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24th June to 1st July – French Alps cont….

The second half of the trip was spent in the Queyras, but anywhere above 2,000m was effectively a dead zone, with just a small number of mobile species passing through.

Things were a bit livelier between 1,700 and 2,000m, although Alpine Heaths, which can usually be counted in the multi hundreds, were merely around in the dozens:
One species bucked the trend – Mountain Alcon Blue. I must have seen around three dozen, including this female who posed with wings open whilst being shaded:
Two Swallowtails were puddling in one of the car parks used. Both were immaculate:
This Alpine Grizzled Skipper was with them and was the best marked individual of this species I have ever seen:
A few Mazarine Blues were around too:
Northern Wall Browns were still in decent nick (usually they are worn by late June):
I bumped into Roger G on my last day and we had a good hour or so observing many different species in a damp area near a bridge. Initially, I thought this butterfly was Foulquier’s Grizzled Skipper, but Roger believed it to be Oberthur’s which I reckon is right:
Probably the best sighting came at 900m in the Durance Valley. A small number of Spanish Purple Hairstreaks were found in a series of scrubby fields. This female descended to nectar on some thyme and was very approachable:

24th June to 1st July – French Alps cont….

The final species count was over 100, but only just, representing the worst return by far I’ve ever had on this trip.

Practically none of the higher altitude species were seen; no Cynthia’s, Mountain, Shepherd’s Fritillaries, no Dewy Ringlets, no Dusky Grizzled Skippers, no Alpine Blues, no Small Apollos, no False Mnestra, Mountain, Common Brassy nor Sooty Ringlets…

That said, it was preferable to staying in the UK, where I doubt I could have reached three dozen species in that same week.

Full list as follows:

1. Dingy Skipper
2. Mallow Skipper
3. Marbled Skipper
4. Large Skipper
5. Oberthur’s Grizzled Skipper
6. Large Grizzled Skipper
7. Alpine Grizzled Skipper
8. Safflower Skipper
9. Olive Skipper
10. Southern Grizzled Skipper
11. Red Underwing Skipper
12. Lulworth Skipper
13. Essex Skipper
14. Small Skipper
15. Brown Argus
16. Mountain Argus
17. Long Tailed Blue
18. Lang’s Short Tailed Blue
19. Geranium Argus
20. Holly Blue
21. Small Blue
22. Osiris Blue
23. Mazarine Blue
24. Green Underside Blue
25. Mountain Alcon Blue
26. Large Blue
27. Silver Studded Blue
28. Glandon Blue
29. Idas Blue
30. Amanda’s Blue
31. Adonis Blue
32. Escher’s Blue
33. Common Blue
34. Baton Blue
35. Chequered Blue
36. Purple Shot Copper
37. Purple Edged Copper
38. Small Copper
39. Sooty Copper
40. Green Hairstreak
41. White Letter Hairstreak
42. Spanish Purple Hairstreak
43. Sloe Hairstreak
44. Ilex Hairstreak
45. False Ilex Hairstreak
46. Blue Spot Hairstreak
47. High Brown Fritillary
48. Dark Green Fritillary
49. Silver Washed Fritillary
50. Weaver’s Fritillary
51. Pearl Bordered Fritillary
52. Marbled Fritillary
53. Marsh Fritillary
54. Queen of Spain Fritillary
55. Heath Fritillary
56. Provencal Fritillary
57. False Heath Fritillary
58. Glanville Fritillary
59. Spotted Fritillary
60. Meadow Fritillary
61. Knapweed Fritillary
62. Small Tortoiseshell
63. Southern White Admiral
64. Large Tortoiseshell
65. Comma
66. Peacock
67. Red Admiral
68. Painted Lady
69. Scarce Swallowtail
70. Swallowtail
71. Southern Swallowtail
72. Apollo
73. Clouded Apollo
74. Orange Tip
75. Black Veined White
76. Berger’s Clouded Yellow
77. Clouded Yellow
78. Mountain Dappled White
79. Cleopatra
80. Brimstone
81. Wood White
82. Large White
83. Mountain Green Veined White
84. Green Veined White
85. Small White
86. Southern Small White
87. Peak White
88. Bath White
89. Great Banded Grayling
90. Pearly Heath
91. Darwin’s Heath
92. Alpine Heath
93. Chestnut Heath
94. Small Heath
95. Almond Eyed Ringlet
96. De Prunner’s Ringlet
97. Large Ringlet
98. Woodland Grayling
99. Northern Wall Brown
100. Large Wall Brown
101. Wall Brown
102. Meadow Brown
103. Marbled White
104. Speckled Wood

