Padfield

[Padfield]

Hi Paul. I thought you were going to be in the Alps yourself at the beginning of June? The truth, is this season is not so much behind schedule as critically damaged, perhaps beyond repair. Now the snow has melted, it rains every day. Quite simply, there are no butterflies at my altitude and the numbers at lower altitudes are pitiful. Yesterday, for example, I headed to forests near Geneva, with populi in mind. Normally, at this time of year, there is plenty else to see, including black and ilex hairstreaks, both emperors and lots else. I left Leysin in the pouring rain but it cleared up, as promised, by the time I reached the forest - about 15km cycle ride from Geneva station. I did two complete circuits of my populi route, the first in cloud but the second in hot sun - really nice weather. And I saw almost nothing. Amazingly, there were no Lycaenids of any description - not even a holly blue or Provençal short-tailed blue, both normally ubiquitous. There were no skippers - and large should obviously have been on the wing by now. Most surprisingly, there were no emperors. Normally, these glide around me as I park my bike and it's unheard of not to bump into a lesser purple at least. But nothing. There were several hundred white admirals (as opposed to the usual several thousand) and plenty of woodland browns, but other than that, just ones and twos of common species like brimstone and meadow brown. Really very, very strange! It was cloudy when I got back to Leysin and has rained all today!


(white admiral - the only really common butterfly flying yesterday)


(white admiral)


(woodland browns were about in good numbers)


(woodland browns often come to moisture)

Guy

[selbypaul]

Hi Guy
Well remembered, I arrived in the Italian Alps late yesterday. Too late to go butterflying. So I will find out the state of things today!

Your tale of woe sounds realistic for sure. The mountain passes from Nice in France to this part of Italy are all either blocked with snow or damaged and closed. So instead of a roughly 2.5 hour direct journey, it was a 4.5 hour indirect journey along the Italian motorways!

The weather forecast looks a bit better for this week, so I am hoping against hope for a bit of a mass emergence, with some warm sunshine triggering the pent up emergences! We shall see!

Cheers again for documenting all you see (or don't). It is an extremely interesting read. And yet more evidence, as if we needed it, of the damaging effects of climate change induced weather pattern changes.

[Padfield]

I hope you have a great trip, Paul. In general, the weather's better on the Italian side, so you may find things less disastrous than here!

I headed off to a favourite Satyrium site near Yverdons-les-Bains today, with black hairstreak in mind. Normally, this species emerges at the end of May, so I confidently expected it to be on the wing now. The weather was sunny but a little windy and I arrived on site at 11h30 - normally a good time to see hairstreaks tumbling over the blackthorn. But there were none. In two hours, I saw not a single hairstreak in flight. By one hour into the visit, I had decided there just weren't any Satyrium at all, but then just while I was photographing a pearly heath on the blackthorn, I spotted a white-letter hairstreak creeping over a privet head:



Amazing! It's actually very early for white-letter hairstreaks, so I wondered if the blacks were already flown, though it seemed impossible.

From then on, I examined every privet head, and by complete chance spotted a second Satyrium hairstreak on another of them (I was trying to photograph a small heath this time!). It was a sloe hairstreak. It was backside on to me and impossible to photograph, so I reached sideways with one arm through some bramble and got a single, rubbish shot before my sweatshirt tripped the bramble and it flew off:



Two Satyrium species, both found by pure luck.

Finally, an hour and a half into my visit, I found a third Satyrium, again creeping over privet in an inaccessible part of a bush. This time, it was a black hairstreak:





Extraordinary. Just three hairstreaks in two hours, and three different species. It is really hard work this year!!

There was very little flying altogether. Pearly heaths were the commonest butterfly, and the only thing to be seen flying over the blackthorn:





There were a few black-veined whites, a few meadow browns, a few (very few) Adonis blues, a handful of small heaths and a small tortoiseshell or two. Here is a black-veined white resting on blackthorn:



I finished the trip with a woodland walk, during which I saw precisely zero butterflies - not even a speckled wood or green-veined white - despite lovely sunny weather and lots of nectar plants along the track.

