David M

[David M]

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

The second day was cooler and much more overcast than the previous one.

There were five of us so one (Jon) volunteered to go back up the cable car in the morning, which was en route to a site where the rest of us wanted to go to look for Lapland Fritillary.

The reason for this was that we had been searching unsuccessfully for Dusky Winged Fritillary, Boloria improba on Day 1, and I had subsequently been given precise GPS co-ordinates for Day 2, which showed we were 300m or so off track.

Sadly, there was no sign of Lapland Fritillary in the heavily overcast conditions at the site near Kiruna, but excitement came in the form of Jon texting me to say he’d found 3 Dusky Winged Fritillaries and that we should return if we wanted to see them for ourselves.

Obviously, we wasted no time but with 95% cloud cover and temperatures no more than 14c at the upper cable car station, I wasn’t confident.

I passed the point where we had been looking for it the previous day, not really believing that it could reside near the very top of the mountain at 1,300m in the Arctic.

That last 300m or so was a stiff climb, and conditions looked and felt quite austere upon arrival:

There were a few breaks in the cloud but it was quite windy, and I was feeling frustrated at having made such an error the previous day when the weather was much better.

Then, just as I felt things were hopeless, a small, blackish insect flew by me and landed about 20m away. As I approached, I recognised it as improba but it immediately flew into the air and was taken by the wind.

Cue an immediate redoubling of efforts and a little good fortune in the sense that the sunny intervals got a little more generous. Eventually, our prayers were answered and another shot by, coming down in the grass:

It wasn’t going to fly willingly in the wind and cool temperatures so I persuaded it to rest on a small bit of rock:

Quite how any delicate insect can live in such an environment is almost beyond comprehension.

This is why it is so difficult to find and is so coveted.

‘High altitude endemic Arctic butterfly’ just doesn’t sound right….but it does exist!

[millerd]

That is an amazing butterfly, David. I can see how it came by the name improba - it is completely improbable that any butterfly could survive living 1300m up an Arctic mountain. Imagine what the winter conditions are like - how do the caterpillars survive (I assume that like other fritillaries they overwinter as larvae)? Extraordinary!

Cheers,

Dave

[bugboy]

One presumes it takes a few years to complete its life cycle.

[selbypaul]

What an incredible species! Loving this write up of the Arctic, David. A really fascinating insight.

[trevor]

Must be high up on your butterfly of a life time list. An incredible find.
We learn something new every day!

[David M]

...I can see how it came by the name improba - it is completely improbable that any butterfly could survive living 1300m up an Arctic mountain. Imagine what the winter conditions are like - how do the caterpillars survive (I assume that like other fritillaries they overwinter as larvae)?

Indeed, Dave. An Arctic tundra butterfly, occuring nowhere else but in that habitat. Some sources say the larvae hibernate twice, but quite how they do so given the winter conditions up there is anyone's guess.

[Padfield]

Improbus, from my Latin dictionary (improba is the feminine, to go with Clossiana or Boloria):

Bad, inferior (in quality); wicked, perverse, cruel; unruly, persistent, rebellious.

I don't know which meaning the author had in mind, but perhaps 'unruly, persistent, rebellious' fits best!

Guy

[David M]

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

The price to be paid for connecting with Dusky Winged Fritillary is that we completely forgot that the cable car shut at 1600h. This meant we had no option but to walk the 2 miles down the mountainside which was tough going in places. Sadly, it remained cloudy so there were precious few butterflies seen en route.

This wasn’t ideal preparation for travelling north to Alta the following day. When setting out, it was raining fairly heavily for the first hour but once we headed east into Sweden it cleared up and became extremely sunny and warm.

We stopped briefly at a Sami café for a snack where I was taken by the three Nordic flags flying side by side:

We then had to traverse that little strip of Finland that lies between Sweden and the far north of Norway and we duly made sure we did a roadside stop just because none of us had ever set foot in Finland before. Few butterflies were seen, just the odd Idas & Cranberry Blue and a few Pale Arctic Clouded Yellows.

Upon re-entering Norway, we stopped at a lowland bog to look for Lapland Fritillary, Euphydryas iduna, which was probably #2 on our target list of species.

I don’t much like looking for Large Heath in the UK in habitat such as this, and the strong sunshine and 22c temperatures had evidently sent the flies into overdrive, so I was mightily grateful to Jon who managed to find a solitary individual when it looked like we would miss out:

Although from the above angle, the butterfly looked in decent condition, when it fully opened its wings it had a fair amount of damage on the right hindwing:

Unlike Cynthia’s Fritillary, both sexes in iduna have the white upperside ground colour. I’m sure when fresh this butterfly must be absolutely stunning.

There were several other species around, most notably Frigga’s Fritillary, Boloria frigga:

Seeing these was just the boost needed after such a long drive following on from the exertions of the previous day.

[David M]

...A useful hint for any future Frejya's frit (a butterfly I only know from the books) you find stuck in the mud: the iPhone light is perfect illumination for cameras to focus on. I use it a lot in pitch darkness for caterpillars and also in dim light for moths, coupled with flash for the actual picture.

I really wish I'd had the good sense to use my mobile phone camera under the circumstances, Guy.

Too late now but I'll be better prepared for any future, similar event!

Must be high up on your butterfly of a life time list. An incredible find.
We learn something new every day!

Certainly right up there, Trevor (although Lapland Fritillary the following day was just as satisfying).

[David M]

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

One thing 24 hour daylight delivers is a strong sense of wakefulness, meaning that the fatigue from the cross-country driving the previous day had no impact whatsoever.

Again, the weather was reasonably good on this first full day in the far north, with around 60% cloud cover and temperatures of around 16c. By mid-morning we had arrived at an upland site south of Alta in the hope of finding a few more desirable species.