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July

This is an area I’ve wanted to visit for several years.

By definition, it’s not an easy part of Europe to go butterflying in, but I am both resolute and determined and after less than six hours from Heathrow, in the early afternoon of 3rd July, I found myself in Tromso, above the Arctic Circle in Norway, to finally take a look at everything this mysterious region offers.

The obvious difference this far north is that it never gets dark.

This means that daytime and ‘night-time’ temperatures do not differ very much (as the sun is always above the horizon), although it comes as a sudden shock to the system to look out of your hotel window approaching midnight and to see this:
The entire week was almost like visiting another planet, and was undoubtedly one of the best experiences of my life.

David M wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 6:15 pm 24th June to 1st July – French Alps cont….

The final species count was over 100, but only just, representing the worst return by far I’ve ever had on this trip.

Practically none of the higher altitude species were seen; no Cynthia’s, Mountain, Shepherd’s Fritillaries, no Dewy Ringlets, no Dusky Grizzled Skippers, no Alpine Blues, no Small Apollos, no False Mnestra, Mountain, Common Brassy nor Sooty Ringlets…

That said, it was preferable to staying in the UK, where I doubt I could have reached three dozen species in that same week.

It's fascinating to read this David. Quite incredible just how late the season was this year. Here's hoping for a more normal year for next years trip!

David M wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 7:31 pm Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July

This is an area I’ve wanted to visit for several years.

By definition, it’s not an easy part of Europe to go butterflying in, but I am both resolute and determined and after less than six hours from Heathrow, in the early afternoon of 3rd July, I found myself in Tromso, above the Arctic Circle in Norway, to finally take a look at everything this mysterious region offers.

The obvious difference this far north is that it never gets dark.

This means that daytime and ‘night-time’ temperatures do not differ very much (as the sun is always above the horizon), although it comes as a sudden shock to the system to look out of your hotel window approaching midnight and to see this:

PXL_20240708_221612801.jpg

The entire week was almost like visiting another planet, and was undoubtedly one of the best experiences of my life.

VERY much looking forward to this report!

selbypaul wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 7:40 pm..Here's hoping for a more normal year for next years trip!

I'm not sure that kind of 'normal' exists anymore, Paul.

David M wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 6:15 pm 24th June to 1st July – French Alps cont….

Practically none of the higher altitude species were seen; no Cynthia’s, Mountain, Shepherd’s Fritillaries, no Dewy Ringlets, no Dusky Grizzled Skippers, no Alpine Blues, no Small Apollos, no False Mnestra, Mountain, Common Brassy nor Sooty Ringlets…

Most of that list of species have still failed to produce in significant numbers this year, in Switzerland at least. Mountain and shepherd's fritillaries are now flying, but there are few of them about. Dewy ringlet is normally common at altitude by the end of June but still isn't common. I have yet to see dusky grizzled skipper, though that's partly a function of very particular storm and flood damage to some of my regular sites in Valais. Common brassy ringlet I saw for the first time this year just two days ago, on my local mountain, and I've seen just two or three small Apollos (Apollos have also been very thin on the ground). Sooty ringlet is an early species and I think I've now missed it - but I certainly haven't seen any this year. Finally, I haven't seen a single alpine argus (blue) even though I've been to some of its usual hotspots. I don't normally look for this species - it's one of those things you just know you'll see.

