Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Euro 2024 Grande Finale
My final European butterfly trip of 2024 consisted of a week in the French Pyrenees in the excellent company of Bob Lambert. My wants were modest and specific – I was seeking the final two Erebias missing from my French list, namely pronoe and gorgone, the Water Ringlet and the Gavarnie Ringlet, both of which had eluded me on previous trips to this part of the world. Bob stood to pick up several additional lifers alongside our top two targets, and we had also factored into our itinerary a cross-border dogleg to Northern Spain with the slightly ambitious hope of finding one or two late Catalonian Furry Blues.
The weather forecast for the area looked good as we set off from Stansted on the afternoon of 7th August, but I had been receiving reports of very poor butterfly numbers at high altitude in the French Alps this year and had no idea what to expect from the Hautes Pyrenees in this most bizarre of seasons.
We arrived in Biarritz late pm and had to endure some shockingly poor customer service at the hire car pick-up, before finally getting on the road an hour later, arriving at what would be our home base for three nights in Luz Saint Sauveur just as the sun was beginning to fall behind the mountains. Time for an early night after a tiring day of travel, but with anticipation mounting for what we might find the following day.
Thursday 8th August
David M had kindly given me details of a good site for Water Ringlet, and it was towards here that we aimed the hire car this morning. I had already programmed Mrs.Nav with the GPS co-ordinates and we were soon en route, only to find that the road to the site had been closed. No access! This was a bit of a blow, and we had to rethink our plans, deciding to head up to the Col du Tourmalet instead. I have to say that this is not my favourite place: it heaves with tourists, cars, campervans, motorbikes and cyclists, but at least we managed to get a parking spot, which is far from guaranteed, especially in peak summer holiday season.
We got booted-up and set off along one of the trails, in glorious warm sunny weather. It was very quiet on the butterfly front, just a few Chalkhill Blues and Silver-spotted Skippers, a single Shepherd’s Fritillary, maybe ten Dark Green Fritillaries, half a dozen Small Heaths, one Small Copper, and particularly alarmingly, very few Erebias, apart from a dozen Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets and a few Piedmont Ringlets. Was the Pyrenees high altitude habitat having a similarly bereft butterfly season as elsewhere in western Europe?
View from Col du Tourmalet
Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets
After an hour or so, we decided to head down to slightly lower altitude. The species mix was similar to that on the Col itself, but overall numbers were better. There was a bit of a breeze blowing here, so we headed towards the lee side of a ridge, where a large, very dark Erebia took to the wing in front of us. You get a certain kind of feeling when you are looking at a butterfly that you haven’t seen before, and I was getting that feeling in spades off this butterfly! It took a while for it to settle, but once down I got a good look at it through binoculars – wow, what a cracking underside – my first ever Water Ringlet! Gorgeous!
Water Ringlet
Bob searching for Water Ringlet
We stayed here for a further hour and probably had half a dozen separate pronoe all told. They would appear on the wing, sometimes two in a single vista, fly around for a while, then disappear for a few minutes only to reappear again later. The Silver-spotted Skippers here were numerous and fresh, as were the Chalkies, but again, overall numbers and species diversity were not great.
Silver-spotted Skippers
In the afternoon we took a drive up to the famous Lac des Gloriettes, along with half of France. The car park was rammed, the road up was total chaos as people tried to turn round and come back down again, there were vehicles parked in every conceivable layby, on crazy rock faces, hanging off sheer drops; utter madness, and this was a weekday! We had no option but to retreat lower down, where we found a few beasts of interest such as a Large Blue, a Swallowtail, several Large Wall Browns and plenty of Silver-washed Fritillaries. We resolved to get up early for breakfast tomorrow and revisit the Lac, hoping to get a parking spot earlier on.
