CFB

[CFB]

Thanks Mikhail, I see what you mean.
--
Colin

[CFB]

Once again along to see if the Black-veined White ova (oviposited June 4, see above) have hatched. Alas, they haven't .

A fresh-looking Painted Lady kept me company for a while:

They do have intriguing undersides:

Similarly, a Heath Fritillary stayed patiently on this flower, enabling me to take a decent photo:

And finally a male Cleopatra to go with the female of yesterday.

And then home in time to see the second half of New Zealand v. England and all of Australia v. France.
--
Colin

[Roger Gibbons]

I think it’s interesting to compare the reports of Chris and Colin with what I see here in Var. Les-Bouches-du-Rhône (Chris), Var (myself), and Alpes-Maritimes (Colin) are the three south-eastern départements (=counties) of France in a similar sort of arrangement as Hampshire/Sussex/Kent are in England.

Les-Bouches-du-Rhône is perhaps the least-endowed département but I’m prepared to be that Chris is finding species in locations not previously known. The Alpes-Maritimes is very rich but includes a wider variety of terrain from sea-level up to 2500m so there is a wide scope for a great variety of species. Var is more limited, going up to only about 1000m at the most northerly point, but is extremely rich in terms of variety of species; I have seen (David M look away now) 96 species so far. Strangely, several of the species recorded by Guy have not been seen around here yet, whereas you would expect the more southerly location to get them first.

Niobe Fritillary (Argynnis niobe) has just emerged here and is the predominant Argynnis species here, a few paphia (SWF) so far and no pandora (Cardinal) as yet.

Mikhail makes a very good point about Pieris napi (GVW). They can be very deceptive across the broods and the southern form is meridionalis which is very lightly dusted on the underside hindwing and needs a good look to see that it is even green-veined. A while back I confused napi with Large White (P. brassicae).

Regarding Eastern Wood White (Leptidea duponcheli), I was about to post that “you will know it when you see it”, but Mikhail said it first. I have searched far and wide in Var for duponcheli without success. By coincidence, one day after Chris’s post we went to Digne-les-Bains in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and saw two; it is the first generation that is so uniquely and solidly marked, and the two I saw were rather worn at the end of the flight period but still unmistakeable. According to the Atlas and other databases, it would be very unlikely to see duponcheli in the Marseilles region.

I can’t really post any photos from here as my communal wifi dies every two minutes and only just makes 0.5mbps when it’s running flat out. It struggles just to post just a few lines of text.

[CFB]

96 species so far

And I thought I was doing well with 64. But seriously I'm very satisfied with my score so far, particularly as they are all at less than 250 metres altitude, so I am missing the very many species living up in the hills and mountains.

This morning I went again into the Parc de la Brague. Most of the butterflies seemed very restless, perhaps because of the temperature, which was b****y hot. I was glad when I got home and (David look away again!) could get into the swimming pool .

I did however take a few photos. The first is the underside of a Heath Fritillary, where the thickening of the black mark in forewing S2 is clearly visible, which differentiates it from the Provençal Fritillary:

The second is one of a few Marbled Whites that I saw:

There were several Silver-washed Fritillaries but they were too busy chasing each other for me to get any photos.
--
Colin

[Chris Jackson]

Hi there,
I think that with Roger on 96 species and Colin on 64, there is little chance of me catching up (only 53 species for the moment). The département of the Bouches du Rhone where I live is much poorer in species than the Var and Alpes Maritimes.

We seem to be in phase Colin for the Marbled White, and I also am seeing new arrivals of Painted Lady after quite some weeks without a sighting.
I think you have a lot more different fritillaries over your way, further east, and a little further inland and uphill. You're right about the temperature Colin, 30° + yesterday and not much less today. How lucky you are to have a pool .
No Grayling (semele) yet?
Cheers, Chris

[CFB]

Nothing much today. It is still very hot and I tried to keep to paths with a canopy of tree branches to make things a bit cooler. There were however a few Marbled Fritillaries chasing each other at the Pont des Dones. This one stopped to rest, and allowed me to take a photo or two of its underside.

I saw one Scarce Swallowtail, but no photos of it.
--
Colin

[CFB]

Yesterday it was still very hot, so I decided to walk along the Brague, a river which ends up in the Mediterranean Sea near Antibes. There are plenty of trees on each bank, so it was a bit cooler there. There was not much variety in the way of butterflies. In fact I only saw very many Speckled Woods and a few Pearly Heaths. Here's a couple of photos of the Brague:

It is still very hot today, but I went out this morning armed with my bottle of water. I was intrigued when I saw what looked like an Enormous White (a new species ) , but it turned out to be a mating couple of Cleopatras. My presence didn't disturb them, and neither did a brief visit by another male Cleopatra.

At the Pont des Dones I was very pleased to see a Bath White, as I don't often see them.

