David M

[David M]

28th May to 1st June – Eastern French Pyrenees cont…

Amongst the Lycaenids, Chequered Blue is a regular and always delivers:

Osiris Blue is another which can be relied upon:

Sooty Coppers show a good deal of sexual dimorphism in this region:

[David M]

28th May to 1st June – Eastern French Pyrenees cont…

Plenty of other butterfly species seen, although I didn’t take too many photographs this time. A mint fresh Safflower Skipper was an exception:

This female Bath White was irresistible too:

A non-butterfly sighting made me reach for the camera as well – this rather attractive salamander:

[NickMorgan]

Loving your pictures David. I remember being "dragged" to the Pyrenees when I was a kid by my Dad, who lived in France. At the time it seemed very hot and tedious with my Dad charging off up the mountains in search of some rare bird of prey, or something. I am afraid I wasn't impressed with the dot in the sky that I was told was a Lammergeier, a Honey Buzzard, or some such thing!
Sadly I wasn't really into butterflies then, but I do remember little orange butterflies whizzing about on the wild flowers. The black and yellow salamander was far more appealing to me and I remember getting quite excited about those.
Now, of course I long to go back to check out what those little butterflies were!

[Goldie M]

More lovely Butterflies David, I wish we could have just a few of those over here Goldie

[David M]

28th May to 1st June – Eastern French Pyrenees cont…

Although this was a truncated trip, it provided an excellent range of species in spite of the ordinary weather.

I guess the most striking omission was Spanish Gatekeeper, which has hitherto been exceptionally common at lower altitudes.

Perhaps this year has been so bizarre in western Europe it is starting to affect those butterflies normally seen in the multi-hundreds?

Here is the full list:

1. Mallow Skipper
2. Tufted Marbled Skipper
3. Dingy Skipper
4. Large Skipper
5. Large Grizzled Skipper
6. Oberthur’s Grizzled Skipper
7. Safflower Skipper
8. Olive Skipper
9. Southern Grizzled Skipper
10. Lulworth Skipper
11. Brown Argus
12. Holly Blue
13. Small Blue
14. Osiris Blue
15. Mazarine Blue
16. Escher’s Blue
17. Adonis Blue
18. Turquoise Blue
19. Common Blue
20. Chapman’s Blue
21. Chequered Blue
22. Baton Blue
23. Long Tailed Blue
24. Small Copper
25. Violet Copper
26. Sooty Copper
27. Green Hairstreak
28. Cardinal
29. Provencal Fritillary
30. Weaver’s Fritillary
31. Pearl Bordered Fritillary
32. Marsh Fritillary
33. Queen of Spain Fritillary
34. Heath Fritillary
35. Glanville Fritillary
36. Spotted Fritillary
37. Meadow Fritillary
38. Knapweed Fritillary
39. Small Tortoiseshell
40. Comma
41. Southern White Admiral
42. Camberwell Beauty
43. Red Admiral
44. Painted Lady
45. Spanish Festoon
46. Apollo
47. Clouded Apollo
48. Swallowtail
49. Iberian Scarce Swallowtail
50. Orange Tip
51. Provence Orange Tip
52. Black Veined White
53. Berger’s Clouded Yellow
54. Clouded Yellow
55. Cleopatra
56. Brimstone
57. Wood White
58. Large White
59. Small White
60. Green Veined White
61. Western Dappled White
62. Bath White
63. Duke of Burgundy
64. Pearly Heath
65. Small Heath
66. Large Wall
67. Wall Brown
68. Meadow Brown
69. Western Marbled White
70. Speckled Wood
71. De Prunner’s Ringlet

[David M]

...Now, of course I long to go back to check out what those little butterflies were!

Many thanks, Nick. I suspect there's a strong chance those little orange butterflies were Spotted Fritillaries, which are very common and quite striking to look at.

[David M]

Monday 3rd June – With trepidation….

With the weather still largely cool and cloudy, it was with some trepidation that I visited Crymlyn Burrows today, believing that the experience would be rather depressing.

It wasn’t quite that bad, but there is precious little to indicate that our domestic butterflies are going to do anything other than endure one of their worst ever years in 2024.

Just six species were seen, with Common Blue & Small Heath reaching three dozen or so each.

Aside from that, there were only 11 other individual butterflies, although the 5 Small Blues I saw gave me sufficient compensation for being unable to capture them properly a fortnight or so earlier:

There were 4 Brown Argus and singletons of both Small Copper and Orange Tip, the latter being a faded female who will surely be the last I will see this year:

[David M]

More lovely Butterflies David, I wish we could have just a few of those over here

Sure there would be a few were it not for the English Channel, Goldie.

[David M]

6th to 13th June – N Greece…

After a year which had seen some adverse weather thus far, this trip held a different surprise - an intense heatwave which saw temperatures reach 40c!

Whilst most of western Europe has suffered from cool, damp and cloudy conditions thus far in 2024, east of a line from the Balkans through to southern Poland has witnessed the polar opposite, with abnormally warm and dry weather throughout spring and into early summer.

Of course, this has played havoc with emergence times, and during this particular visit things were extremely out of sync in the sense that everything was extremely advanced, with several of the expected species missing due to the early nature of the season, whereas a few surprises were had with certain butterflies appearing that one wouldn't normally expect during the early part of June.

It made for a tough yet interesting week, with the heat making life almost unbearable at times during the mid to late afternoons.

[David M]

6th to 13th June – N Greece cont…

The first absence that made me aware something strange had happened was Lattice Brown.

This butterfly has hitherto been very common in the light woodland beside the hotel. I found it hard to believe that the flight season had ended, and on reading my Tolman it appears they occasionally aestivate, no doubt when conditions become extremely hot.

Later in the week, I saw two of them in shady areas, so not all of them ducked out:

By far the commonest butterflies in the grounds were Lesser Spotted Fritillary and Sooty Copper, the latter being about in crazy numbers:

[David M]

As well as Sooty Copper, there were plenty of Small Coppers, most of which were of the dark form which predominates here. A few Purple Shot & Scarce Coppers were picked up too, although for me the best find was Balkan Copper, which was around in small numbers at the ski station near Serres. It was the first time I had seen it in three attempts in this area:

[Padfield]

I'm getting motion sickness from your dashing around Europe, David! But you're seeing some lovely butterflies and getting excellent records of them. I've only once been to Greece - to the island of Spetses (of the Magus) in spring. I'd like to go to the mainland.

Guy