Large Wall Brown
I don’t need to add that celebrations were in order that evening. I had a lifer in the bag on day one, and Bob had two (Water and Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets). We had planned to feast on Dauphinoise potatoes (tinned) and local sausages (fresh), but we hit another snag as the apartment, despite being generally well equipped, lacked a tin-opener…it also lacked a corkscrew, but I never travel abroad without one in my suitcase, so that particular disaster was neatly dodged! Our red wines went down a treat, as always, even if the sausages were rather lonely with just a bit of bread to accompany them. Sleep came easily afterwards.
Friday 9th August
We arrived back at the Lac des Gloriettes by 9am. Unbelievably the car park was already full, but we secured a spot in a pull in just below and were soon walking around this very popular and beautiful spot. It was full of walkers who seemed oblivious to the butterflies flying around them. We had a fine selection of species up here, including such delights as Apollo, Purple-shot Coppers, Turquoise, Chalkhill, Large, Common and Eros Blues, Lefebvre’s and Piedmont Ringlets, Olive and Marbled Skippers, to name a few, but no sign of our next most wanted, the Gavarnie Ringlet. Why not? Was gorgone gone? Already?
Lac des Gloriettes
Eros Blue
Marbled Skippers
Olive Skipper
A friendly Apollo
Several hours passed rapidly up here, and after lunch we were ready to escape the crowds and head somewhere a little more off-piste. The afternoon was spent in the relative tranquillity of the Ossoue valley, where again, butterfly numbers were well down on what might have been expected, but it was a worthwhile trip in that it produced the only sightings all week of the Yellow-spotted Ringlet, manto, f.constans, another half-lifer for Bob.
Yellow-spotted Ringlet f.constans
Tonight, we had stopped on the way home at the local supermarket to pick up a tin-opener, and Bob rustled up a superb meal of more local sausages, mushrooms and dauphinoise potatoes, the food of Kings, washed down with a bottle of Beaumes de Venise and a nice Cahors!
This was our last night in the apartment – tomorrow we were heading east towards the Neouvielle National Nature Reserve, to a site that, as the crow flies, was just 10 kilometres from our first base, yet took two and a half hours to drive to, such is the topography of this part of the high Pyrenees.
Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th August
Neouvielle is a wonderful area of France, one of my favourites, and we spent two whole days exploring here. Butterfly numbers were much higher than those we had encountered so far. Silver-spotted Skippers and Chalkhill Blues were around by the hundreds; I have never seen so many Silver-spotteds. There were often two, three or four individuals on a single thistle, and if you found a thistle that wasn’t occupied by one, it soon would be! Additional species such as Mountain Clouded Yellow, Bath White, Meadow Fritillary and Scarce Copper turned up for the first time this holiday, and Erebias were more common here than they had been so far. In particular, Neouvielle was teeming with Water Ringlets! After seeing half a dozen near Tourmalet on day one, we were thrilled to find them in ever-increasing abundance the higher we climbed. At around 1800m there were a couple of dozen flying near a stream in amongst grassy, heather-clad areas. Higher up just above 2000m we were in amongst treble figures of pronoe. They were all over the available nectar sources, strongly favouring thistles, hardheads and scabious flowers. It was not uncommon to see two or three on the same flowerhead. Adding a lifer to the list is always a joy, but seeing one in such abundance and properly getting to know it is one step beyond!
Habitat of Water Ringlet
Water Ringlets
Silver-spotted Skippers
Bath White
Scarce Copper
Other Erebias here included more Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets, another Lefebvre’s, Large Ringlet, Piedmont Ringlet, and Bright-eyed Ringlet, but still no Gavarnie yet. I was beginning to worry…
Bob and I have been intermittently travelling around Europe butterflying for two decades now, and we have had some amazing and highly memorable experiences over the years. We both have a fair record at finding those trickier species, occasionally tracking down the “needle in a haystack” individuals, and Bob was about to pull a rabbit out of the hat once again. I was busy photographing pronoe on a very productive and lively thistle patch when I got the call. Usually, it’s a “Pete?”, a questioning inflection at the end of my name, meaning Bob has seen something a bit different that needs investigating. The intonation is immediately recognisable. This time it was more of a “PETE! Get here!” Insistent and uncharacteristically confident! I didn’t hesitate. The rabbit in question turned out to be a female Gavarnie Ringlet, and he had pulled it, not out of his hat, but onto it!
