. It seems to me that the terrain is increasingly parched every September, with fewer flowers and butterflies each year, not just a negative impression as the water level on the local lake drops a few cm each year and is now 1m lower than when we first came here 15 years ago.

So, for the most part, the flowers and butterflies can best, but not exclusively, be found near water. One spot in central Var is usually productive in September so we paid a visit there on the 9th. There were numerous Weaver’s Fritillaries (Boloria dia), a species that seems far more common late in the season than earlier (this is true of quite a few double-brooded species), Adonis Blues (Polyommatus bellargus), and as often, huge numbers of Provencal Chalk-hill Blues (P. hispanus). The weather was mostly sunny spells with intermittent cloud cover, ideal for photography as butterflies take a brief break from their hyperactive pursuits. Here is a Weaver’s Fritillary, both upperside and underside, showing why it is also (and perhaps more properly) called a Violet Fritillary.

And a female hispanus, showing the bold markings that seem to outdo the males in this respect.

Adjacent to our location, which is only a few km from the Med, is a small lake and what used to be a river, but is now just a sandy track. A few UKBers will know where I mean. I take a meander around there every week or so in the Spring. Yesterday I had a look (for the first time in two years) and several of the tracks had become quite overgrown. At the end of one track of about 50m it entered into sparse woodland where for many years there had been a makeshift encampment comprised mainly of pallets and plastic sheeting (I declined to venture any further when it was inhabited), but it had been abandoned a few years back, so I elected to see what might be flying there. At the woodland edge, I saw what looked like a Hipparchia grayling and got a photo straight away – it was, as I had suspected, a Striped Grayling (H. fidia), despite it being clearly at the end of its flight period. I had seen fidia there back in 2012 but not since, so had it been hanging on in the woodland clearing? Either way, it is way out its normal range by some 50km in any direction.

I had also seen Sooty Copper (Lycaena tityrus) in the same location, a female one year and a male the next (in 2014); the maps show tityrus as not occurring in Var except in the far north-east corner, so again, at least 50km from any known location. Full of surprises, this part of the world.

[David M]

Glad you managed to get back there, Roger. Wouldn't you believe it, now that the season is almost over, testing restrictions have been eased!!

Let's hope things will be more like normal next year.

Huge numbers of Provence CHBs sounds alluring, and well done with fidia. No reason why it shouldn't occur there in all honesty, but that's the great joy of France in that you can find things that are missing on the distribution charts.

As for this:

...Adjacent to our location, which is only a few km from the Med, is a small lake and what used to be a river, but is now just a sandy track. A few UKBers will know where I mean...

Where exactly is the location? Is it somewhere I've been to when I visited you down there in spring 2015?

[Roger Gibbons]

...Adjacent to our location, which is only a few km from the Med, is a small lake and what used to be a river, but is now just a sandy track. A few UKBers will know where I mean...

Where exactly is the location? Is it somewhere I've been to when I visited you down there in spring 2015?

Indeed it is, David. Almost exactly at the spot we photographed the (freshly emerged) Scarce Swallowtail:
https://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/htm ... ar_13Apr15_

Roger

[David M]

..Indeed it is, David. Almost exactly at the spot we photographed the (freshly emerged) Scarce Swallowtail:https://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/htm ... ar_13Apr15_

Thanks, Roger. Yes, I remember the spot (and the butterfly). I just can't place it in relation to the campsite where your static home is.

Must be getting Alzheimer's.

[Roger Gibbons]

We left the UK in mid-May meandering to Var via the eastern Pyrenees, quite a diversion but there was an objective and I suspect some UKBers will already guess what this was.

Overnight stop in central France at a location where I saw palaemon (Chequered Skipper) some 20+ years ago. Would they still be there? There would be no story if there weren’t and I found maybe five before a storm set in. Here is one that was fresher than the others.

Next to the eastern Pyrenees at a location for desfontainii (Spanish Fritillary) I had been given in absolute secrecy. It has apparently quite a short flight period which can vary dramatically from year to year. It also flies in company with the very similar and much more common aurinia beckeri, a very orange form of Marsh Fritillary. Well, it was 30C and cloudless and the beckeri were everywhere, everything flying non-stop making it very tricky to spot desfontainii in flight. First, here is a particularly orange beckeri upperside, and an underside showing the very appealing pattern and colouring of the Euphydryas species.

