Yes, a bizarre sight, Paul. This group was only one of several, but at other tracks the numbers of
euryale were in single figures.
Belated thanks to aeshna5 for the English name of the moth.
14 July
A day at one of my favourite places in the Ecrins, a riverside spot where many different species come down to a small damp area during the day. It is the least strenuous way to observe them as I park myself on a canvas chair about 5m away and sit and wait with my trusty Papilios. The species diversity and density has been dropping over the years and it seems Poplar Admiral (
Limenitis populi) is not guaranteed here any more but forty species is still a reasonable expectation.
Here is a Scarce Swallowtail (
Iphiclides podalirius), very fresh and with a slightly unusual pose of wings folded, but enabling a view of its underside which is almost as appealing as the upperside. The downside is that the ants here are very aggressive and there is a price to pay to get down for a photo like this. A price that was still stinging days later.
Another highlight, a species I see only sporadically, a Purple Hairstreak (
Favonius quercus), a female, on the ground with wings open.
16 July
A day in the Vercors, which used to be a favourite location of mine in the late 1990s. No particularly unusual species here, but the most numerous
Erebia ringlet was Arran Brown (
E. ligea). Of all the English names given by the early entomologists based on the location, this is the most dubious. Did it ever occur on Arran, or anywhere else in the UK for that matter? At least Camberwell Beauty and Bath White have credible records, and Lulworth Skipper is certainly still there. Here is a male.
18 July
A visit to an obscure and “secret” location east of Lyon, a small patch of damp ground with some Sanguisorba (Great Burnet), the hostplant for two of France’s most localised and elusive species, Scarce Large Blue (
Phengaris teleius) and Dusky Large Blue (
P. nausithous). Even very few sprigs of the hostplant can support a decent-sized colony. At this spot, there were indeed few sprigs but there were around thirty of each species flying there, a very healthy colony, and a very good reason to keep it relatively unknown.
Here is a male
nausithous, and a female egg-laying on Sanguisorba.
And a male
teleius
21 July
An excursion to the Loire département, principally for Cranberry Fritillary (
B. aquilonaris) which we visited last year but were too early in a late year. I made a wrong choice of which track to take (I went to the location on the map we were originally given, not the one we actually took last year) and found a meadow fenced off with barbed wire and cows that looked at me in a very disturbing way, as they do. There were what I am sure were
aquilonaris being blown about in high winds, but did not see any that I could definitively identify. In the afternoon, on to a location not too far away where we had seen Large Chequered Skippers (
Heteropterus morpheus) last year on the same date but this rich spot was by now dry and quite barren.
I spent the next day meandering around several spots that looked like they had potential, very rich in terms of numbers but nothing unusual. I did manage to get a shot of a Map Butterfly (
Araschnia levana), a female underside, showing why it got its English name (and French, La Carte Géographique).
26 July
On the way back to the UK, the last butterfly stop, quite well known to several UKBers, just north of Dijon. It is a site that is good for a number of highly localised species in early June, and I was not expecting to see any interesting species that I would expect to see earlier in the year. Happy to be wrong on this one. The hundreds of Silver-washed Fritillaries (
A. paphia) were all showing signs of wear, but the Scotch Argus (
E. aethiops) were quite fresh, showing that lovely velvety black appearance.
And a single male Adonis Blue (
P. bellargus), very recently hatched, from its pristine appearance.
And, almost a case of saving the best till last, there were a few male Reverdin’s Blues (
Plebejus argyrognomon), a close relative of Silver-studded Blue (
P. argus), and one female, also pristine. In my opinion, probably the most appealing of the female blues.
Overall a very enjoyable trip. Some very nice surprises and a few target species missed out. But, as my wife says, that gives you a reason to go back next year. Excuse me while I start planning for 2023.
Roger