www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Yes, Jason, like you I too hope travel restrictions will be lifted soon.

I think we butterflyers could all have coped better with this had it begun in the autumn.

Sadly, we were locked down at the very beginning of the season and there's no real sign that things are going to change much within the next two or three weeks.

Right now, whilst looking at past endeavours provides solace, it also adds to the frustration.

Last year at this time I visited Chambers Farm in Lincolnshire to see the Marsh Fritillaries.

There were literally hundreds (and maybe thousands) flying.

The attraction of the Marsh Fritillary is that they all look slightly different, so if there are many to photograph you could carry on for hours.

Some people did last year.

I hope there is still a good population to see this year.

Some photos of the Marsh Fritillaries on the dandelions they enjoy so much:

It'll be interesting to see what numbers are like this year, Jason. Round my way in 2019, they weren't particularly spectacular, whereas in Lincolnshire they seemed to skyrocket.

My books about Swiss Butterflies are still available.

I have about 12 copies of Swiss Butterflies Site Guide and 30 copies of Swiss Butterflies left.

Buy both for £18.00 or each book is £10.00, including postage.

Swiss Butterflies does have site information, although not as comprehensive as in the Site Guide.

Both of these books address two issues that are very rarely covered in the standard texts.

Frequency is addressed using Common (about 40 species found across Switzerland), Frequent (likely to be seen in specific habitat) and Rare (unlikely to be seen, found at specific sites). Often books describe butterflies as locally common or not uncommon - not really helpful.

Altitude is also addressed - each site has the altitude indicated, but Lowland is defined as below 1000 m, Mountain as 1000 to 1800 m and High Mountain as above 1800 m. Books describe the Niobe Fritillary as found 0 to 2200 m - far too broad.

My system is useful for butterflies such as the Niobe Fritillary - a mountain butterfly found at sites in Switzerland from 1000 to 1800 m, only once above the tree line. The Niobe Fritillary is one of my favourite butterflies - here again textbooks often describe the sexes as similar - this is not my experience in Switzerland. The female is a paler orange with a grey or purple wash sometimes, very bold black markings and very large. My reaction on first seeing a butterfly like this - what is that!!

See scans of covers and examples of male and female Niobe Fritillaries.

That's one hell of a Niobe Fritillary, Jason. Beautiful specimen.

Some more thoughts on the Niobe Fritillary.

I think some of the guide books may have it wrong regarding the dark form of the Dark Green Fritillary - this may be the female Niobe Fritillary.

For example in Ted Benton's book: Butterflies of Britain and Northern Europe - on page 112 there is a mating pair of DG Fritillaries - but to me this looks like Niobe Fritillary. However, it could be that there are dark forms for the female of many of the Fritillaries - clear examples are Silver-washed, Mountain, Spotted etc.

There aren't any photos of the dark form of the female on either Guy Padfields or Matt Rowlings websites - on Lepido.ch the only photo is mine.

Another interesting feature of the Niobe Fritillary is the underside has two variants - the nominate form 'niobe' has cream or white markings, the 'eris' form has yellow markings in place of the white - I see both forms in Switzerland.

See more photos of dark female and niobe and eris forms.

I'm very familiar with eris, as it's the default form in Spain, but I haven't seen such dark examples of the nominate form, Jason.

Will try to keep an eye out for them going forward.

I should have been going on my first trip to Switzerland at the beginning of June.

I have looked at the weather forecast and it is very mixed - a bit like the UK over the next week - they have had a good spell like us.

I would have hoped to visit at least six sites in a week - not one each day, but probably two on some days.

My trip would have covered the following sites:

Near Martigny (Cardinal site), Chatelard Frontiere (both Valais), Allondon and Russin (Geneva), Camedo (Ticino), Gryon (Vaud) and Leuk (Valais).

So I will describe the butterflies I would have hoped to see at each site in the following days.

All these sites are brought to life in my DVD Swiss Butterflies: West - still available for £12.00, including postage.

