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Hi Folks,
A bit cool, cloudy and windy in Marseilles this weekend. During a gap in the clouds, I saw my first Lulworth Skipper of the year. The nominal flight period is June - August; I normally see them from mid May onwards, so this sighting is still quite early.
SPECIES No. 48 : Lulworth Skipper: Context - Local park in Marseilles. Individual seen in this long grass: Cheers, Chris

Hi Folks,
South of France today, mild, breezy and slightly overcast.
Most recent first sightings of 2016:
SPECIES No. 49 : Berger's Clouded Yellow
SPECIES No. 50 : Tufted Marbled Skipper
SPECIES No. 51 : Southern White Admiral
SPECIES No. 52 : Small Blue

Tufted Marbled Skipper - not an everyday sighting: Lulworth Skipper (female) - many males and females this week (Panasonic FZ150) Common Blue - the cloud cover was good for photos Southern White Admiral - many indivduals flying today Red-underwing Skipper Today was a good day. I wish everyday could be the same .
Cheers, Chris

Hi Folks,
Another mild (bordering on cool), breezy and overcast day here in the South of France.

Latest sightings of 2016:
SPECIES No. 53 : Adonis Blue
SPECIES No. 54 : Knapweed Fritillary

A trip into west Var came up with 20+ species despite the less-than-perfect weather conditions. The cloud cover however enabled me to get some full sets of photos
I spent an excellent matinée grovelling on my knees in the Provençal dirt, so this week I'll have no regrets at work.

Green-underside Blue male unders male uppers Green-underside Blue female unders female uppers Adonis Blue female uppers female unders Adonis Blue male unders male uppers context context Southern Grizzled Skipper female uppers female unders Southern Grizzled Skipper male ??? (help please) Knapweed Fritillary (pretty sure) Any corrections welcome.
Full list of species encountered : icarus, aurinia, alexis, phoebe, crameri, pamphilius, cinxia, alfacariensis, crocea, didyma, malvoides, baton, bellargus, megera, alceae, podalirius, brassicae, cardui, daplidice, tages.

Cheers, Chris

Hi Chris. That last Pyrgus skipper you've asked for help with certainly isn't malvoides. Without seeing the underside I doubt you'll ever know for certain, but my best bet is onopordi. Like most skippers, onopordi is very variable, but one constant feature is that if the large discal mark on the hindwing is weak (it varies from almost absent to very strong) there is always a strong line along the basal edge of it, as in yours.

Guy

I agree 100% with Guy. This weak hindwing marking is not untypical for onopordi for this region. Here is a female from central Var.

It also helps that the site is known for onopordi, and I have seen it there on several occasions.

Roger

Thank you, Guy, for your appreciation. I know you're right, it is something other than malvoides. In particular, it is early in the season and we can't even say that uncertainties are due to worn individuals.

Roger, this is indeed your site that we know of, and is excellent 'd'ailleurs'.
Despite the mediocre conditions of today, I'm sure it has plenty yet to reveal. I hope we can visit it together soon.

I'll go for 'onopordi' then. What a great week end.

Cheers, Chris

Hi Folks,

A rather mild but blustery day here in central Southern France, and the wind blowing unusually from the east. At lunchtime, most butterflies had gone to ground because of the breeze.
However, I had my first 2016 sighting of two species.
SPECIES No. 56 : Meadow Brown
SPECIES No. 57 : Dusky Heath
Both these species are at least 2 weeks early on my lunchtime patch.
Meadow Brown Dusky Heath The overcast wind-swept scrub. This wavy grass is also the LHP for the Western Marbled White. Cheers, Chris

Hello Chris,

That's a nice Dusky Heath. Apparently they are seen in the Alpes-Maritimes, but not at my altitude .
--
Colin

You're sending me into meltdown, Chris, with that image of the Dusky Heath. I was hitherto eagerly anticipating my forthcoming trip to the Pyrenees but I now fear I'm going to need tablets to keep me on the straight and narrow before I fly out!

David - I alleviate the withdrawal symptoms by growing Provencal plants. The buckler-mustard is flourishing in the garden and is now being joined in flower by some kind of white campion. The fluffy limestone grass has done reasonably but I have struggled with the vetch-thing with purple and white flowers that the giant Xylocopa bees love to nectar from.

Hello Colin, David and Matsukaze,

Having looked at the Dusky Heath distribution maps, its true that this species is quite restricted.
I see them in reasonable numbers however on my home and work patches, and they usually peak around mid June. They like hot dry places, like the scrub.
This species is maybe 3 weeks early this year.

