Jura France 2012

[Charles Nicol]

Thanks so much Guy !!

I am vraiment chuffé to have stumbled across those lovely coppers...

Here are some more pics from this morning

Any help with IDs would be appreciated

Charles

[Padfield]

The last is common blue and the first probably a female chalkhill - but the middle ones are Lang's short-tailed blues - and two different individuals by the look of it...

Again, I'm very interested to see this species in the Jura. It is a migrant from southern Europe, like the long-tailed blue, but generally penetrates less far north and in smaller numbers. I've never seen one in Switzerland but I have seen a lot of long-tailed blues this year. I'll now keep an eye out for Lang's!

Guy

[Charles Nicol]

Thanks for the help Guy

The last set of pics is from Carcassonne... i have left the Jura now.

Am setting off for a riverside exploration today... will check location of previous year's sighting of LPE ... should be plenty of the smaller fritillaries too

Charles

[Charles Nicol]

The LPEs were waiting for me on the other side of the river !!

Also some skippers

See http://www.flickr.com/groups/2003712@N25/

for all the pics


Charles

[Charles Nicol]

Saturday... bus to Lac de la Cavayère

Various small papillons + Swallow tail

[Padfield]

I think there's a good chance you've got at least one Provence chalkhill blue in that lot, Charles! The male upperside is particularly good for this species, though no one would permit a confident identification on a photo of a second brooder. I once spent a pleasant few hours comparing hundreds of photos of chalkhill and Provence chalkhill on the web, looking for constant differences. Your upperside shot shows many of the features I discovered to be associated with PCHB.

I love the lesser purple emperors, too. Beautiful pictures.

Guy

[David M]

Yes, lovely shots of ilia, Charles.

[JKT]

And an interesting moth

Which appears to be Aplocera plagiata in case you didn't know...

[Charles Nicol]

Thanks Guy, David M & JKT

I went for my last major expedition today... tomorrow will potter round the Cité... departure Thursday.

Here are two more pics to identify please...

One looks like the Lang's Short tailed Blue but was much much smaller.

Thanks in advance

Charles

[David M]

... tomorrow will potter round the Cité... departure Thursday.

Aaah, how I love that spot. Happy memories.

I bet it's in the nineties right now too?

[Charles Nicol]

... tomorrow will potter round the Cité... departure Thursday.

Aaah, how I love that spot. Happy memories.

I bet it's in the nineties right now too?

Bonjour David

We had a violent electrical storm last night & it is still very overcast & hot & threatening to rain... not the best for butterfly spotting

I forgot to mention an interesting sighting on Sunday. Because there are no buses on Sunday i walked 3 miles from the hotel to the centre of town. On the way back i noticed an enormous butterfly
in the front garden of a little house by the railway crossing. It flew slowly to the next garden where i lost sight of it.
The colour scheme was similar to female purple emperor but it was much bigger... i do not think it was a mating pair or a huge moth; any ideas ? The garden had plenty of bushes etc but was not close to any woodland.

Charles

[David M]

... tomorrow will potter round the Cité... departure Thursday.

Aaah, how I love that spot. Happy memories.

I bet it's in the nineties right now too?

Bonjour David

We had a violent electrical storm last night & it is still very overcast & hot & threatening to rain... not the best for butterfly spotting

I forgot to mention an interesting sighting on Sunday. Because there are no buses on Sunday i walked 3 miles from the hotel to the centre of town. On the way back i noticed an enormous butterfly
in the front garden of a little house by the railway crossing. It flew slowly to the next garden where i lost sight of it.
The colour scheme was similar to female purple emperor but it was much bigger... i do not think it was a mating pair or a huge moth; any ideas ? The garden had plenty of bushes etc but was not close to any woodland.

Charles

The only butterfly 'much bigger' than a female Emperor would be Two Tailed Pasha, but I know you have experience of these, so one now has to wonder whether it was an escapee from a nearby 'farm' /breeder (King Shoemaker?)

Can't see it being a moth really. I've seen Emperor moths and they are grey rather than brown and pretty unmistakeable.

[Charles Nicol]

The only butterfly 'much bigger' than a female Emperor would be Two Tailed Pasha, but I know you have experience of these, so one now has to wonder whether it was an escapee from a nearby 'farm' /breeder (King Shoemaker?)

Can't see it being a moth really. I've seen Emperor moths and they are grey rather than brown and pretty unmistakeable.

Thanks for those suggestions David... it was definitely not a 2TP ... some kind of UFO butterfly

Anyway i am back in Cambridgeshire until next July... lots of great memories & photos to keep me going til then

Charles

[Charles Nicol]

SPECIES LIST JURA/AUDE JULY/AUGUST 2012

*J = Jura
*A = Aude


High Brown Fritillary J
Spotted Fritillary A
Queen of Spain Fritillary A
Silver Washed Fritillary J,A
Large Copper J
Purple Emperor J
Lesser Purple Emperor A
Large White J,A
Small White J,A
Wood White J,A
Clouded Yellow J,A
Red Admiral J,A
White Admiral J,A
Brimstone J,A
Cleopatra A
Comma J
Short-tailed Blue J
Lang's Short-tailed Blue A
Common Blue J,A
Holly Blue J,A
Adonis Blue J
Chalkhill Blue A
Peacock J
Small Tortoiseshell J
Small Heath J,A
Gatekeeper J
Ringlet J
Meadow Brown J,A
Speckled Wood J,A
Wall A
Map J
Dingy Skipper J
Large Skipper J
Small or Essex Skipper J,A
Silver-spotted Skipper A
Grizzled Skipper A
Great Banded Grayling J,A
Scarce Swallowtail J,A
The other Swallowtail A

Possibles:

Black-veined White J
Purple Hairstreak J,A


i will update the list as necessary

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Charles
Sounds like a possible female Poplar Admiral sighting. They have similar white and brown markings to a female Emperor and are definitely bigger.

All the best.

[Roger Gibbons]

The description seems to match that for Poplar Admiral (Limenitis populi), but according to Lafranchis’ book, it does not occur anywhere in south-western France and is (in my limited experience) not a butterfly likely to be seen in a garden. In addition, its flight is very powerful, sometimes soaring very rapidly.

There are populi photos on sites such as Guy’s and Matt’s and mine that you can have a look at to see if it matches what you saw. It is a species that is so different and so magnificent, it leaves no doubt.

Of course, one can never say it isn’t populi, just that the geographic factors make it very unlikely.

[Charles Nicol]

Hi Charles
Sounds like a possible female Poplar Admiral sighting. They have similar white and brown markings to a female Emperor and are definitely bigger.

All the best.

Thanks for that interesting suggestion Paul... the underside colours seem about right. I read that the flying season is July so my sighting in late August does not match.

Charles

[Charles Nicol]

The description seems to match that for Poplar Admiral (Limenitis populi), but according to Lafranchis’ book, it does not occur anywhere in south-western France and is (in my limited experience) not a butterfly likely to be seen in a garden. In addition, its flight is very powerful, sometimes soaring very rapidly.

There are populi photos on sites such as Guy’s and Matt’s and mine that you can have a look at to see if it matches what you saw. It is a species that is so different and so magnificent, it leaves no doubt.

Of course, one can never say it isn’t populi, just that the geographic factors make it very unlikely.

Thanks for that input Roger... it was certainly the biggest butterfly i have seen in France but it took me by surprise and by the time i got my act together it had vanished. Also since it was in a private garden i was unable to investigate further

I enjoyed your photos. I kept an eye out around the sanitary block at the campsite in the Jura but did not see any interesting specimens ( of butterflies )

Charles