When nearly back to my car I found this Meadow Brown (ssp. hispulla?):

I also saw a Two-tailed Pasha and a Swallowtail, but no photos.
--
Colin

[Katrina]

The Enormous White shot made me smile and I like the colours in the Bath White

[CFB]

Hello Katrina,

I like the colours of the Meadow Brown as well.

Incidentally Vince Massimo said about the Cleopatra pair in a private message "It looks like they are mating on a pupal case".
--
Colin

[David M]

Glorious image of the Cleopatras, Colin.

[Chris Jackson]

That cool stream looks inviting, Colin, and the cleopatra shot is very artistic.
It should be reaching 33°C in Marseilles today and 36°C in Vitrolles
Chris

[CFB]

Thanks Chris and David for your comments.

Today in the Parc de la Brague I saw two species for the first time this year. The first was a Twin-spot Fritillary, for which I have been waiting a couple of weeks. And it wasn't in the place where I expected it to be. Sorry, no photo. I did take some but they are all of very low quality .

The other was a False Ilex Hairstreak, in fact several of them.

Amongst others seen were two or three Large Whites:

a Knapweed Fritillary:

and a Weaver's Fritillary:

And it is still very hot here, but it's supposed to become cooler on Saturday.
--
Colin

[CFB]

Still very hot so I didn't stay out as long as usual.

The sight of the morning was a Heath Fritillary in the grips of what I think is an Assassin Bug (Rhynocoris iracundus). The fritillary seemed to be moving, or perhaps it was just the wind, so I carefully removed it from the predator. But I think it was more or less dead.

There were a few Silver-washed Fritillaries around but they didn't seem to want to be photographed, except for this one:

There were also a few Marbled Skippers. This one looks a bit like a one-eyed ghost :

To finish off, a beautiful Marbled White:

The most frequently seen species was probably Heath Fritillary, well ahead of Cleopatra.
--
Colin

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Colin,
Your False Ilex looks like those that I see over here .
And I'm hoping to see at least one vagrant Silver-washed this season. I suppose they travel from the Alpes Maritimes and the Var towards Marseilles.
Chris

[CFB]

This morning was sunny and hot, but in the afternoon there was thunder and lightning and rain, and it's now much, much cooler .

Many butterflies were taking advantage of the scabious species shown in the photos below. Usually I don't have much success with Clouded Yellows, but this female stayed attached to her flower, even though it was quite windy, long enough for me to get a reasonable shot:

I only saw one Clouded Yellow, but saw several Large Skippers, including this female:

And last but not least there were many Cleopatras, including this backlit male:

Other species seen included: Heath, Spotted, Marbled and Silver-washed Fritillaries, Blue-spot and False Ilex Hairstreaks, and Marbled Whites.
--
Colin

[David M]

Beautiful Cleopatra image, Colin.

I sincerely hope to see a few of these when I visit France next month.

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Colin, nice photos - Clouded Yellows are very discrete across my way this year. I m sure that there were many more last year!!
David, cleopatras are no sweat - the least of your worries.
What is your travel program?
Chris

[CFB]

After yesterday's thunder storm it was much cooler this morning, with quite a lot of clouds.

My mission of the morning was to see the state of the Black-veined White ova which were oviposited on 3 June. Well, they are still in ova-mode after 12 days , but seem to be in good condition :

As I was in Spanish Festoon territory I had a look at some Aristolochia pistolochia plants and soon found my first ever Spanish Festoon larvae . There were only two on this particular plant, and I didn't find any on any other plants:

There were still plenty of Pearly Heaths:

Later, at home, my wife came in from the garden and told me there were butterflies on the Helichrysum stoechas. These turned out to be False Ilex Hairstreaks, which, as noticed in previous years, spend a lot of time on these plants:

Other species seen today include Weaver's, Marbled, Spotted and Knapweed Fritillaries.
--
Colin

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Colin,
Those Spanish Festoon caterpillars are interesting - I will now know what they look like if ever I see one!
And I agree for the False Ilex Hairstreaks, they really do have a preference for Helichrysum stoechas - Immortelle in French, Curry Plant in English.
Stormy weather today in Marseilles, and its not finished tomorrow. The upside is that the temperature has dropped 10°C
Chris

[CFB]

This morning I went back to see how my Spanish Festoon larvae were getting on. Assuming that this is one of the two I saw yesterday, it has changed colour somewhat from green to pink. Perhaps it's a different one. Just above him is what I assume must be a Spanish Festoon ovum :

There was also a smaller green larva who was eating a chunk out of a leaf:

I managed to get a postable photo of a Twin-spot Fritillary

and of a male Silver-washed Fritillary:

There were also Heath, Marbled and Knapweed Fritillaries, Marbled Whites and Provence Chalkhill Blues, and so on.
--
Colin