I didn't think I was alone!
I set off early this morning for the Jura, hoping to catch an early chestnut heath and a late spring-brood map. The forecast was for 'mostly sunny', so the project looked promising. However, the weather forecast was misleading: it was 'mostly sunny' until about 11h30 but after that 'mostly cloudy' - I would say 80% sun before and 80% cloud after. This probably had a bearing on the fact the total number of species seen was tiny. I could certainly have seen more by wandering down the lane from my house instead of crossing the country.
There were almost no heaths at all, of any species. The only
Coenonympha I saw was a single small heath that crossed the road and then dived down into the grass, where it clearly intended to stay:
Nor did I see any other grassland Satyrids - no meadow browns, marbled whites or ringlets. I wandered meadow after meadow without seeing a single blue and clocked up a total of three fritillaries, of which only one passed close enough to permit identification. It was this pearl-bordered fritillary:
I saw one species of skipper - a couple of dingies - and one hairstreak - a green hairstreak.
So much for what was not flying. Now what was! Before 11h30, two of the sites I had identified as potential violet copper habitat (when I came out to recce the area a few weeks ago) produced the goods. Here is the first I saw - a beautifully fresh male:
This was at under 1000m, so would normally count as quite late in the violet copper season. But he is no geriatric. Nor were those at the next site:
(The out-of focus butterfly on the left is also a violet copper)
As you can see in those last two pictures, the violet coppers here were nectaring on the peripheries of their breeding area, among grassland plants rather than in the bog.
Other species confirmed that it is still spring here. Peacocks were common ...
... even if some were showing signs of age:
Orange tips were abundant, both males and females. Here is a female:
Commas, small tortoiseshells and red admirals were all on the wing, though I saw no brimstones. A single male
hyalensis (my portmanteau word for Berger's and pale clouded yellow) was my only yellow.
What made the trip really worthwhile, though, were the Dukes. I saw far more today than I see in a year normally. They were flying literally by the dozen and at two places I saw at least five at the same time. First, I came across a woodland colony. On a corner of a ride it seemed every bush had a Duke and they would tumble into the air together in groups of three or four. Photography was difficult not because they were difficult to approach but because if, in approaching one, you didn't notice another and accidentally put it up, all would suddenly take to the skies in a pugilistic frenzy. Here are a few shots from that site:
Not far away, even more Dukes were defending the wet edges of a meadow. Here is one of the few worn individuals I saw, surveying what used to be his Dukedom:
Here is another (which also gives an idea of the weather):
In this region, Dukes seemed omnipresent, even flitting around the path where I walked (the blue thing is my backpack):
Dukes are normally a May butterfly. By mid-June you would not expect to see more than a few, rather worn, individuals. In the Jura, it seems to be peak Duke season - and perhaps significantly, I saw just a single Duchess:
By about 15h00 the percentage cloud had gone up to 90% or more and I headed home, to rain and approaching storms.
Guy