www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

The Map is one of my favourite little butterflies, my first encounter with the Map was at the Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Maillezais Vendee a favourite location that my wife and I visit to sample the local regional menu at the Auberge de L'abbaye , that is if you are brave enough to sample frogs legs, snails etc, less adventurous choice of menus are  available, I digress , several Maps were seen nectering on Water Mint, ,alongside the old embarcadère de l’Abbaye, where they could be reliably seen on our regular visits , unfortunately for the survival of the Map the embarcadère has been " tidied up "  and the Maps have now disappeared.
The springtime version of the Map  (Araschnia levana) had  eluded me until a brief chance meeting alongside the Brest Nantes canal near Héric Loire Atlantique so in the Spring of 2018 a trip to the Loire Atlantique was planed, the targets were the Map and the Camberwell Beauty, ever the optimist but what were the chances,50-50 perhaps ? We made base at St Lmyphard on the edge of the Brière Regional Natural Park and immediately set off in search for the Map near Dreffeac, no sooner had I got out of the van..... I had the first Map in the cameras viewfinder, yippee , to add to my excitement a Large Tortioshell presented itself,  a real bonus,  now for the Camberwell Beauty, I had been given a site by a friend who has extensive knowledge of the district, again lady luck was with me and the Camberwell was added to my account.
All in all a highly a successful visit, sadly my plans for a return visit this year have been shattered like so many other UK butterfly members,I hope my pictures will compensate a little for your disappointment.
A short video of the butterflies seen during my Spring 2018 https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p48 ... #hba39567c

Thanks for posting these lovely images and the video Jim - they have cheered me up no end!

Like you I also searched for Camberwells near St.Lyphard some years ago, but unlike you I had no success ( I was almost certainly too late in the year for them to still be on the wing).

I agree that the Map is a delightful species, and I have found it at many points along the Nantes-Brest canal over the years. The egg-laying female below was photographed close to Le Roc-Saint-André, along the canal. Fascinating watching the female lay her curious "strings" of eggs! I also came across the unusual sight of a group of Maps feeding on the carcass of a hedgehog, along with a few Comma - this was in the south of the Loire Valley a few years back, most bizarre: Keep the European Butterfly images coming folks. They are heart-warming!

Not a great photo but the only one of this species I have seen - and from the same general area - Le Bono (Morbihan), 13 September 2019.

I have seen the summer brood Map on a couple of occasions, but the spring form is definitely on my wish list.

Lovely images, keep em coming!

For first brood Map, I think you have to be there (northern/central France) around the second half of April, and this is not normally a time for butterfly trips, so it probably needs a special visit.

Like most UKBers who have posted on this thread, I see mostly second brood Map, but I am lucky in that I can stop off on my way south in mid-April. I made a specific trip in April 2015 and was rewarded with this one: I think it is a special butterfly (OK, they are all special, but some give more of a thrill than others).

Roger

I agree with Roger that a special trip is probably required to see the spring brood Map at its best.

I have only seen the spring brood on one occasion, being lucky that they were still on the wing in mid-May in 2012 during a visit to south Brittany.

But some were past their best, and I was unlucky in that I had some dirt on the sensor of the dSLR that I was using at the time, so I might have to return one day to get something better than these rather poor shots.

Having been used to seeing the summer brood, seeing these was very much like getting a life-tick! They are very different.

The spring brood Map is the lovelier of the two forms, in my opinion, but as others have said, that means it's largely off-limits to those who do their continental butterflying in the summer.

Personally, I've only ever see this brood on three occasions, and on each in very small numbers.

We picked up a couple in last year's French Pyrenees trip in late May, which was a welcome bonus:

Is this a rare butterfly in France, or is it a 'wider countryside' species?

Very nice to have feedback on the Map butterfly, heartwarming when confined to barracks.
The Map seems to have a wide distribution ,take a look at Observation.org Matsukaze, It may be of interest that in France I have seen the Map in six different departments,I am sure more experienced members of UK Butterflies will be able to add to this list.
Loire Atlantique
Dordogne
Vienne
Vendee
Indre
Maine et Loire
They do seem to like location near water, stream rivers and damp locations..
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com

It is a very widespread species as Medard says. These are my records of sightings (town, département, region, date - the formatting got lost en route), but curiously it does not occur in PACA, a region that has almost every other species.

Roger

La Roche-Chalais Dordogne Aquitaine 16-Aug-08
Beaune Côte-d'Or Bourgogne 24-Jul-14
Is-sur-Tille Côte-d'Or Bourgogne 28-Jul-16
Saint-Brisson Nièvre Bourgogne 01-Jun-17
Alliat Ariège Midi-Pyrénées 18-Jul-15
Ax-les-Thermes Ariège Midi-Pyrénées 25-Jul-05
Illier-et-Laramade Ariège Midi-Pyrénées 18-Jul-15
Orlu Ariège Midi-Pyrénées 25-Jul-05
Bagnères-de-Luchon Haute-Garonne Midi-Pyrénées 26-Jul-05
Barèges Hautes-Pyrénées Midi-Pyrénées 27-Jul-05
Craonne Aisne Picardie 19-Jul-13
Fourdrain Aisne Picardie 27-Jul-14
Laon Aisne Picardie 21-Jul-09
Pontavert Aisne Picardie 19-Jul-13
Montmoreau-Saint-Cybard Charente Poitou-Charentes 27-Aug-13
Aignoz Ain Rhône-Alpes 14-Jul-08
Auberives-sur-Varèze Isère Rhône-Alpes 29-Aug-10
Saint-Laurent-du-Pont Isère Rhône-Alpes 13-Jul-08
Saint-Anthème Loire Rhône-Alpes 02-Aug-02
Anse Rhône Rhône-Alpes 14-Jun-09
Jonage Rhône Rhône-Alpes 17-Jul-13
Simandres Rhône Rhône-Alpes 11-Apr-15

Roger Gibbons wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 9:42 am....but curiously it does not occur in PACA, a region that has almost every other species.

Yes, I've always been puzzled by that, Roger. When we see it on the Pyrenees trip (and that's not every year), it's always in the Aude department; we never see them close to base.