Guy

[Wurzel]

Sad to read about the dearth of butterflies Guy It's been a bit more hit and miss over here but the main thing is the timings are off for a range of species - some early but most late, hopefully things will pick up for the later species That being said lovely set of Pearly Heath shots, I love that metallic ribbon that runs along the wing margin

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

This year has seen a new range of extremes, from cold and wet in the west to dangerously hot and arid in the east.

In Romania between 18 and 25 May, we had Poplar Admirals, Scarce Fritillaries and a selection of other butterflies you wouldn't expect until June.

Right now, where I am in Greece it is 40c in the late afternoon!

The seasons are all over the place practically anywhere you might be in Europe right now.

[selbypaul]

Thanks Guy. We had mixed weather conditions here in the Italian Alps on Day 1. The season is very late here, with lots of relatively fresh Orange Tip still on the wing and some of the late Spring butterflies only just emerging. While we saw 38 species, the number of individual butterflies is low.

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel. Yes, if the summer finally arrives the later species will be fine - perhaps even strong, especially at altitude. The late snow makes no difference to the real alpine stuff and the lush, wet weather can only have helped the caterpillars.

Hi David. I've certainly envied the hot weather to the east! It's tough hiking at 40°C+ but I often do it and providing you keep an absolute watch on the water situation and take regular (long) shade breaks it is fine. I really felt for poor Dr Mosley. Something went terribly wrong for him.

Hi Paul. I'll be watching your reports closely! I think you'll find the situation better than here in the Swiss Alps, as you are much further south.

Yesterday, on a rare, properly sunny day, I decided to add ilex hairstreak to my Satyrium list, with the hope of catching up on a lot of other species too. For this, I headed further east along the Rhône Valley to two favourite sites. There were indeed ilex hairstreaks on the wing - though very few, probably because it is the beginning of their season - as well as lots of other good species. A speciality of the Rhône Valley is Provençal fritillary, of the very distinctive subspecies berisalii (I've long expected this to be split off, but it remains officially a subspecies of deione). Southern white admirals are suddenly common and finally the large skippers have emerged. I saw a single Camberwell beauty still on the wing, reminding of how many flight days have been lost this year - 13th June is very late for Camberwell beauty. But most satisfyingly, I spotted a bladder senna set back from the track at one point and quickly found a male Iolas blue creeping all over the flowers. This is some 50km from my usual site near Martigny. Iolas blue is spread at low density all along the valley and males may fly many kilometres in a day looking for bladder senna and females. Their strategy is, only nectar at bladder senna and if females do the same, then you have a high chance of scoring. I passed the same bladder senna about an hour later, as shade was falling on it, and by this time the male had been replaced with a laying female. I kept a discreet distance and watched as she laid all over the plant (always right at the base of the bladders), nectaring in between. Here are a few piccies from yesterday:


(southern white admiral taking minerals)


(ilex hairstreak taking minerals)


(fresh marbled fritillary)


(knapweed fritillary)


(Provençal fritillary)


(the bladder senna bush)


(male Iolas blue)


(male Iolas blue)


(female Iolas blue)


(female Iolas blue laying)


(male southern small white and black-veined white)


(Minnie cooling off in the Great, Grey-Green, Greasy Rhône!)



Guy

[Wurzel]

Cracking images Guy - things are looking a little better then Is berisalii the one with the dumbbell marking? I spent a lot of time pouring over my images from Portugal when I went looking for said marking so that I could differentiate between Provencal and Heath...only to discover that Heaths aren't recorded in the area of Portugal that I visited Still learning is never wasted

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Good to see a few more species emerging round your way, Guy. Like the UK, Switzerland seems to be having a rough time this year.