I did manage to discern at least two desfontainii from the beckeri throng. Life-ticks are a big thrill and the thrill increases inversely with the number of (French) life-ticks yet to see. And this was life-tick 237 of 238. I saw one female looking fresh, constantly nectaring and this was the best upperside shot I could get, the greatest extent to which it opened its wings.

And a male, rather more worn, showing the underside very different from its Euphydryas cousins. I had not realised just how different the underside would be. This image was also taken on the hoof of constant nectaring.

The site was superb for a number of species, especially those not frequently encountered.

And at about this point a travel plan for mid-May 2023 came into being.

Next, a mating pair of icarus (Common Blue) where the male had the decency to look presentable and they had the consideration to both be in the same plane.

More to follow.

Roger

[petesmith]

Many congratulations on your desfontainii Roger, and your penultimate French life-tick! That female is a delightful-looking creature. This species is now in position number one on my "most-wanted" list - I hope to catch up with it in Spain next May. I look forward to hearing about the rest of your trip...

[selbypaul]

I expect you visited the same site as I did in late May. At which point there were no Spanish Fritillary spotted. Your siting two weeks earlier explains why, given the short flight period! Glad you managed to see it.

[David M]

Congratulations, Roger. So pleased you finally caught up with it.

Which is your final species to see?

[Roger Gibbons]

Thanks, guys. I was very fortunate to be told about this site by locals who I have helped with their forthcoming book, with photos and ID clues etc.

I can say that it isn't the "classic" region for desfontainii. There seem to be mixed messages about the Sournia population, with some people saying that collectors had taken all of the eggs and wiped it out, and other saying there have been sightings since this alleged theft.

The last on the list, David, is Water Ringlet (Erebia pronoe). I did have plans for a diversion to Haute Savoie on the way home but was informed that this would be stupid even by my standards.

I leave Var on Friday for a few weeks meandering through the Alps, visiting many of our favourite spots and spending some time in areas which seem to have had very little attention. Target species include intermedia, morpheus, aquilonaris, glacialis, sudetica, scipio, and if I'm very lucky lupina and aurelia.

Roger

[Roger Gibbons]

A few more images, some on the theme that it may be common, but that does not detract from its appeal.

There seems to be a lot of cardui (Painted lady) around this year, which may hopefully be an indication that reasonable numbers may arrive on UK shores in the fullness of time. This one was nectaring avidly and stopped for a very brief moment with wings open.

Moths sometimes feature on UKB, but this one maybe not so often. It is known as Isabella (Graellsia isabellae), a male. It has a huge wingspan of around 15cm and is very localised in France. It often appears on posters in regions where they announce their commitment to nature, but relatively few people ever get to see it. Quite hard to get a decent photo in the dark, but this is about the best I could get using flash.

On the theme of tricky identifications, I believe these are deione (Provençal Fritillary), a mating pair snapped in the eastern Pyrenees. I suspect the female is above, but will study them more closely when I get home.

Still on fritillaries, this is a male pandora (Cardinal), double brooded in this part of the world. It is very similar in markings to paphia (Silver-washed) even to the sex brands, but has a greenish suffusion which is more pronounced in the female.

And this is a female paphia. An unusual pose which I just about managed to get above to get this shot without disturbing it. Immaculate. I think it maybe had just hatched and may be just preparing for its maiden flight, on the basis that I don’t think I’ve seen this type of pose from a female before.

And finally, spini (Blue-spot Hairstreak). The Satyrium genus of Hairstreaks are difficult to catch on camera as they nectar actively on the Helichrysum that flowers here in June, constantly rotating. You just have to sit and wait and snap when it comes round, fingers crossed. This is a large Hairstreak and in my view the prince of the Satyrium species.

Roger

[aeshna5]

Wonderful tour report.

Your glorious moth is also often called a Spanish Moon Moth.