On the first day of my holiday I would head for the Cardinal site near Martigny.

I do like the Cardinal because of the contrast between the pink and the green on the underside and the green flush to the upper wings.

This site is also good for Iolas Blue - I will get some good photos eventually - I attach a good photo from Leuk.

Other early blues include Green-underside Blue, Adonis Blue and Turquoise Blue.

The smaller Fritillaries are present including Queen of Spain, Marbled and Violet.

Other butterflies favouring the dry habitat include Painted Lady, Red-underwing Skipper, Safflower Skipper and Bath White.

Agree about the Cardinal, Jason. However, it's Iolas Blue that interests me. Is it reliable in that spot? I don't know of anywhere in France where it can be found with anything approaching certainty.

I think the Iolas Blue is reliable at this site - there is plenty of Bladder Senna. I think there was even more Bladder Senna by the road on my first visit.

However, it is not a protected site, (like most of the sites I visit in Switzerland) so I suppose the land owner could easily clear the Bladder Senna.

My next site is Chatelard Frontiere - take the Mont Blanc Express from Martigny.

If you wanted to make a full day - visit Chatelard in the morning, Montroc-le-Planet in France at lunchtime, then return to Chatelard for the afternoon butterflies. There are spectacular views of the Aiguille Verte and the Mont Blanc range at Montroc - even from the station.

The Aiguille de Mesure provides the backdrop to Chatelard Frontiere - I expect if you were here at night you would see UFOs landing!

At Chatelard this early in the season, look out for late flying Duke of Burgundy and possibly worn Camberwell Beauties.

I have seen Poplar Admiral here twice! Typical butterflies include Black-veined White and Swallowtail.

Common butterflies include Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Heath Fritillary, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Adonis Blue, Common Blue and Silver-studded Blue.

Other possibilities include Green-underside Blue, Piedmont Ringlet and Green Hairstreak.

The 3rd and 4th sites I would have visited on my holiday to Switzerland are west of Geneva.

The local train takes you to Russin. from where you can walk across to the Allondon Reserve. Alternatively take the train on to La Plaine and walk back to the Allondon Reserve.

There are butterflies in the fields and meadows and the rough ground at Russin, and the Nightingales are usually singing in the hedgerows.

Typical butterflies of the heathland area are Heath Fritilllary, Glanville Fritillary (quite worn by June), Marbled White, Small Tortoiseshell,
Silver-studded Blue and Adonis Blue.

Walking into the woodland reveals Marbled Fritillary, White Admiral and common species such as Speckled Wood, Brimstone and various Whites.

I have seen Great-banded Grayling once in the heathland area and Large Copper once in a field not far from the reserve.

The next site I would have visited is Camedo in the Ticino in Switzerland.

To get to Camedo, take the train through the Simplon tunnel to Domodossola in Italy. Here you catch the Centovalli train through Italy, back to Switzerland. You could visit Camedo in the morning and then take the train to Intragna, returning to Camedo in the afternoon for further butterflies.

The key target butterflies at Camedo are Chequered Blue, Knapweed Fritillary, Pearly Heath and Purple-shot Copper.
Chequered Blues are an early butterfly, here they are very dark - the lariana form.

You are very lucky if you see all four species at one visit. Other species to compensate are Small Copper and Sooty Copper on the Yarrow.

Larger Fritillaries could be High Brown or Dark Green. More common butterflies include Clouded Yellow, Wood White, Large Skipper and Small Heath.

On the fifth day of my proposed holiday I would be heading for Gryon (Vaud).

Take the train from Bex (pronounced bay) up to Gryon. The Dents du Midi are in view most of the way on a good day.

If you are fortunate the meadows will have newly emerged large Fritillaries - High Brown, Dark Green and Silver-washed.

However, they are usually very flighty - going wheee - I can fly!!

Other common butterflies to look out for include Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Marbled White, Common Blue and Clouded Yellow.