It's been the same in Italy this last few days - it felt at least 2 weeks behind normal and far fewer butterflies were flying than in previous years.

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel. Yes, berisalii has a very strong and constant dumbell on the upperside, as well as a distinctive underside. It is unmistakable. The nominate subspecies is quite different and not so easy (the males at least) to separate from nevadensis, the heath fritillary species with which it often flies.

Hi David. Yes, things are still behind schedule here and generally thin on the ground. Little by little, I'm catching up with the species, but it looks as if I might actually miss out on some completely. I'm sure they'll survive somehow and make it through to next year ...

The last few days have had a bit of sun and I've clocked up a few more year ticks. Two days ago, for the first time, the local marsh fritillaries (glaciegenita/merope) were flying:



This one, unusually, has no black points on the hindwing:



I got taras at the same site:



In a dull part of the day I watched this female little blue lay an egg deep in an unopened flower head of kidney vetch:





I had expected to see alpine grizzled skipper but instead got my first carline skipper of the year:



Yesterday the first local geranium argus was flying:



Today's year ticks, not locally, were chequered skipper, alpine grayling and mountain green-veined white:







I was at an Asian fritillary site but these weren't on the wing yet and indeed very little at all was flying. I think the site will come alive over the next couple of weeks. The commonest butterfly today was northern wall:





I had time to wait at Sierre, because the trains and buses didn't match very well, so took a little walk near the station and found some fantastic bladder senna. I didn't immediately see Iolas blue but decided to come back at the end of the day and look again. By then, sadly, a gale was blowing, but I discovered that there were in fact about a dozen good, strong bushes, all planted on a suitable bank for the blue. I think it must have been done with the butterfly in mind and am sure that wandering males and females will find them. Very good news for this rare species. I'll check again in the next few days if I have time and if it isn't blowing a gale.

Guy

[Padfield]

We had an almost unprecedented (this year) second consecutive day of sunshine yesterday. I headed up the Val d'Hérens to see what was happening there. In general, it was disappointing, mainly because they chose that day to mow all the verges where I walk, so there were no flowers and no butterflies stopped. What was exciting, though, was to see two male cardinals at different points along my route. The Val d'Hérens leads up from Sion, so quite some way away from Martigny, where this species first colonised Switzerland, some 10-20 years ago now (I saw my first in 2005 and found the first breeding population in 2013). The first was high up a bank above the cut verge:



The second was even more distant:



During June, the adults move from the heat of the valley (such as it is this year ...) up into the mountains. In July, they go back down to the valley and breed. I imagine these ones will be breeding in the vineyards near Sion.

The official map for the species shows it reaching west as far as Villeneuve and east as far as Brig:

https://lepus.infofauna.ch/carto/31193

Back to rain today!

Guy

[Wurzel]

An eclectic collection there Guy I found myself drawn to the Geranium Argus in particular as it seems to have a different look about it almost bluey-brown

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Nice to see those Swiss Cardinals again, Guy. Must give you a big lift whenever you encounter them.

I'll be up in the French Queyras in a week's time. I sincerely hope things will have caught up a little by then.

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel and David.

Unsurprisingly, the Rhône is now in full spate and there are floods throughout Valais. It didn't help that it rained heavily most of today and will do the same again tomorrow. Even if you don't read French, the pictures and videos in the following link, from the Valais newspaper Le Nouvelliste, will give you an idea of what it is like at the moment in the butterfly heartlands of Switzerland:

https://www.lenouvelliste.ch/valais/cru ... es-1398279

Guy

[Padfield]

Exceptionally, we've just had a week of rather nice weather, but I had family out to complete the spreading of my father’s ashes and was looking after them. I did take one morning off to go up my local mountain and see what the state of play is now - answer: still very much behind schedule! Neither of the common upland Boloria (shepherd's and mountain fritillary) were flying and I didn't even see alpine heath. There were a few interesting things on the wing, though.

