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Erebia

One cannot go to high altitude without preparing oneself for an erebia assault.

Things are not simple however, as not only is this genus flighty and often sketchy in its distribution, its members also generally have dark markings that make photography very difficult.

A new species for me was Dewy Ringlet. I saw three in the 10 days I was there and only one presented a photo opportunity, and sadly it was tattered to the point where I would consider it shameful to post an image!

Common Brassy Ringlet, on the other hand, was fairly commonplace and quite a few shots were obtained. This one is probably the best:
Like last year, Almond-Eyed Ringlets were the commonest of this family, but Large Ringlets weren't far behind, which was good as this species seems to like human company, regularly flying around people and often alighting on the body to take minerals:
If one concentrated sufficiently, it became clear that another large erebia was flying in these parts too - Arran Brown:
Several smaller erebia were observed at 2000m+, and those that settled seemed to be Mountain Ringlets:
I was fortunate to stumble upon this mating pair:
Several False Mnestra Ringlets were seen above 2000m. This species is practically a SE France endemic, but I reckon more than 20 were observed during the week:
I thought I'd exhausted the available range of these butterflies after 8 days, but a visit to higher altitude threw up a couple of surprises....

A nice selection of exotic Ringlets, David. There are so many erebia, I'm sure you could consecrate your life just to them !!
Chris

An amazing selection of species, David, and great photos and observations to boot- I thought my 91 was greedy - is there anything you didn't see

BWs,

William

Very nice, David. I've never seen aethiopella - and you have got some lovely pictures of these. The male is very striking, with that conspicuous sex brand.

Guy

Enjoying your report, David - it makes me yearn for the alps once more...

Lovely photos.

Best wishes,

Lee

Thanks for the comments, guys. Yes, erebia are a real 'mountaineer's' companion and one could spend years trying to get to know them all.

Me, well I'm still a novice with them, which was why I took myself further up in altitude to 2,800m to see if any additional species were about.

I wasn't disappointed although the terrain was decidedly precarious and, as ever, the butterflies extraordinarily active.

I saw quite a few that looked very similar to each other - uniformly dark undersides with just a powdery smattering of white scales, and uppersides that had an almost apologetic sparse orange stain. It is my belief that these are Sooty Ringlets, although if anyone has any alternative suggestions I will read them with interest:
There was another erebia up there too which was one I haven't seen before. It was clearly quite different to Sooty Ringlet on both upper and undersides. The nearest match I can find from those recorded in this vicinity is Silky Ringlet, although it resembles the form erynis which has missing ocelli rather than the regular form:

You've certainly done justice to all things Ringlet David considering the number of different species there are and your own humble confession of still being a novice lovely illustrated reportage, good stuff!

BW's

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Agreed. You've got some great stuff there David,not least all those mountain ringlets. In my experiance,they are not easy to photograph,particularly in hot weather,as they simply dont stop flying! The effort involved in taking these images must have been considerable,thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Bill (and Essex Buzzard).

Papilionidae

There were only 4 of this family on the Greenwings list, but we actually saw FIVE (more of that later).

You know you are in a species-rich environment when you all but ignore Swallowtails. I am guilty as charged as I never made any attempt to photograph the dozen or so individuals I saw during my trip.

At the beginning, Scarce Swallowtails were thin on the ground, but towards the end there must have been a simultaneous emergence, as all of a sudden they were around in serious numbers. This was one of several impeccably fresh specimens seen on my final full day, nectaring on the same lavender bush as the Southern Comma:
The iconic Apollo butterfly was seen in three figure numbers. The warm, sunny conditions meant that they were airborne most of the time though, with few individuals coming to rest on flowers:
I saw at least two dozen Small Apollos as well, at two separate sites (although each had fast flowing water nearby which seems to be a pre-requisite for this species). Again, they were flighty, and the best image of a fresh specimen taken was this:
There was a further individual that was a little more accommodating, but was also fairly faded to the point where the red spots have lost much of their lustre:
The greatest 'miss' of the holiday though was when Roger and I were combing the roadside scabious blooms at 2,000m one day when, in amongst the myriad other butterfly species, one specimen stood out like a beacon. It was a Clouded Apollo!

Sadly, my attempts to employ the best settings on my camera were too slow. The butterfly flew off and although it was seen for a while flying in the open spaces of the woodland, it never came to rest again.

Had I been on my own, I think I'd have 'camped' there for a couple of hours, but there are times when you simply don't have this level of autonomy.

Never mind. It's something to confront at a later time and date.

Other Satyrids

Both Woodland Grayling and Great Banded Grayling were seen in relatively modest numbers. Here's the latter in a typical pose:
Roger took time to point out a Dusky Meadow Brown to me, which I confess does appear noticeably different to plain old Meadow Brown. It's hard to know how common this species is because with everything else going on, it seems pointless wasting time checking out every Meadow Brown!