[Roger Gibbons]

As I have probably mentioned before on the thread, I travel (usually alone) around the Alps for the month of July, in odd-numbered years this trip takes in a spell in the Pyrenees. I have a number of target species so the route takes in some of the known locations of these species, but I also research potentially-interesting sites, thanks to Google Maps and Earth. I spend a lot of time in the winter working out the itinerary and studying flight periods, as well as booking places to stay each night as the last thing I want to be doing at the end of each day is hunting around for a hotel. So it’s a fixed itinerary. Usually works out reasonably well.

Not this year. Even before I left, I heard that Asian Fritillary (Euphydryas intermedia), usually out from the beginning of July (I saw a fresh female last year on 23 July), was reported to have been seen on 25 June when they were clearly at the end of their flight period. This was largely repeated everywhere and it seems the season in the Alps was at least three weeks earlier than normal. Problem number two was the heatwave of temperatures of over 35C sustained for long periods (I heard it had been quite warm in the UK, too). Problem number three was that everywhere is drying up; rivers and lakes have been losing water levels. This has been the trend for a decade or more now, and some rivers are just devoid of any water. If this trend continues, as it almost certainly will, it will have an even more devastating effect on the flora and fauna.

Enough grumbling, let’s start the trip. I start from the south coast, drop my wife off at Nice airport (mercifully the flight not being cancelled) and head off to some favourite spots in the Mercantour. It didn’t disappoint, but an hour to the west the famed manure heaps had been moved (they had been there for a decade or so), so the butterfly magnets were only in first gear, and the river was all but devoid of water. Just along the road, towards Valberg, a flowery meadow produced 47 species that I could count, including a photo that needed a second look: the female is on the left, the male on the right but they didn’t show any interest in each other. The reason is that the female on the left is an Amanda’s Blue (Polyommatus amandus) and the male on the right is an Escher’s Blue (P. escheri).

Over Bonnette where, with patience, I got my usual dismal image of a Sooty Ringlet (Erebia pluto).

Then I headed north to Savoie for the intermedia site (spending 60 euros on a return trip through the Fréjus tunnel) and indeed no intermedia at that location and not much else either, although this fresh Red Underwing Skipper (Spialia sertorius) caught my eye.

However, not too far away is a spot with the most puddling butterflies anywhere (PeteS will know where I mean) (I counted 50 species) – here is a taste of the huge number of blues puddling there, just a subset of the total. It’s a good site for photography as they actually sit still. Here are two images of species more familiar to UKBers – a very nearly pristine male dark Green Fritillary (“Argynnis” aglaja) and the ubiquitous Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia), the latter being common across nearly the whole of France – why that can be so, when it is so highly localised in England is a mystery.

Coming back into France through Italy and the tunnel, I spent a day in an area I had researched. I think I have Nickerl’s Fritillary (M. aurelia) but I have to study the images in detail. The only other possibility would be athalia, but this species is so widespread and so variable it is almost impossible to say any athalia-like image isn’t athalia. At a spot lower at around 1600m on the same road, I had identified a track leading off a hairpin bend (where they nearly always are) which was simply alive with butterflies. I spent several hours there, the absolute highlight being this Oriental Meadow Brown (Hyponephele lupina), a rather rare and highly localised species in France. I have had sightings of lupina best described as “could be” or “probably is”, but this I feel is beyond doubt. Second place went to this male Meleager’s Blue (P. daphnis).

More to follow...

Roger

[David M]

I have to agree with your rather depressing commentary regarding climate, Roger. Having spent over a month in the Alps followed by the Pyrenees this summer I'm beginning to wonder how long we have left of this before it becomes a footnote in history.

It was scaldingly hot in Gavarnie two weeks ago; one day it was 39c in Argeles-Gazost and every other day it was 34c+ in the mid afternoon. I've never seen the mountains so bereft of residual snow/ice.

The seasons have become so out of sync with what was once considered 'normal' these last few years that I wonder if southern Europe is shifting permanently to something hotter and drier. We had Cynthia's Fritillary on 16th June this year....at 2,350m!!!

[petesmith]

However, not too far away is a spot with the most puddling butterflies anywhere (PeteS will know where I mean) (I counted 50 species) –

That mud-puddling spot is fantastic, Roger, not just for sheer numbers, but also for the range of species, as you say. Looks like coridon was vying for dominance in your photo.