Most interesting was this large blue, which I naturally took on the wing to be alcon blue because it was so bright and unmarked. Normal large blues in Switzerland are heavily suffused with dark and I've never seen one like this:





In case anyone should think I'm missing a trick and this is actually a scarce large blue - sadly, it's not! Scarce large blues do fly in the larger region, though not here as there is no greater burnet. And I snuck a shot of the underside to confirm the ID:



Marsh fritillaries are now numerous. Most of those around Leysin are relatively bright, though I nevertheless believe they are of the species Euphydryas merope rather than aurinia. Some are very dark indeed. Here are a 'normal' individual and a particularly dark one, photographed through the vegetation:





Those two were flying in the same grassy stretch at about 1900m.

I saw my first tufted marbled skipper of the year on the same walk, though I have yet to see any mallow skippers in 2024!



Finally, on their last day here I took my sister and her husband to my most local cranberry fritillary site, officially to give them a change of scenery but in truth so I could see if the frits were on the wing yet. They were, in good numbers, so a return visit is in order!



Despite the good sunshine, there has also been a lot of rain this week and the Rhône has continued to swell and burst its banks. Last night the rain was exceptionally torrential and several places in Valais and Vaud - including parts of Aigle - were evacuated and a state of emergency announced. Tragically, there have been related deaths and reports of missing persons in various places (and in France and Italy too). Even in the mountains, mudslides and landslips have proven lethal, though so far Leysin has been untouched.

https://www.lematin.ch/story/meteo-extr ... -103139611

The Rhône has been flowing at its highest ever recorded volume per second. It has been an extreme year so far ...

Guy

[Wurzel]

Really interesting to see the vary dark Marshies Guy and the Large Blue Is the darker ground colour the main diagnostic tool for separating this into E.merope?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Hi Wurzel. To be honest, I'm very unsure about the local marshies - and that puts me in good company! The Swiss experts call them E. aurinia glaciegenita. Tshikolovets calls them E. glaciegnita. Leraut calls them E. merope. They are smaller and duskier than the nominate subspecies but show great variation. I don't think they're too bothered about their name. They enjoy the summer while it lasts, and I enjoy them while they last!

It's been mostly cloud and Guy teaching (someone has to pay for the beer and dogfood, and it isn't Minnie) since my sister left, but today was neither. Minnie had her three-year rabies injection in the morning and the vet said she couldn't do a long walk, so I cycled her to a couple of local woodland sites. As it turned out, I was very pleased I did, as I found a single woodland brown - my first for Leysin since I arrived two years ago. I'm very happy to know I have this lovely butterfly on my doorstep again. It was common where I used to live, before my stint in the UK. The butterfly wasn't stopping for photos, but I got a single proof shot:



Large walls are now common locally:





I found a rather more normal large blue today, though still quite bright for this altitude:



It is more normal for the dark borders to extend further inwards, reaching or often obscuring the spots.

Other species flying this afternoon included swallowtail, black-veined white and false heath fritillary:







As I searched some sallow leaves for purple emperor eggs (a bit early, but I always start in July), I found these tubes stuck to one leaf. I normally associate this kind of thing with moths. Does anyone know what they are?





Guy

[bugboy]

They're the houses that bagworm moth larvae live in Guy, Psychidae. I believe you can id the species from the design of the case if you know your bagworms, I don't.

[Padfield]

Thanks Buggy - that's brilliant. I have the complete Leraut (Papillons de Nuit d'Europe) and volume 7 includes pictures of all the larval housings ('fourreaux' in French). It looks most like Oiketicoides febretta. I can't call that a firm ID but I know more now that an hour ago!

Guy

EDIT: I've just revised that to Psyche casta, which flies in Switzerland and looks closer:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psyche_casta

[bugboy]

That's one of the commonest and most widespread species in the UK as well. I do come across fourreaux that look nearly identical to yours fairly regularly, so I'd say your ID is correct .