Gavarnie Ringlet female
What a brilliant result. He had saved the day and picked out what appeared to be the only remaining Gavarnie Ringlet in the Pyrenees this year! I felt obliged to return the favour. Bob has never seen a Camberwell Beauty. It has been his bogey species for years, as it once was mine. I had a spot in mind just down the road. We went and visited and walked up hill for some distance to an altitude of just below 2200m. Water Ringlets were equally abundant up here. We spent a couple of hours walking up and down, searching for that elusive Cambie. Just as we had given up and began our descent, I spotted something airborne in front of us above the road. It was gliding straight towards me, and I immediately knew what it was. Anyone who has watched a Camberwell Beauty in flight will attest to their magnificence on the wing. We watched it glide effortlessly up amongst the pines for several minutes, completely flat-winged; not once did it make a single wingbeat. At one point it teased us and looked as though it might come down to the ground, but it didn’t, and no photograph was possible. It didn’t matter. Just before it disappeared for good up over the trees it gave us a direct overhead pass, silhouetted perfectly just above us against the blue skies, showing off those gorgeous yellow borders and dark centre. Huge! Masterful! Wonderful!
Part Two to follow.
The weather forecast for the area looked good as we set off from Stansted on the afternoon of 7th August, but I had been receiving reports of very poor butterfly numbers at high altitude in the French Alps this year and had no idea what to expect from the Hautes Pyrenees in this most bizarre of seasons.
We arrived in Biarritz late pm and had to endure some shockingly poor customer service at the hire car pick-up, before finally getting on the road an hour later, arriving at what would be our home base for three nights in Luz Saint Sauveur just as the sun was beginning to fall behind the mountains. Time for an early night after a tiring day of travel, but with anticipation mounting for what we might find the following day.
Thursday 8th August
David M had kindly given me details of a good site for Water Ringlet, and it was towards here that we aimed the hire car this morning. I had already programmed Mrs.Nav with the GPS co-ordinates and we were soon en route, only to find that the road to the site had been closed. No access! This was a bit of a blow, and we had to rethink our plans, deciding to head up to the Col du Tourmalet instead. I have to say that this is not my favourite place: it heaves with tourists, cars, campervans, motorbikes and cyclists, but at least we managed to get a parking spot, which is far from guaranteed, especially in peak summer holiday season.
We got booted-up and set off along one of the trails, in glorious warm sunny weather. It was very quiet on the butterfly front, just a few Chalkhill Blues and Silver-spotted Skippers, a single Shepherd’s Fritillary, maybe ten Dark Green Fritillaries, half a dozen Small Heaths, one Small Copper, and particularly alarmingly, very few Erebias, apart from a dozen Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets and a few Piedmont Ringlets. Was the Pyrenees high altitude habitat having a similarly bereft butterfly season as elsewhere in western Europe?
View from Col du Tourmalet
Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets
After an hour or so, we decided to head down to slightly lower altitude. The species mix was similar to that on the Col itself, but overall numbers were better. There was a bit of a breeze blowing here, so we headed towards the lee side of a ridge, where a large, very dark Erebia took to the wing in front of us. You get a certain kind of feeling when you are looking at a butterfly that you haven’t seen before, and I was getting that feeling in spades off this butterfly! It took a while for it to settle, but once down I got a good look at it through binoculars – wow, what a cracking underside – my first ever Water Ringlet! Gorgeous!
Water Ringlet
Bob searching for Water Ringlet
We stayed here for a further hour and probably had half a dozen separate pronoe all told. They would appear on the wing, sometimes two in a single vista, fly around for a while, then disappear for a few minutes only to reappear again later. The Silver-spotted Skippers here were numerous and fresh, as were the Chalkies, but again, overall numbers and species diversity were not great.
