Last of the summer wine... oh gawd

[NickB]

That Knapweed had me guessing too - especially with Tolman open, as it looks like all/none of them! The black panel in the hind wing really threw me! JKT, you have my sympathy and understanding....we were very lucky to have Guy!
Putting our frits aside, I thought this deserved a showing (even if it is a moff )

N

[Rogerdodge]

That's no Spotted Frit, but I hesitate to suggest what Guy might have shown you - Heath, Assmann's, Nickerl's, Knapweed etc. etc.

Of course I KNEW it was Knapweed.
I was just testing that's all!

[Paul]

Hi all,

have been sorting through my accumulation of pics, here are a few to go on with....

Short-tailed Blue..



Purple Emperor..



Alpine Blue..





Cranberry Fritillary..





Sorry if they were a bit slow to come up..

[Padfield]

Textbook cranberry fritillaries, Paul! Male uns, male ups and female ups (the curve in her abdomen suggests that you photographed her in a brief pause from ovipositing). And ALL of them on cranberries!!

I'm looking forward to more posts from you all - remember, I didn't take many photos from the trip myself...

Guy

[Paul]

Hi Guy... yes I remember how often you stepped back for us... and how often I replied "no", to "did you get it?".. what was your verdict on this Clouded Yellow?... my guess would be phicomone..... taken just as you saw the Glandon Blue & called me over..



Glandon Blues..

[NickB]

Some cracking Blues, Paul! All that time you spent persuing your targets really paid off - and your ID skills were spot-on with these Blues, I was really impressed, as I am with your scale-perfect close-ups. Keep on posting - Erja ( ) arrived yesterday and my two other Finnish friends arrive today, so I will be late in posting more....
N

[Padfield]

That's phicomone. Palaeno flies predominantly over the Vacciniinum, a little below where we were and phicomone is the main species higher up.

I think that glandon is fresh out of the packaging!

Guy

[Paul]

Glad to hear you have some company Nick... hope I don't steal any photographic thunder while I get in first, and Guy... just edited my phicomone post before I saw your reply (honest) - unanimous verdict, many thanks.... here are more Cranberry lovers, of the Blue variety...

[NickB]

OK - The one we climbed all the way up to those sub-glacial meadows to see.....

Who is Cynthia, what is she....? (Except it is a HE!)

N

[Paul]

... and wasn't it worth the climb!! I think this may well be the same one...



and comparisons between Darwin's and Alpine Heath.. hopefully correctly labelled...

Alpine


Darwin's

[Pete Eeles]

OK - The one we climbed all the way up to those sub-glacial meadows to see.....

That is one beautiful butterfly. I now have a goal for next year

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Wonderful Cynthia! I got a different individual, so there were at least two there!



As for the heaths: very interesting. The second one is what I would call 'pure' darwiniana (Darwin's heath), having clear yellow rings around the spots, which appear to be outside the white patch. The first must go down in the books as gardetta (alpine heath) but is clearly one of the 'philedarwiniana' mixtures. You can see this if you look at this pure gardetta, from a different valley, a little closer to me along the Rhône:



Note the small black spots set in white, like ermine, and the extensive dark and grey on both wings.

This is a pure darwiniana, from the same site as yours, showing even more clearly the way the orange extends to the wing tips:



Fascinating stuff eh? Both species evolved from arcania (pearly heath), which used to fly in the valley, but which hasn't been recorded there for a long time.

Guy

[Paul]

That pure gardetta is gorgeous!! and I didn't know the common ancestor was Pearly

OK.... now I believe all these are napaea...



and two of the same individual at a different site..

[Padfield]

I will reserve judgment on these male Boloria right now. The problem is, pales is very variable indeed and lots of the books give misleading ways of identifying them (Lafranchis gives a 'parallel spots' method which I just can't get to work). For what it's worth, that upperside looks most like pales palustris to me. I think I've been lazy here, as I say, because the females are so easy. I have seen females of both species at both those sites... When they're flying together, size is a good clue, because pales is always smaller.

I'm off hunting E. christi tomorrow with Yannick, the Swiss recorder, and will ask him what he considers the real identifiers are for the males. He spends hours pouring over Swiss specimens in museums and will, I hope, have noticed something that we can spot in your excellent pictures!!

Guy

EDIT: My Swiss 'bible' notes that the lilac tinge near the margins of the hindwing underside is almost never found in napaea, though occasionally found in pales. Your last one does seem to have lilac on my monitor...

[Paul]

Thanks Guy... enjoy your visit will wait, but sounds like I may have to change ID.... there is definitely a violet tinge on one.

Here are some Maculinae...

Mountain Alcon Blue





Scarce Large Blue




Dusky Large Blue

[Paul]

I had previously only one distant photo of Arran Brown, until this trip, that is....




and as poor Diocletion flattered to deceive, I wandered into this WLH...

[Padfield]

I'm glad it wasn't entirely wasted time, Paul, watching Diocletian give birth slowly to alien creatures... Opportunities like that to get w-album down low are to be treasured!

I asked Yannick about male pales/napaea today. It turns out he is in exactly the same position as I am. In fact, he doesn't think there is a definitive way of telling them apart that works in every instance - it is more like hyale/alfacariensis, where you can tell some of the time but not always. Like me, he waits for the females to appear... I'm sure there is a way, though, and I will try to find it!!

We didn't go for christi in the end. Last year Matt and I had a very, very tatty female a little earlier in July and the weather was a bit iffy today, so we decided to go hunting populi instead. WHICH WE SAW!! Against all the odds, fleetingly, without photo-ops, a rather worn male, but undeniably populi. My second of the year.

Here is Yannick, the energetic young man solely responsible for mapping Swiss butterflies, enjoying a lesser purple emperor (in the Rhône Valley, where neither of us have seen them before, though we knew they were supposed to be there):



And here is the lesser purple emperor in question, doing what emperors do...



Thanks to a few lucky breaks, including a small Apollo and a single, knackered, blue-spot hairstreak, my year total reached 196 today. I'm saving that fine old brandy you left, Paul, for no. 200!!!

Guy

[NickB]

Great shot Guy! And here's to that 200...almost time for the cigar!
A couple more I have had time to process...even I can ID these....

SWF posing briefly....

[NickB]

...and I think this M. diamina False Heath Fritillary...

Butterfly Meadow

[Paul]

Super photos chaps... glad you're near 200 Guy, will raise a glass to you when you get there..... here's to 250

This tricky one at the epiphyle site I can only think is oeme.... any thoughts?



and here is a well behaved Dewy.... I intend to edit out the awful grass stems in due course if I can..






(edit) that superb ilia reminds me othe orange bordered one I photographed in Bentley Wood... what chance of a released alien there???