I too look forward to your northern highlights (and I bet you've got some Northern Lights shots ...). I used to do a lot of private teaching in southern Norway, and even there you can see small coppers nectaring at 23h00 in midsummer.

Guy

Padfield wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 2:50 pm
Most of that list of species have still failed to produce in significant numbers this year, in Switzerland at least. Mountain and shepherd's fritillaries are now flying, but there are few of them about. Dewy ringlet is normally common at altitude by the end of June but still isn't common. I have yet to see dusky grizzled skipper, though that's partly a function of very particular storm and flood damage to some of my regular sites in Valais. Common brassy ringlet I saw for the first time this year just two days ago, on my local mountain, and I've seen just two or three small Apollos (Apollos have also been very thin on the ground). Sooty ringlet is an early species and I think I've now missed it - but I certainly haven't seen any this year. Finally, I haven't seen a single alpine argus (blue) even though I've been to some of its usual hotspots. I don't normally look for this species - it's one of those things you just know you'll see.

So, do you think they have delayed emergence until next year? Or has this years' numbers been severely weakened?

selbypaul wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 7:42 pmVERY much looking forward to this report!

On its way, Paul. I've more images than usual to go through for obvious reasons!

Hi David,

Having moved back in France ( as you know) and now living in the Rhone valley, I can only agree with you. Although the diversity of species is there, the numbers are not impressive like it used to be a few years ago. I am involved in a butterfly transect with the Ligue pour la protection des oiseaux and will see what it yields in 2-5 year time. Something to follow closely but i am not very optimistic....
Sylvie

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

Prior to travelling this far north, many people advised me that the weather would be awful and that certain species only appeared in either odd or even years.

For the record, the weather is no worse in the Arctic in early July than it is in south Wales in mid-May.

It rained just twice, and the air temperature was never lower than 12c (and those recordings were during that rainstorm and again at 1,300m up a mountain in cloudy conditions).

The maximum temperature experienced was 22c, and in general things were in the 17-20c range, with 50-80% cloudy skies and regular sunny intervals.
Overall, it was quite pleasant and certainly good enough for the butterflies which don’t waste time in taking to the air during any brighter interludes (much like Mountain Ringlets in the UK).

I’d always had reservations about butterflies routinely taking two years to complete their life cycle, and on the grounds that every target species was seen bar just two, I can only presume that if this does happen, it only occurs in abnormally poor summers before reverting to the usual phenology afterwards.

Here are a few images of the wonderful landscape between 69 and 70 degrees north, along with an indication of what the weather & skies were like:

Padfield wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 2:50 pm..I too look forward to your northern highlights (and I bet you've got some Northern Lights shots ...)

Never went dark enough to see aurorae, Guy. Mind you, they were visible from Cornwall the other night!

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

Prior to the trip, I had singled out two categories of butterflies to search for in particular. The first one was a list of 13 that can only be found around this latitude. The second included species that were not endemic to the region but were rare and often found in isolated populations further south in Europe.

So, it was with almost child-like excitement that I ventured into Sweden on the first full day, in reasonably good weather (18c and largely sunny with light winds).

That excitement increased even more when I was sat on the cable car to take me up the mountain I wanted to explore. Looking down at the wayleaf below, there were a multitude of Boloria-like Fritillaries, lots of smallish Blues and some paler coloured Pierids all flying 50m or so beneath me making me almost wish I could jump down and get amongst them.

After 20 minutes of this assault on the anticipatory senses, I arrived at the upper station and jumped off. Suddenly, I found a selection of butterflies, many of which were entirely new to me. I decided to start with the easiest one to follow – Pale Arctic Clouded Yellow, Colias tyche.