Silver-spotted Skippers
In the afternoon we took a drive up to the famous Lac des Gloriettes, along with half of France. The car park was rammed, the road up was total chaos as people tried to turn round and come back down again, there were vehicles parked in every conceivable layby, on crazy rock faces, hanging off sheer drops; utter madness, and this was a weekday! We had no option but to retreat lower down, where we found a few beasts of interest such as a Large Blue, a Swallowtail, several Large Wall Browns and plenty of Silver-washed Fritillaries. We resolved to get up early for breakfast tomorrow and revisit the Lac, hoping to get a parking spot earlier on.
Large Wall Brown
I don’t need to add that celebrations were in order that evening. I had a lifer in the bag on day one, and Bob had two (Water and Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets). We had planned to feast on Dauphinoise potatoes (tinned) and local sausages (fresh), but we hit another snag as the apartment, despite being generally well equipped, lacked a tin-opener…it also lacked a corkscrew, but I never travel abroad without one in my suitcase, so that particular disaster was neatly dodged! Our red wines went down a treat, as always, even if the sausages were rather lonely with just a bit of bread to accompany them. Sleep came easily afterwards.
Friday 9th August
We arrived back at the Lac des Gloriettes by 9am. Unbelievably the car park was already full, but we secured a spot in a pull in just below and were soon walking around this very popular and beautiful spot. It was full of walkers who seemed oblivious to the butterflies flying around them. We had a fine selection of species up here, including such delights as Apollo, Purple-shot Coppers, Turquoise, Chalkhill, Large, Common and Eros Blues, Lefebvre’s and Piedmont Ringlets, Olive and Marbled Skippers, to name a few, but no sign of our next most wanted, the Gavarnie Ringlet. Why not? Was gorgone gone? Already?
Lac des Gloriettes
Eros Blue
Marbled Skippers
Olive Skipper
A friendly Apollo
Several hours passed rapidly up here, and after lunch we were ready to escape the crowds and head somewhere a little more off-piste. The afternoon was spent in the relative tranquillity of the Ossoue valley, where again, butterfly numbers were well down on what might have been expected, but it was a worthwhile trip in that it produced the only sightings all week of the Yellow-spotted Ringlet, manto, f.constans, another half-lifer for Bob.
Yellow-spotted Ringlet f.constans
Tonight, we had stopped on the way home at the local supermarket to pick up a tin-opener, and Bob rustled up a superb meal of more local sausages, mushrooms and dauphinoise potatoes, the food of Kings, washed down with a bottle of Beaumes de Venise and a nice Cahors!
This was our last night in the apartment – tomorrow we were heading east towards the Neouvielle National Nature Reserve, to a site that, as the crow flies, was just 10 kilometres from our first base, yet took two and a half hours to drive to, such is the topography of this part of the high Pyrenees.
Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th August
Neouvielle is a wonderful area of France, one of my favourites, and we spent two whole days exploring here. Butterfly numbers were much higher than those we had encountered so far. Silver-spotted Skippers and Chalkhill Blues were around by the hundreds; I have never seen so many Silver-spotteds. There were often two, three or four individuals on a single thistle, and if you found a thistle that wasn’t occupied by one, it soon would be! Additional species such as Mountain Clouded Yellow, Bath White, Meadow Fritillary and Scarce Copper turned up for the first time this holiday, and Erebias were more common here than they had been so far. In particular, Neouvielle was teeming with Water Ringlets! After seeing half a dozen near Tourmalet on day one, we were thrilled to find them in ever-increasing abundance the higher we climbed. At around 1800m there were a couple of dozen flying near a stream in amongst grassy, heather-clad areas. Higher up just above 2000m we were in amongst treble figures of pronoe. They were all over the available nectar sources, strongly favouring thistles, hardheads and scabious flowers. It was not uncommon to see two or three on the same flowerhead. Adding a lifer to the list is always a joy, but seeing one in such abundance and properly getting to know it is one step beyond!
