My wife and I have just returned from a thoroughly enjoyable three-base holiday, taking in the Hautes Pyrenees, with a brief detour into northern Spain in the middle of our trip. We arrived at our first accommodation in the lovely village of Saint Lary Soulan late afternoon on Thursday 7th July, and for the next two days we explored the Néouvielle National Nature Reserve.
Friday 8th July
I was on an Erebia-hunt, and they soon started to appear, throwing out all manner of identification challenges from the off. At the first location we visited, as soon as we got out of the car they were there, with Large Ringlet, Mountain Ringlet and Bright-eyed Ringlet the first three to be confirmed.
Twenty minutes later my wife shouted out to me – “Pete, this is different!” I always listen to her when she says things like this, and sure enough, in front of her was flying a smallish Erebia with a rather different “jizz”. It was flashing a deep metallic blue colour as the light caught it in flight, and I was pretty sure immediately that it was one of my main target species. It landed, I went in with my camera. Pyrenees Brassy Ringlet – my first new life tick this year, and a beauty! I would have been happy to see a normal example, but when my wife said “this is different” I am not sure she realised just how different, as this example was a most unusual asymmetric aberrant. The left upper-side forewing had the typical large fused double ocelli of this species, but the right upper forewing had just a single small ocellus.
More typical Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets followed.
I had another particular target species here, but there was a risk that the early season would mean that False Dewy Ringlets were already over. We climbed up towards the high scree slopes, and an Erebia with a rather different flight-pattern appeared in front of me. It had a quite slow, bouncy flight, giving off an impression of a dullish grey underside, but although it was easy enough to follow, it was flying relentlessly. I chased several of these butterflies around in the heat for the best part of half an hour, after which time I was in three places at once; close to a cardiac arrest, a long way from the nearest defibrillator, and even further from getting a photograph! A change of tactics was required, so we stood still for a bit at 2250 metres above sea level. There was an area of about an acre where the scree joined the outcrops, and these butterflies seemed to like it. There was also a small patch of thyme with other nectar sources, and every now and then a butterfly would alight briefly. But they were hypersensitive to noise and vibration and very easily spooked; I could only manage a couple of very long distance shots. They are just “record” shots, but they confirm that we were indeed in the presence of the False Dewy Ringlet, life-tick number two for me.
Something else interesting was flying around the scree and rocks. It was dark in flight, but it was actually landing quite frequently. It needed investigating. I was lucky enough to get close to a couple of these and it turned out they were Lefebvre’s Ringlets, a species that I have only seen once before in the Picos de Europa, where they are of a different local form, so this was almost as good as getting another lifer.
What a day! As well as the Erebias, other interesting finds included Mountain Clouded Yellow, Shepherd’s Fritillary, Olive Skipper and Large Wall Brown.
On the way back down from the scree slopes, a female False Dewy Ringlet dropped to the ground right in front of me.
Saturday 9th July
After the intensive butterflying of yesterday, we embarked on a more touristy itinerary today, climbing up from the Lac d’Oredon. It was busy with walkers, but very beautiful, and the highlight of the day was watching an enormous, fresh Camberwell Beauty soaring around a clearing amongst the pines. Apollos, Swallowtails, and a variety of Blues, Coppers and Fritillaries accompanied us on our meanderings.
Sunday 10th July
This morning, we headed east from Saint Lary Soulan in search of another species that would be a lifer for me if we found it. The weather was hotting up, so an early start seemed advisable, and paid off handsomely as we found Yellow-spotted Ringlet on the wing in excellent numbers. These were of the form constans, where the males are just about devoid of markings and the females have very reduced, but variable, “yellow” spots. Remarkably, they were quite amenable to being approached, frequently sitting still at nectar, much to my delight. We must have seen about 50 individuals all told, with other Erebias present, including Mountain Ringlet, Bright-eyed Ringlet and Large Ringlet.
PART TWO to follow