There were good numbers of these on the mountainside, certainly over 100 in total. They were, like all of this genus, very flighty but occasional opportunities presented themselves:
I got lucky a little later on when I spotted a grounded male harassing a female, managing to get a glimpse of the uppersides:
The next most common species up there was Dewy Ringlet. It was ironic that after having missed them in the French Alps the week before due to them not having emerged, here they were in decent numbers in the Arctic Circle:

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

Whilst up on the mountain, I had heart-stopping moments every time a Fritillary flew by.

I knew many of them would likely be species I had never seen before, which caused me to chase after several individuals only to find they were Mountain Fritillaries, which I see regularly in the Alps (although again, they hadn’t yet emerged the previous week when I was in the Mercantour):
The next Frit I latched on to though was one I’d never seen before – Cranberry Fritillary – Boloria aquilonaris.
With all the other, similar Fritillaries flying on the hillside, it was hard to accurately estimate numbers of aquilonaris, though they were certainly into double figures:

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

One lucky find was Freyja’s Fritillary, Boloria freiya. It wasn’t particularly lucky for the butterfly, which had a wing stuck in a damp area of earth. I scooped it up and took it inside the cable car station to try to let it dry out. Being artificially lit however meant my camera wouldn’t focus properly, but the clear zig-zag black lines on the unhs leave no room for doubt:
I may well have seen others, but this group tend to settle fairly irregularly and when they do, it is usually with open wings making it hard to determine the species with any certainty.

I put it back outside on a grassy tussock and I hope it eventually was able to fly again.

One Fritillary that did settle for a lengthy period was this Bog Fritillary, Boloria eunomia.

It helped that there was a 5 minute cloudy period just after I found it, so I was able to get images of both upper and undersides:
Several of these were seen, although none offered an easy approach like the one above.

I really looking forward to see the total list for the tour

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

Oddly, the cable car closes at 1600h and reopens at 2000h, presumably for those who wish to ascend for the midnight sun.

Just prior to going back down, I took this image of one of the many Green Veined Whites that were around:
Once back at the lower station, I wanted to check to see if I could find any of the Blues that I’d seen flying in the wayleaf when I had ascended earlier. I didn’t need to go that far, as there were plenty active along a woodland track adjacent to the station.

There were two species, both in similar numbers. The first was Idas Blue:
The second, however, was Cranberry Blue, Agriades optilete.

I was delighted as I’d hitherto only ever seen one individual at Alpe d’Huez in France four years ago, so this was an opportunity not to be missed:

Arctic Circle, 3rd to 10th July cont…

A short distance from the cable car station is a river, beyond which there were some damp woodland clearings.

These areas had plenty of butterflies flying around the sunlit areas, including Cranberry Fritillary and many Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries:
To my delight, there were also a fair few Thor’s Fritillaries, Boloria thore; a butterfly I had never seen before:
There were also a few Erebia knocking about, all of which looked like Arran Browns, and a handful of Moorland Clouded Yellows, which became commoner as the week progressed:

Sylvie_h wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2024 3:42 pmHaving moved back in France ( as you know) and now living in the Rhone valley, I can only agree with you. Although the diversity of species is there, the numbers are not impressive like it used to be a few years ago. I am involved in a butterfly transect with the Ligue pour la protection des oiseaux and will see what it yields in 2-5 year time. Something to follow closely but i am not very optimistic...

Hi, Sylvie. Good to hear from you again.

I think most of western Europe has had a shocker this year. Even if 2025 is a good one, there won't be the number of immature stages there usually are, owing to the dearth of adult butterflies this year.

We need two good years on the run just to get things back to how normal used to be!

Great stuff David. As you know, northern Thor's frits are quite different from their alpine counterparts, so you still need to get south and see these (and I need to go north to see the arctic version!).

A useful hint for any future Frejya's frit (a butterfly I only know from the books) you find stuck in the mud: the iPhone light is perfect illumination for cameras to focus on. I use it a lot in pitch darkness for caterpillars and also in dim light for moths, coupled with flash for the actual picture.

Guy