One species that took time to finally record was Large Wall Brown. I think it was only on day 5 that the first was spotted but a handful more were seen on the trip, including this male:
The most common of this group, especially towards the end of the trip, was Great Sooty Satyr. I love the way this species flies. It looks almost comical flapping its wings so much. You'd think such a large butterfly would prefer to glide, but they clearly don't understand energy efficiency! Here's a female:
Male underside:
And, unusually, a male upperside too:

You must be proud of that series of Great Sooty Satyr images, David. I have yet to see one myself !!
As for the Dusky Meadow Brown, in my very limited experience, their flight pattern is less 'lilting' and jerky than that of the regular Meadow Brown. Equally, in hot conditions, the DMB will investigate your sweat, whereas I have never noticed that with the regular MB.
Excellent report, David, mind boggling
Chris

An excellent and inspiring account of the tour David! I am very pleased that you got to see the Poplar Admiral; shame it didn't perform better for photos but you can't have everything and it should keep you hungry for more next year!

Plenty more superb shots from you anyway and I particularly like the Scarce Copper - a real beauty!

Incidentally, we got Poplar Admiral a few days ago in Estonia, may post photos of that in a while.

Matt

Great report David, thanks for sharing ! I know your feelings about the clouded apollo, it can be very frustrating....

Matt,
It would be interesting to know what you have seen in Estonia as I am thinking of going there next year.
Sylvie

Thanks for the comments everybody. Yes, there were occasional frustrations but to temper those were many, many wonderful encounters with some particularly beautiful butterfly species. One group which exceeded expectations was the Blues, which were present everywhere we went.

Like last year, Escher's Blue was probably the most ubiquitous, with many hundreds seen at all bar the highest locations.

Brown Argus, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Small Blue, Adonis and Silver Studded Blue were all seen in numbers, whilst Chapman's Blue and Geranium Argus were seen in single figures.

At altitude, Mountain (Northern Brown) Argus was relatively common, so much so that I didn't bother taking any pictures. However, this little critter gatecrashed one of the many shots taken of Lycaenids 'puddling':
This behaviour is not only fascinating to watch, but very helpful from a photography perspective, as these normally hyperactive butterflies seem to take a 'chill pill', posing conveniently for minutes on end. This gave me the opportunity to study some of the less common species:

Amanda's Blue
Amanda's in the company of Mazarine and Chalkhill Blues:
Eros Blue
Damon Blue
...and with friends:
My favourite lower altitude species was Turquoise Blue. I'd only ever seen a handful before and last year although one WAS spotted, I missed it. There were probably two dozen plus this time, and they are a spectacular pale yet rich blue in colour. I don't think photos can ever do this justice, and in any case they seem to settle mostly with their wings closed. This was the best part wings open image I could muster:

Large Blues were seen occasionally during the trip, but like last year, Roger directed us to a seemingly nondescript stretch of roadside where Mountain Alcon Blue could be seeen in reasonable numbers:
Later, at a medium altitude site, I noticed a smallish Blue that seemed somehow different. It was smaller than Mazarine with different underside markings, yet it was unmistakeably blue on the uppersides. I'm prepared to be contradicted, but all my available evidence points to this being Osiris Blue:
Glandon Blue was fairly reliable at the highest sites. Here's an underside:
....and a male upperside:
After the group had returned to the UK, I spent a bit of 'me time' on the forest path at the first hotel. This proved judicious, as I saw the only Long Tailed Blue of my trip:
I also saw three Meleager's Blues at the same location:
Above 1500m, Silver Studded Blues were widespread, but a similar looking species was also about in fair numbers - Idas Blue:
Two other Blues were seen during the trip, and both were 'lifers' for me.....

Sylvie_h wrote:Great report David, thanks for sharing ! I know your feelings about the clouded apollo, it can be very frustrating....

Matt,
It would be interesting to know what you have seen in Estonia as I am thinking of going there next year.
Sylvie

Hi Sylvie,

We will have a report out in the near future and I'll try to remember to share a link to it. The season in Estonia this year was one of very the worst for the past 12 years, plus we had poor weather for half the week, so the number of species was down on what can be expected in a 'normal' year. Importantly though, most of the key target species were still seen!

Hopefully next year will be a better season over there. We'll be going back and spending a week in July with their best lepidopterist so it should be good!

Apologies to David for this off topic post in what continues to be a fine photographic account from France!

Best wishes,
Matt

Matt, if comments relate to European butterflies then go ahead and post them! I don't have a problem with that.

Final species

Last year Roger spotted a female Silvery Argus but this time round we stumbled on a location where males could be found. It's always nice to see a new species, especially one which is so readily identifiable:
As far as altitude Blues go, the group had all but exhausted the available species by the second to last day. However, there was one notable absentee, and on the final day I think we were all keeping a sharp eye out for it.

We thought we'd seen one at 1700m, but it turned out to be a Glandon Blue. However, one of the drivers found a cracking little puddling spot at 2100m, and there, finally, was what we were looking for - Alpine Blue:
What a beautiful insect it is:
The trip has taught me to pay a great deal of attention to those instances where numerous butterflies are taking fluids near to streams as you never know what might crop up.

I took quite a few images of these gatherings and I will post a few so that those who are interested might spot something unusual.

Hi David. Still loving your pictures and commentary!

Just to add that your osiris is definitely that - there is no controversy to be had! The arrangement of spots on the underside hindwing excludes semiargus.

Guy

These are very enjoyable posts David. With that many species to aim at I'm not sure I could cope, I'll be like a dog trying to choose its favourite bone from a row of 10

thanks for those lovely pics David. they have whetted my appetite for France and les papillons; i am just about to depart ( although for lower altitudes than your trip )

Charles