Like you, I always plan my trips well in advance, with hotels booked, so my itinerary is also written in stone. It is always hard to pre-judge optimal timings, but this year certainly seems to have seen the most extreme shift in flight periods in living memory over much of Europe. As David says, you have to be slightly concerned for the future - particularly with the lack of water in many parts.

Congrats on finding lupina - I have never seen it for sure in France. My encounters have all been in Spain.

[Roger Gibbons]

8 July
The Durance valley in the Hautes-Alpes has been a very good region for a number of uncommon species, although some of the locations are historical and probably haven’t been researched to any degree, at least not recently. I spent some time studying Google Earth and identified two regions that looked promising, both along roads that led to nowhere and became progressively narrower. The first was a road up to medium altitudes of around 1400m with various points on the way.

There was quite a high density all along the roadside, but then something caught my eye – among the large numbers of Marbled Whites (Melanargia galathea) were a few that looked different, slightly larger and whiter which I was able to recognise as Esper’s Marbled Whites (M. russiae), not a species I was expecting to see. Here is a female (I noticed afterwards that quite a lot of my photos were of females - none of them Lionesses, though – that may have been a function of the lateness of the season).

In the same region, a female Dusky Meadow Brown (H. Lycaon), identifiable as a female as the second ocellus is just about visible, the male having only a single ocellus.

9 July
The next location was a road that followed a river (one of my key elements for a location search) for about 15km until it reached a dead end. I followed the road until near the end and stopped off at a bridge and an open space. By chance I noticed a flowery track through light woodland alongside the river. And it turned out to be one of those locations absolutely swarming with butterflies. One “special” species for me, even though I see a few, is Meleager’s Blue (P. daphnis) and there were several males here plus this female, of the blue form rather than the brown form steeveni that I usually see, although the blue was only visible in flight and no prospect of an open wing shot.

One thing that was very apparent was the large number of large fritillaries of the “Argynnis” species. Here is a very fresh female High Brown Fritillary (A. adippe) posing obligingly.

10 July
On to the Queyras with some very good locations from 2000m up to 2500m. At the higher reaches, some of the serious altitude species can be found, and the species density and diversity is really quite good considering the altitude and temperature. There were a number of the iconic male Cynthia’s Fritillaries (Euphydryas cynthia) on the wing, nearly all showing some degree of wear, confirming that even here the season was very early.

Here is a rather battered female cynthia, very different to the male which has the white areas, and looking more like a mainstream fritillary, but encountered far less frequently.

And in the same region, a female Mountain Fritillary (Boloria napaea) with a slightly damaged wing tip. While the males of napaea and its close cousin Shepherd’s Fritillary (M. pales) are very similar, the females can be readily distinguished from the sheen of napaea,

11 July
A day meandering across the Col d’Izoard stopping at various points I know well. At the Col itself at 2360m I had previously seen the elusive Alpine Grayling (Oeneis glacialis), but the Col was fenced off a result of (or maybe to protect against) rockfalls. Two of the commonest species here were Large Ringlets (Erebia Euryale) and cyclists. At one point, when I was having my lunch, twelve of them landed on me. Large Ringlets, that is, not cyclists.

Just below the Col is a track at around 2300m which has some interesting species, albeit at rather low density. Here is a male pales.

And a Mountain Clouded Yellow (Colias phicomone), a female, nectaring and looking very fresh and a few moments later egg-laying – how on earth can it detect what it is egg-laying on?

There are various tracks leading off the hairpin bends on the north side of Izoard, which are quite variable in terms of the butterfly diversity. One of my favourite species-rich spots is at 1960m and I usually spend a couple of hours meandering there. However, this year one species dominated and there were very few other species, and in low numbers. The dominant species was euryale and I could have counted a thousand in a 100m stretch of track. There were several groups of a hundred or more, the snapshot below showing one group. How does one species achieve such numbers and why should this impact the number of other species at the same location?

One more report to come.
Roger

[selbypaul]

What an incredible last photo Roger! I've never seen anything like it before with any species of erebia!

And your questions at the end are very good ones! Goodness knows what the answers are!