Habitat of Water Ringlet
Water Ringlets
Silver-spotted Skippers
Bath White
Scarce Copper
Other Erebias here included more Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets, another Lefebvre’s, Large Ringlet, Piedmont Ringlet, and Bright-eyed Ringlet, but still no Gavarnie yet. I was beginning to worry…
Bob and I have been intermittently travelling around Europe butterflying for two decades now, and we have had some amazing and highly memorable experiences over the years. We both have a fair record at finding those trickier species, occasionally tracking down the “needle in a haystack” individuals, and Bob was about to pull a rabbit out of the hat once again. I was busy photographing pronoe on a very productive and lively thistle patch when I got the call. Usually, it’s a “Pete?”, a questioning inflection at the end of my name, meaning Bob has seen something a bit different that needs investigating. The intonation is immediately recognisable. This time it was more of a “PETE! Get here!” Insistent and uncharacteristically confident! I didn’t hesitate. The rabbit in question turned out to be a female Gavarnie Ringlet, and he had pulled it, not out of his hat, but onto it!
Gavarnie Ringlet female
What a brilliant result. He had saved the day and picked out what appeared to be the only remaining Gavarnie Ringlet in the Pyrenees this year! I felt obliged to return the favour. Bob has never seen a Camberwell Beauty. It has been his bogey species for years, as it once was mine. I had a spot in mind just down the road. We went and visited and walked up hill for some distance to an altitude of just below 2200m. Water Ringlets were equally abundant up here. We spent a couple of hours walking up and down, searching for that elusive Cambie. Just as we had given up and began our descent, I spotted something airborne in front of us above the road. It was gliding straight towards me, and I immediately knew what it was. Anyone who has watched a Camberwell Beauty in flight will attest to their magnificence on the wing. We watched it glide effortlessly up amongst the pines for several minutes, completely flat-winged; not once did it make a single wingbeat. At one point it teased us and looked as though it might come down to the ground, but it didn’t, and no photograph was possible. It didn’t matter. Just before it disappeared for good up over the trees it gave us a direct overhead pass, silhouetted perfectly just above us against the blue skies, showing off those gorgeous yellow borders and dark centre. Huge! Masterful! Wonderful!
Part Two to follow.
Last edited by petesmith on Sun Aug 18, 2024 2:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
As ever I really enjoy your trip write ups, Pete. And this one in particular as it brings back fond memories of my own trip there in mid-July 2022. Look forward to part 2!
Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Part Two
It was time to reluctantly leave Neouvielle behind and head through the Aragnouet/Bielsa tunnel into Spain. We were booked for two nights at a hotel in the small town of Ainsa, which gives its name to the butterfly formerly known as Forster’s Furry Blue – Agrodiaetus ainsai, before the taxonomists changed it to the Catalonian Furry Blue and reassigned it as Polyommatus fulgens. Those taxonomists eh? Way too much time on their hands![😊](//cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/twitter/twemoji@latest/assets/svg/1f60a.svg)
We left France in a pleasant 24 degrees, drove in our air-conditioned Peugeot 5008 to the Ainsa hotel, and stepped out into a 40 degree furnace – ye Gods it was hot Spanish side!
Monday 12th August
Today was all about searching for the Catalonian Furry Blue – we visited three areas west of Ainsa, very different habitat to the French Pyrenees – and had a fantastic day. Much of the grassland was brown and burnt off, but there were still areas of nectar here and there. Our first good find was Ripart’s Anomalous Blue. Several were feeding on what remained of the Bramble, alongside Gatekeepers, Long-tailed Blues, Chalkhill Blues, Holly Blues and our first Southern White Admirals and Tree Graylings of the trip. I got the shout from Bob – “Pete? Are Ripart’s sexually dimorphic? Because there’s a blue here with a striped underside which is much bigger than Ripart’s and it is much paler.” Cue alarm bells…
Sure enough, he had found a male Catalonian Furry Blue sharing a plate with two Ripart’s. Another result! I had thought that we would be too late for this one.
