Hautes Pyrenees, 13th-20th July cont…
Transit day saw the only adverse weather of the week, with heavy cloud and even a little rain putting paid to any chances of seeing Purple and Lesser Purple Emperor in the Neste Valley.
So, the journey further west to the outskirts of Argeles-sur-Gazost was made without any stops, only for thigs to brighten up after 5pm rather irritatingly.
The next day saw a visit to a fabulous site beside a reservoir near Gavarnie. It was warm sunshine and blue skies all the way, with the only frustration being the chaotic scenes at the car park by the entrance to the site.
The walk round the reservoir was lovely, with many butterflies on the wing, but I had to wait until reaching the area beside the river to find my main target.
Gavarnie Blue is a range restricted butterfly and therefore a highly sought-after one. Thankfully, like their cousins, Glandon Blue, they can be almost guaranteed in the damp margins of the river as they are puddlers
par excellence.
There were over a dozen about:
Interestingly, one solitary Glandon Blue arrived and it was good to be able to compare the two species:
The upperside of
glandon is a duskier shade and the submarginal marks on the hindwing give away its identity. The undersides are slightly different too, with more black spots on the hindwings (Gavarnie Blue normally has just one faint black pupil in the uppermost white spot):
Another welcome visitor was this Turquoise Blue:
Before long, this insect had joined one of the Gavarnie Blues on the damp patch:
Elsewhere, there were good numbers of Marbled Skippers taking advantage of the moist ground:
The
Erebia present were mainly Piedmont Ringlets, but this rather lovely Western Brassy Ringlet stopped by briefly:
A much needed beer was drunk in the garden of the buvette on the way back to round off another wonderful day.