The Alps 2019,Belvédère,Godalesque valley

[Medard]

Last few from Godalque,the Right Hand track
Two Queens,
A beautiful Queen of Spain

Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issoria lathonia)

Titania's Fritillary ?? queen of the fairies, over and under shots.

A Unknown Fritillary, Please I need help with this one.

Large Ringlet (Erebia euryale)  ?

Large Ringlet Erebia euryale ?

Large Ringlet Erebia euryale ?

and a Skipper ? Unknown

[David M]

Very nice, Jim.

Titania's it is, but the interesting fritillary is the one 5th and 7th in your sequence. I'm pretty sure that's Balkan Fritillary. I saw several in early July at Madone de Fenestre, so I know it flies in this area, and they were making a bee-line for the scabious blooms, like yours has done:

The large fritillary looks like it may be Niobe. There are no raised sex brands visible, which rules out High Brown, and the ground colour seems right. I would also expect Dark Green Fritillary to have bolder spots, although this isn't always reliable.

[Padfield]

I agree with David on all counts. I couldn't confirm the Boloria from those ups view alone (particularly as I've never seen graeca in the flesh) but that was my first thought and if it is known to fly there it seems a very probable ID.

Guy

[Medard]

Hello Guy, David ,when I researched my trip to the Godalesque valley I found photos and maps showing the Balkan Fritillary (Boloria graeca) on this website https://observation.org/index.php so I planed my visit in hopes of finding this butterfly, seems as if research has paid of.
Thank you both.

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/

[Roger Gibbons]

Good to see you got graeca at last, Jim!

You and I had no joy at Lombarde, not for graeca or anything else, for that matter.

I did get to see one or two in mid-July at Madone de Fenestre but only in flight as they never settled within my eyesight.

Gordolasque is a rich area as you have found. I went there in 2014 and took the Greenwings tour there in 2015 (I think, might have been 2016). As I recall, the weather was fine in the morning but started to rain heavily at lunchtime and we had to eat our lunch in the cars with the doors closed.

Curiously, Le Boréon is in the same band, but on the two visits I made there I found the species diversity to be very thin.

Roger