Further down the road we came across Iberian Scarce Swallowtail, Berger’s Clouded Yellow, Wood White, Lang’s Short-tailed Blue, Chapman’s Blue, Weaver’s Fritillary, Olive, Rosy Grizzled and Cinquefoil Skippers, and many others.
Dry grassland and scrub habitat
Catalonian Furry Blue and Ripart's Anomalous Blues
Catalonian Furry Blue
Ripart's Anomalous Blue
Long-tailed Blues
Long-tailed Blue and Southern White Admiral
Weaver's Fritillary
Tree Grayling
Rock Grayling
Rosy Grizzled Skippers
Common Blues
Chapman's Blue *correction* Common Blue f.icarinus
We sweated it out until mid-afternoon, at which point the excessive heat defeated us and we returned to our air-conditioned hotel rooms.
Tuesday 13th August
Today we left Spain and headed back through the tunnel into France, enjoying a relaxing day local to our final hotel in Cadeac, walking in the hills, visiting a local fromagerie, and picking up a few new species for the holiday list at a roadside stop-off in the form of Peacock (I rarely see this species in France), Comma, Map Butterfly and Speckled Wood.
Wednesday 14th August
Our final day was a day of travel, a long drive back to Biarritz in the pouring rain. The weather had broken, but we had a week’s worth of tremendous memories, photographs, and some great experiences. I had two lifers in the bag, Bob had seven lifers and two half-lifers. The hire car drop off was much smoother than the pick-up, and our flight back to Stansted was almost on time.
On arriving home and going through my many hundreds of photographs, I noticed that the very first picture that I had taken on day one of the holiday at the Col du Tourmalet was rather interesting. I had initially passed it off as a Piedmont Ringlet, but on closer examination it ticked a couple of boxes for a potential male Gavarnie Ringlet. Thanks to Guy for confirming my suspicions. So, as it turns out I had actually got both of my lifers on the first morning of the trip, but hadn’t realised at the time!
Not the greatest photo, but my only one of the male gorgone.
Gavarnie Ringlet male
Our species total was 76, not enormous, but respectable enough for mid-August in a very unpredictable year, and I think we can certainly claim quality over quantity in our defence! The lifers were obvious highlights for both of us, but it was also great to see species such as Silver-spotted Skipper in such abundance.
That’s me done now for 2024. Many thanks to Bob for accompanying me again on yet another crazy adventure into European Lepidoptery. Here’s to 2025…
It was time to reluctantly leave Neouvielle behind and head through the Aragnouet/Bielsa tunnel into Spain. We were booked for two nights at a hotel in the small town of Ainsa, which gives its name to the butterfly formerly known as Forster’s Furry Blue – Agrodiaetus ainsai, before the taxonomists changed it to the Catalonian Furry Blue and reassigned it as Polyommatus fulgens. Those taxonomists eh? Way too much time on their hands
We left France in a pleasant 24 degrees, drove in our air-conditioned Peugeot 5008 to the Ainsa hotel, and stepped out into a 40 degree furnace – ye Gods it was hot Spanish side!
Monday 12th August
Today was all about searching for the Catalonian Furry Blue – we visited three areas west of Ainsa, very different habitat to the French Pyrenees – and had a fantastic day. Much of the grassland was brown and burnt off, but there were still areas of nectar here and there. Our first good find was Ripart’s Anomalous Blue. Several were feeding on what remained of the Bramble, alongside Gatekeepers, Long-tailed Blues, Chalkhill Blues, Holly Blues and our first Southern White Admirals and Tree Graylings of the trip. I got the shout from Bob – “Pete? Are Ripart’s sexually dimorphic? Because there’s a blue here with a striped underside which is much bigger than Ripart’s and it is much paler.” Cue alarm bells…
Sure enough, he had found a male Catalonian Furry Blue sharing a plate with two Ripart’s. Another result! I had thought that we would be too late for this one.
