South of France guide

[Bill S]

Hi all

On holiday in the SE corner of France and went for a walk in the hills behind Grasse today. Amazing numbers of different species. After being able to identify most UK species (and alot of them while on the wing) I was well and truly humbled - there must have been 30+ species in a 10km walk. Swallowtails, White Admirals, Blues, Browns (big browns at that!), Clouded Yellows, Frits, Skippers...an amazing day. We also saw a couple of stag deer rutting - a first for me, it´s unusual to deer in the daylight at all in the UK (unless you're hunting them I suppose). These two were fighting for a good minute and it looked pretty brutal from where we were watching.

Does anyone know of any sites which specialise in continental butterflies which might help me ID some of them please? Approx how many species are there on the mainland; sadly I must admit to being totally ignorant on this score?

Many thanks in advance

Regards

Bill

[Denise]

Hi Bill,

Have a look at this fantastic site.

http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/

Roger is a member here, and his knowledge of this part of the world is awesome.

Denise

[Bill S]

Hi Bill,

Have a look at this fantastic site.

http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/

Roger is a member here, and his knowledge of this part of the world is awesome.

Denise

Thanks for that Denise!

Bill

[Bill S]

Having had a good look at that site here are a few shots from my hols. I'm don't know whether the first is Silver Studded Blue or Idas Blue and, sadly, I don't have any other views of it which might help.

The next I came to know as Fule's Emperor! They were absolutely everywhere and it took me a few days to quell the instinct of chasing them around in the hope they were Purple Emperors. Beautiful butterflies and very impressive flyers nonetheless. The Great Banded Grayling.

We also saw a couple of Two Tailed Pashas but I didn't have my camera with me at the time, again a very impressive, spectacular butterfly.

I think this may be Spotted Fritillary from what I remember about the underwing

As could this one (a different individual from 3491) although I'm less sure?

Finally a pic of a female Common Blue, but why the droopy antennae? Je suis désolé!

Cheers all

Bill

[Denise]

Hi Bill,

I may be way off the mark here, but your first pic looks like female Chalkhill Blue to me, (note the brown chequering on the fringe)
Your Great Banded Grayling looks more like Woodland Grayling to me also.
Cracking photo's Bill.
Anyone else have any thoughts?

Denise

[Roger Gibbons]

3462 is clearly a Lysandra species, and almost certainly a female, either Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus) or Chalk-hill Blue (Lysandra coridon). They are very hard to differentiate from the underside alone, especially if only the hindwing is visible, as both have slightly chequered fringes. My (not very confident) guess would be Adonis because what little can be seen of the forewing looks quite dark and the spotting looks “strong”. Chalk-hill Blues can have quite dark underside hindwings, often grey, in south-west France and more so into the Pyrenees. I would not disagree with anyone that was certain it was Chalk-hill, though. Maybe you’ll get an opinion from Guy.

3614: I too was fooled by Great Banded Grayling (Brintesia circe) on first sight, many years ago, but this is a Woodland Grayling (Hipparchia fagi), very similar to Rock Grayling (Hipparchia alcyone) but noticeably larger when you see them in the field. If you thought this was Great Banded, it suggests it was quite large and therefore more likely Woodland than Rock. The little “bite” out of the discal line usually indicates Woodland, but these lines can be quite variable.

3491 is a Spotted Fritillary (Melitaea didyma). Also very variable, but this seems a very typical specimen. Cannot be mistaken for any other species in France.

3568 is a Heath Fritillary (Mellicta athalia), I would be reasonably confident. A very common butterfly on the continent, hard to believe from its threatened UK status.

3582 – the antennae can sometimes be seen in this lowered position. It’s clearly checking something, but I have no idea what. Sometimes they “clean” an antenna with the foreleg but you really need a video than a still.

[Bill S]

Hi Bill,

I may be way off the mark here, but your first pic looks like female Chalkhill Blue to me, (note the brown chequering on the fringe)
Your Great Banded Grayling looks more like Woodland Grayling to me also.
Cracking photo's Bill.
Anyone else have any thoughts?

Denise

Thanks Denise, yes I think you're right, possibly Provence Chalkhill Blue. To be honest, I'd never spotted that Chalkhill blue could have small blue dabs in the orange spots on the lower hindwing before; I thought that was limited to Silver studded blue (in the UK at any rate). There are definitely dobs of blue on the orange spots of the first butterfly. I also think you're right on the Grayling, the blackish zig-zag is more woodland; if it were Great Banded it ought to have a white stripe there.

Cheers

Bill

[Gruditch]

Some nice images Bill, I do believe your getting a little arty.

Gruditch

[Padfield]

I've been a bit out of it recently, and slow to respond to posts.

I agree with Roger on the IDs, except that I think 3568 is almost certainly Provençal fritillary, not heath.

Guy

[Bill S]

Thanks all for the comments and help with IDs!

Cheers

Bill