I'm sure you'll be coming up with some surprises for us from the Pyrenees very shortly, David.

Cheers, Chris

Hi Folks,

Today is mild and slightly overcast in central Southern France, with little wind for a change.
So at lunchtime I went hunting for 'open wing' shots.

I spent my lunchbreak here, down in the abandoned olive grove: First Meadow Brown Second Meadow Brown Spanish Gatekeeper, male Knapweed Fritillary (not usually seen in this place) Knapweed Frit undersides Cheers, Chris

Hi Folks,
Temperatures in the South of France have been in the low 20s these last few days, but with clear blue sunny skies, sunburn is possible.
So, with sunhat and camera I headed east into the Var and met up with Roger Gibbons.
It was a little too early for White Letter Hairstreak, but out of the tens of butterflies on the wing, two skippers in particular attracted our attention.
The first was a Tufted Marbled Skipper, male : Followed, a little further up the track, by Southern Marbled Skipper.
At least 4 different individuals were seen. They were particularly attracted to the Marrubium:
Male uppers: Backlit undersides: Female ovipositing: A courting pair: Female uppers: Other species flying : podalirius, machaon, bathseba, reducta, cleopatra, crocea, cardamines, euphenoides, jurtina, athalia, didyma, sertorius, icarus, agestis, crataegi, phoebe, alexis, rumina, cinxia, occitanica, baton, megera, cardui
Chris

Quite a haul that, Chris, and the best thing is that there is a species explosion soon to arrive down there!

Hi David,
I should be in the Mercantour (Alps) next week, although the altitude for butterfly sightings will no doubt be limited. It will be interesting to compare butterfly activity in real-time with you across in the Pyrenees

Here is a catch-up of my latest year ticks in the South of France:

SPECIES No. 58 : Southern Marbled Skipper (photos above)
SPECIES No. 59 : Southern Heath Fritillary
SPECIES No. 60 : Geranium Bronze
SPECIES No. 61 : Provence Chalkhill Blue
Today's find on my lunchtime patch at work (I was expecting to see this species this week). Provence CHB: Last week I checked up on the Spanish Festoon flight period in this place not far from work: This was the only worn specimen I could find, looking dejected (mind you it was about to rain) This is its host plant - Aristoloche pistoloche: Despite the cold and damp, I found this stoic Spotted Fritillary balancing a drop of rain on its forehead Cheers, Chris

Hi Folks,
It is quite a rich period for butterflies at the moment in the South of France.
Yesterday, a trip east into the Var came up with this little assortment.
In this location, where there are elm trees and brambles in blossom in the deep ditch : I found 3 different hairstreaks cohabitating :
w-album: spini: esculi (I think) (NB: probably ilicis): Also a Tufted Marbled Skipper: And Iolas Blue: (NB: possibly alexis) The occasional cloud cover did help for the photos.
Year list = 79 species so far including 8 life ticks. (Thank you Roger!)
Cheers, Chris

Hi Chris. You esculi is ilicis. There are lots of little features that separate these but the most obvious are the orange spots. In esculi these have a distinct reddish tinge and are more or less equally sized going north. In ilicis they are orange and diminish in size. Your iolas is a slightly anomalous and rather tardy alexis. I don't know if you've seen iolas before, but if not, you won't be in any doubt when you see the real thing. It is huge and flies in massive leaps from one place to another. Alexis is the commonest red herring when looking for them, because it uses the same foodplant and can be large - but never as large as iolas.

Guy

Thank you Guy,
I will therefore remove one life tick for the iolas, then add one back for the ilicis.
Chris

NB: I have second thoughts about my iolas, Guy, it was far too big for alexis, and behaved as you said. I will keep it as such for the moment.

Hello everyone,
Out in the scrub at lunchtime today I saw my first Two-tailed Pasha of the year. It was sunny but windy and that kept my tally down to about 7 species.
To make up for my mistaken False Ilex Hairstreak mentioned further up which is in fact ilicis, I did see esculi today in the scrub: and by comparison, we can see the difference clearly thank you Guy
And there was a pair of Long-tailed Blues in good condition: Context: Cheers, Chris

Hi Folks,
Today, down in the olive grove during my lunchbreak, I saw a Marbled Fritillary, bang-on time during calendar week 22. This species is a good time-keeper, never wavering.
It hardly ever stopped patrolling its patch of brambles, except for these two photos:
SPECIES No. 83 : Marbled Fritillary Context - the olive grove: Also flying: jurtina, brassicae, rapae, napi, didyma, esculi, bathseba, phlaeas, acteon ...
Cheers, Chris