Further down the road we came across Iberian Scarce Swallowtail, Berger’s Clouded Yellow, Wood White, Lang’s Short-tailed Blue, Chapman’s Blue, Weaver’s Fritillary, Olive, Rosy Grizzled and Cinquefoil Skippers, and many others.
Dry grassland and scrub habitat
Catalonian Furry Blue and Ripart's Anomalous Blues
Catalonian Furry Blue
Ripart's Anomalous Blue
Long-tailed Blues
Long-tailed Blue and Southern White Admiral
Weaver's Fritillary
Tree Grayling
Rock Grayling
Rosy Grizzled Skippers
Common Blues
Chapman's Blue *correction* Common Blue f.icarinus
We sweated it out until mid-afternoon, at which point the excessive heat defeated us and we returned to our air-conditioned hotel rooms.
Tuesday 13th August
Today we left Spain and headed back through the tunnel into France, enjoying a relaxing day local to our final hotel in Cadeac, walking in the hills, visiting a local fromagerie, and picking up a few new species for the holiday list at a roadside stop-off in the form of Peacock (I rarely see this species in France), Comma, Map Butterfly and Speckled Wood.
Wednesday 14th August
Our final day was a day of travel, a long drive back to Biarritz in the pouring rain. The weather had broken, but we had a week’s worth of tremendous memories, photographs, and some great experiences. I had two lifers in the bag, Bob had seven lifers and two half-lifers. The hire car drop off was much smoother than the pick-up, and our flight back to Stansted was almost on time.
On arriving home and going through my many hundreds of photographs, I noticed that the very first picture that I had taken on day one of the holiday at the Col du Tourmalet was rather interesting. I had initially passed it off as a Piedmont Ringlet, but on closer examination it ticked a couple of boxes for a potential male Gavarnie Ringlet. Thanks to Guy for confirming my suspicions. So, as it turns out I had actually got both of my lifers on the first morning of the trip, but hadn’t realised at the time!
Not the greatest photo, but my only one of the male gorgone.
Gavarnie Ringlet male
Our species total was 76, not enormous, but respectable enough for mid-August in a very unpredictable year, and I think we can certainly claim quality over quantity in our defence! The lifers were obvious highlights for both of us, but it was also great to see species such as Silver-spotted Skipper in such abundance.
That’s me done now for 2024. Many thanks to Bob for accompanying me again on yet another crazy adventure into European Lepidoptery. Here’s to 2025…
Last edited by petesmith on Wed Aug 21, 2024 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
- Pete Eeles
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Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Great report (and reports!), Pete - thanks so much for sharing.
Cheers,
- Pete
Cheers,
- Pete
Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies: http://www.butterflylifecycles.com
British & Irish Butterflies Rarities: http://www.butterflyrarities.com
British & Irish Butterflies Rarities: http://www.butterflyrarities.com
Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Once again a brilliant report Pete. I'm so envious of your travels
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Glad you enjoyed it Paul. Was good to meet up unexpectedly out there back in 2022 - I am sure you will be revisiting the area in the future to conclude your unfinished business with a certain False Dewy Ringlet
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Thanks Pete - always a pleasure writing these things up and reliving the experience!Pete Eeles wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 2:59 pm Great report (and reports!), Pete - thanks so much for sharing.
Cheers,
- Pete
Thanks Steve - glad you enjoyed it!
Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Given I was there myself a month earlier, I have particularly enjoyed your report, Pete.
So pleased you picked up large numbers of pronoe. In actual fact, that road leading towards the site I gave you is passable. You simply lift the wooden barrier and drive under it. I think they have put it there to protect mountain bikers who come down from the hillside tracks onto the road at some speed.