First up was Northern Clouded Yellow, Colias hecla. There were quite a few of these and after the initial chasing around we found we didn’t need this sense of urgency as they are enthusiastic nectar drinkers and come down very frequently:

Even more common were Moorland Clouded Yellows, yet Pale Arctic Clouded Yellow was entirely absent, which was surprising given how many were seen in the north of Sweden earlier in the week.

Dewy Ringlets popped up every now and again, along with more Boloria-type Fritillaries. To be certain, I caught this one as it appeared to look a little different when I saw it settle. It was a species we’d all seen earlier but these were the first images I managed to get of Arctic Fritillary, Boloria chariclea:

Other Fritillaries seen were Small Pearl Bordered & Cranberry, with the occasional Frigga’s Fritillary here and there.

[David M]

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

After finishing at the trail head, the next stop was beside the sea where we had been told that Arctic Blue, Agriades Aquilo, was an easy win amongst some old mine works.

Sadly, it wasn’t. None were found although there were plenty of other butterflies to be seen in both the light woodland and the damp, flower-rich roadside gullies.

The most spectacular was Purple-Edged Copper. I see these regularly further south in Europe but the males of this northern derivative are extremely imbued with a beautiful violet sheen:

The females are similar to those I'm familiar with:

The female Common Blues are rather attractive too, possessing a rich, dark blue suffusion:

This site is also known to be inhabited by Arctic Woodland Ringlet, Erebia polaris. However, they were absent on this day, although to compensate there were several dozen Arran Browns on the wing:

We decided to devote time on our final morning by returning to this lovely spot, on the off-chance that an additional two days may allow our two target species to appear.

[David M]

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

For our final full day in Alta, it was decided that the safest option was to return to the trail head.

The weather was much cloudier than the previous day but enough evidence had been seen to know that the butterflies at this latitude will become active as soon as any weak sunshine filters through.

We stopped briefly at a track just over the bridge from the start of the road that leads up to the trail head. Not much was flying, a few Common Blues, the odd Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary and a handful of Idas Blues:

Cloud cover was over 80% once we arrived at the trail head, but things warmed up after an hour or so, and Jon & I found this rather sheltered gully which was something of a hotspot for the butterflies:

To the right of the ice patch, on the bank by the stream, there were plenty of flowering plants, which attracted quite a few Northern and Moorland Clouded Yellows:

There were also a handful of Arctic Graylings, Oeneis bore:

Another good find here was Arctic Ringlet, Erebia disa:

There was also a Fritillary that I still cannot identify as I never managed an underside image:

We also ventured into the damp woodland near the lodge, where Arran Browns, Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries & Cranberry Blues were seen, although the commonest of all species was Moorland Clouded Yellow, with many females being seen this afternoon.

[David M]

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

The final morning in Alta was lovely, meaning another stop by the sea to look once more for Arctic Blue & Arctic Woodland Ringlet.

This ultimately proved fruitless, giving us an indication that these two species were possibly yet to emerge.

However, once again there was plenty of butterfly activity and I used my time to take images of a few species I had overlooked a couple of days earlier.

Small Coppers were about in small numbers, looking largely the same as the ones we have at home:

The same was true of Silver Spotted Skippers:

There were quite a few fresh looking Dark Green Fritillaries flying around the red clover growing in the gullies:

There were two surprises – firstly, a faded Swallowtail appeared out of nowhere. I hadn’t known this species got this far north:

The second surprise was a major one. Between us we saw five Amanda’s Blues:

Checking my Tolman later, this species’ distribution does not include northern Norway, although it has spread further north in eastern Sweden over the last few years.

[David M]

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

After saying goodbye to Alta, there was a 5 hour road journey to Tromso awaiting us. The skies were generally quite cloudy near the west coast, but we made a stop at a beautiful damp meadow beside one of the fjords, finding plenty of Purple Edged Coppers, Common & Idas Blues, Arran Browns and Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries:

The following morning in Tromso we had time to visit the northernmost botanical gardens in the world, which contained a range of plants one does not generally see. This Himalayan Poppy was my favourite:

The flight from Tromso to Oslo took off in mid-afternoon and there were some fine views from the plane window as we initially headed south down the coast:

It had been a remarkably enjoyable week in this otherworldly environment and I look forward to returning next year.

[selbypaul]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences in the Arctic, David. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading them. I'm so familiar now with the majority of central and southern European species, even the ones I've not seen. But I've rarely researched any of the Arctic species, partly because I wondered if I'd ever visit.

Your write up makes it a certainty that I will do one day, and hopefully soon!

[millerd]

That was an absolutely fascinating account of what there is to be found in the far north, David. I was aware that there is a surprising variety of species living up there, but was not prepared for the numbers you described. Of all the many trips you've recounted here, this one has impressed me the most by some margin - and thankfully not a single pyrgus variety to debate about! Brilliant - thank you.

Cheers,

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

A superb series of reports from your northern adventure David. I don't usually comment on European reports, mainly because I don't know much about what look to me like a lot of very similar skippers, blues and fritillaries, but it was great to see something from somewhere different.

Well done.

Neil.

[Goldie M]

I've been following your journey David and it's been fascinating , such lovely Butterflies Goldie

[David M]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences in the Arctic, David. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading them. I'm so familiar now with the majority of central and southern European species, even the ones I've not seen. But I've rarely researched any of the Arctic species, partly because I wondered if I'd ever visit.

Your write up makes it a certainty that I will do one day, and hopefully soon!

Thank you, Paul. Every enthusiast should try this at least once.

You can do it for yourself the year after next.

[John Vergo]

It looks like have been a super tour, will we see a total species list ??