Re: David M
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 9:44 am
Hautes Pyrenees, 13th-20th July cont…
Tracking down Gavarnie Ringlet is tough.
In flight, it is tricky to tell apart from the slightly smaller Mountain Ringlet and the slightly larger Bright-Eyed Ringlet.
It doesn’t help that these Erebia don’t settle very often, and that when they do it isn’t usually for long enough to get a sufficiently good look to be sure of identity.
So, I spent nearly two hours high up on Col des Tentes with Piedmont Ringlets everywhere, looking for something with a silver dusted underside.
Eventually, I found one, and it was a female:
The females are quite beautifully marked and much more prone to settle than the males:
With that, all the 5 main targets had been successfully recorded on this trip: Lefebvre’s, False Dewy, Pyrenean Brassy, Gavarnie Ringlet and Gavarnie Blue. Additionally, the constans form of Yellow-Spotted Ringlet was seen, but only in small numbers.
I wasn’t sure this would be possible, as there is practically a month between the emergence of the first (False Dewy) to the flight period of the last (Gavarnie Ringlet).
The season had been turned upside down due to conditions earlier in the year and the mid-June species were late emerging but the later ones were only a little behind.
For once, the crazy weather in western Europe this year was an advantage.
Tracking down Gavarnie Ringlet is tough.
In flight, it is tricky to tell apart from the slightly smaller Mountain Ringlet and the slightly larger Bright-Eyed Ringlet.
It doesn’t help that these Erebia don’t settle very often, and that when they do it isn’t usually for long enough to get a sufficiently good look to be sure of identity.
So, I spent nearly two hours high up on Col des Tentes with Piedmont Ringlets everywhere, looking for something with a silver dusted underside.
Eventually, I found one, and it was a female:
The females are quite beautifully marked and much more prone to settle than the males:
With that, all the 5 main targets had been successfully recorded on this trip: Lefebvre’s, False Dewy, Pyrenean Brassy, Gavarnie Ringlet and Gavarnie Blue. Additionally, the constans form of Yellow-Spotted Ringlet was seen, but only in small numbers.
I wasn’t sure this would be possible, as there is practically a month between the emergence of the first (False Dewy) to the flight period of the last (Gavarnie Ringlet).
The season had been turned upside down due to conditions earlier in the year and the mid-June species were late emerging but the later ones were only a little behind.
For once, the crazy weather in western Europe this year was an advantage.