Just shows how late the season is for you to have still seen the Erebias I was seeing four weeks earlier. I'm surprised Pyrenean Brassy & Lefebvre's were still about, but gorgone is one of the later ones so it's odd you had such a struggle with this species. I only saw one but this is a tricky species to pick out in amongst the myriad of others of that group.
Nice work with fulgens. I visited that site you tipped me off about but for the second time, I didn't find any (must have been a little early for them). I did, like you, see quite a few Ripart's Anomalous Blues and several Spanish Purple Hairstreaks at that location though. It really is an oasis for butterflies with the damp areas supplying much needed water for the plants.
I agree that the car park at Lac de Gloriettes is insane. Was similar in mid-July. They ought to introduce parking charges which would dissuade a few from going up there. The road up is narrow and I can well imagine the chaos as people were having to turn round to go back down only to have more traffic coming up at the same time!!
Anyway, congratulations for getting those species you still had yet to see.
Where next....and for what?
So pleased you picked up large numbers of pronoe. In actual fact, that road leading towards the site I gave you is passable. You simply lift the wooden barrier and drive under it. I think they have put it there to protect mountain bikers who come down from the hillside tracks onto the road at some speed.
Just shows how late the season is for you to have still seen the Erebias I was seeing four weeks earlier. I'm surprised Pyrenean Brassy & Lefebvre's were still about, but gorgone is one of the later ones so it's odd you had such a struggle with this species. I only saw one but this is a tricky species to pick out in amongst the myriad of others of that group.
Nice work with fulgens. I visited that site you tipped me off about but for the second time, I didn't find any (must have been a little early for them). I did, like you, see quite a few Ripart's Anomalous Blues and several Spanish Purple Hairstreaks at that location though. It really is an oasis for butterflies with the damp areas supplying much needed water for the plants.
I agree that the car park at Lac de Gloriettes is insane. Was similar in mid-July. They ought to introduce parking charges which would dissuade a few from going up there. The road up is narrow and I can well imagine the chaos as people were having to turn round to go back down only to have more traffic coming up at the same time!!
Anyway, congratulations for getting those species you still had yet to see.
Where next....and for what?
Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Flight periods have been very strange this year David haven't they, both in the UK and further afield.David M wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 9:06 am Given I was there myself a month earlier, I have particularly enjoyed your report, Pete...
Just shows how late the season is for you to have still seen the Erebias I was seeing four weeks earlier. I'm surprised Pyrenean Brassy & Lefebvre's were still about...
Where next....and for what?
Not only were rondui and lefebvrei still on the wing, but they were also still in remarkably good condition with plenty of fresh specimens of the former, and a few of the latter!
Where next? Good question! So far, initial plans for next year are Bulgaria in July for a range of species such as Gliders, Sandy Grizzled/Persian Skipper, Bosnian Blue, Freyer's PE and Grayling, Balkan Copper etc. - I am sure further plans will evolve in due course
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Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Your female pronoe is a stunner! Very pale/whitish on the hindwing banding!cecropia117 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 7:19 pm Pete
What a fantastic week!
Here are my best efforts.
Bob
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Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Hi Pete. I used to spend a lot of time in the Pyrenees (and in Aragón, just south) and your reports have brought it all back.
The usual pedantic query
: Your thersites looks more like icarinus to me, as the black spots seem confluent with the orange crescents. Did you ID it from the upperside too, or only the underside?
Guy
The usual pedantic query
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Guy
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
Re: Euro 2024 Grande Finale
Guy,
You are absolutely correct - it is icarinus. I had even ID'd it as icarinus in the field (Bob will recall!).
Clearly when I labelled it as Chapman's I was suffering from photo fatigue after editing 1000+ images in one day!
I shall amend accordingly. Thanks.
We do like to keep you on your toes
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You are absolutely correct - it is icarinus. I had even ID'd it as icarinus in the field (Bob will recall!).
Clearly when I labelled it as Chapman's I was suffering from photo fatigue after editing 1000+ images in one day!
I shall amend accordingly. Thanks.
We do like to keep you on your toes
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)