[Roger Gibbons]

Yes, a bizarre sight, Paul. This group was only one of several, but at other tracks the numbers of euryale were in single figures.

Belated thanks to aeshna5 for the English name of the moth.

14 July
A day at one of my favourite places in the Ecrins, a riverside spot where many different species come down to a small damp area during the day. It is the least strenuous way to observe them as I park myself on a canvas chair about 5m away and sit and wait with my trusty Papilios. The species diversity and density has been dropping over the years and it seems Poplar Admiral (Limenitis populi) is not guaranteed here any more but forty species is still a reasonable expectation.

Here is a Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius), very fresh and with a slightly unusual pose of wings folded, but enabling a view of its underside which is almost as appealing as the upperside. The downside is that the ants here are very aggressive and there is a price to pay to get down for a photo like this. A price that was still stinging days later.

Another highlight, a species I see only sporadically, a Purple Hairstreak (Favonius quercus), a female, on the ground with wings open.

16 July
A day in the Vercors, which used to be a favourite location of mine in the late 1990s. No particularly unusual species here, but the most numerous Erebia ringlet was Arran Brown (E. ligea). Of all the English names given by the early entomologists based on the location, this is the most dubious. Did it ever occur on Arran, or anywhere else in the UK for that matter? At least Camberwell Beauty and Bath White have credible records, and Lulworth Skipper is certainly still there. Here is a male.

18 July
A visit to an obscure and “secret” location east of Lyon, a small patch of damp ground with some Sanguisorba (Great Burnet), the hostplant for two of France’s most localised and elusive species, Scarce Large Blue (Phengaris teleius) and Dusky Large Blue (P. nausithous). Even very few sprigs of the hostplant can support a decent-sized colony. At this spot, there were indeed few sprigs but there were around thirty of each species flying there, a very healthy colony, and a very good reason to keep it relatively unknown.

Here is a male nausithous, and a female egg-laying on Sanguisorba.

And a male teleius

21 July
An excursion to the Loire département, principally for Cranberry Fritillary (B. aquilonaris) which we visited last year but were too early in a late year. I made a wrong choice of which track to take (I went to the location on the map we were originally given, not the one we actually took last year) and found a meadow fenced off with barbed wire and cows that looked at me in a very disturbing way, as they do. There were what I am sure were aquilonaris being blown about in high winds, but did not see any that I could definitively identify. In the afternoon, on to a location not too far away where we had seen Large Chequered Skippers (Heteropterus morpheus) last year on the same date but this rich spot was by now dry and quite barren.

I spent the next day meandering around several spots that looked like they had potential, very rich in terms of numbers but nothing unusual. I did manage to get a shot of a Map Butterfly (Araschnia levana), a female underside, showing why it got its English name (and French, La Carte Géographique).

26 July
On the way back to the UK, the last butterfly stop, quite well known to several UKBers, just north of Dijon. It is a site that is good for a number of highly localised species in early June, and I was not expecting to see any interesting species that I would expect to see earlier in the year. Happy to be wrong on this one. The hundreds of Silver-washed Fritillaries (A. paphia) were all showing signs of wear, but the Scotch Argus (E. aethiops) were quite fresh, showing that lovely velvety black appearance.

And a single male Adonis Blue (P. bellargus), very recently hatched, from its pristine appearance.

And, almost a case of saving the best till last, there were a few male Reverdin’s Blues (Plebejus argyrognomon), a close relative of Silver-studded Blue (P. argus), and one female, also pristine. In my opinion, probably the most appealing of the female blues.

Overall a very enjoyable trip. Some very nice surprises and a few target species missed out. But, as my wife says, that gives you a reason to go back next year. Excuse me while I start planning for 2023.

Roger

[David M]

You saw some fine butterflies, Roger, although 2022 was not exactly ideal from a weather perspective, with severe heatwaves, fires and water shortages. I do hope this isn't becoming the new normal.

I hadn't realised teleius was out in mid-July. It's high on my 'hit list' so I will park that information for future reference.

Glad you got back safely and as you say, let's plan wisely and hope 2023 will be a little more benign, both from a weather and Covid perspective.