Site typical butterflies include Adonis Blue, Large Wall Brown, Geranium Argus, Heath Fritillary and False Heath Fritillary.

Among the meadow flowers are the Astrantia with their 4 flower heads, that many of the butterflies like.

I'm enjoying your virtual holiday! At least I shall know what to hope to see if I ever get there..

Thanks for the appreciation of my diary Janet - I enjoy looking back at my photos for this purpose.

The last place I would have liked to visit on my proposed holiday would be Leuk (Valais) in the Rhone Valley.

Sometimes this site is not very productive, but it can be very rewarding at other times.

The secret appears to be to walk slowly along the path and to explore the side paths into the vineyards if possible.

The path at the back of the station is also a good place to explore, as well as the main path over the river.

I always walk at least as far as the waterfall - this is where I have seen Camberwell Beauty and Large Tortoiseshell.

I have not seen any of the larger Fritillaries here, but you can find Knapweed, Spotted, Marbled, Queen of Spain and Heath Fritillaries.

Blues include Adonis, Common, Provencal short-tailed, Mazarine and Idas Blue - the Idas blues are the very large lowland species - calliopsis.

Skippers include Large Skipper, Red-underwing Skipper and Southern Grizzled Skipper.

Other butterflies to look for at the beginning of June include Marbled White, Clouded Yellow and Swallowtail.

Another tempting selection, Jason. With things easing right now, perhaps a few of us will be able to get away to the continent this summer?

I was due to go on my second trip to Switzerland next week - now cancelled of course, due to the Coronovirus.

This was once again based in the west of Switzerland, but now later in the year it is possible to visit the higher mountain sites.

So, I would have visited the following sites: Stausee Mattmark, Tasch - both Valais, possibly on the same day, Lauenensee and Murren - both Bern, Grimentz, Leuk and the Simplon Pass - all Valais.

All these sites are covered in my DVD: Swiss Butterflies West. This is still available from me for £12.00, including postage.

I attach the introduction clip from the DVD found on youtube.

https://youtu.be/pv1vPLA1NNQ

On the first day of my projected holiday I would probably head for Grimentz (Valais), taking the Postbus from Sierre.

It is possible to find Asian Fritillary near Grimentz, I am not giving the location to protect it.

But, if you are not successful in finding Asian Fritilary, this is still an excellent butterfly spot.

I look forward to seeing Cranbury Blue, Northern Wall Brown and Chequered Skipper in particular at this site.

The local mountain is called Sex de Marinda - not sure about mountains called Sex - why not just Mount?

Other Blues to see include many Small Blue, Idas Blue, Turquoise Blue and Large Blue.

Fritillaries include Pearl-bordered, False Heath, Lesser Marbled, Titanias and Niobe.

The most common Ringlet is the Large Ringlet, but there are also Minestra's Ringlets.

Coppers include Scarce Copper and Sooty Copper subalpina.

Other butterflies to spot include Peacock (unusual for 1800m), Swallowtail, Clouded Yellow, Alpine Heath, Southern Grizzled Skipper and if you are lucky I have seen Alpine Grayling here once.

On returning from Grimentz to Sierre in the early afternoon, a good place to go is one stop further down the railway line to Leuk.

Leuk can be very rewarding or disappointing sometimes, but there are rare butterflies to be seen here if you are lucky.

I usually try the track at the back of the station first - I have seen Scarce Swallowtail, Blue-spot Hairstreak and Marbled Fritillary here.

More common butterflies include Heath Fritillary, Clouded Yellow, Speckled Wood and Comma.

If you cross the railway and river and walk on the opposite bank to the station you may be rewarded with Iolas Blue or Meleager's Blue.

More common blues include Adonis, Turquoise, Chalkhill and Provencal Short-tailed Blue.

Butterflies characteristic of the dry rocky site are Great Sooty Satyr and Bath White.

Other common butterflies include Marbled White, Spotted Fritillary, Dingy Skipper.