Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor)
Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 12:24 pm
Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor)
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com
High on many peoples list of must see butterflies is the elusive Southern Swallowtail without doubt one of the most sought after butterflies of France
Previous visits to the Vaucluse department of France with the hopes of finding this iconic butterfly had not been successful so I planned another visit to the region in 2017 this time concentrating on the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in the hopes of meeting with the Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor), this time I had more detailed information and location maps kindly provided by a French friend.
Even though, I had no high hopes, success can never be guaranteed, nevertheless My Wife and I set off with my guiding principal of nothing ventured nothing gained.
We first visited the locations where my friend had had previous sightings but drew a blank although the locations fitted the environment preferences of Alex.
We continued searching around the district looking for likely habitat that might give us a sighting of our elusive quarry but without success, disappointed I resigned myself to failure.
That's a likely looking place my wife called out as I concentrated on negotiating a dangerous bend, when possible make a u turn,
doubling back we parked up in a disused quarry I got out to take a look around and to my amazement three Swallowtails were seen putting on a display of aerobatics, but were they Alexanors ?
My first photos confirmed my hopes, I was in luck my efforts had not been in vain.
The opportunity to observe this exciting find was too good to miss, I soon took more shots even though Alex is an extremely difficult species to photograph.
We spent time watching as the female laid her eggs on the host plant (ptychotis saxifraga) she made regular passes though the quarry passing all but the ptychotis plants searching for suitable plants that she instinctively recognised, not all plants were deemed suitable and many were passed by, she rarely stopped to nectar, hovering over her selected plants, her wings fluttering continuously she laid her eggs.
I marked the plants she had visited, they were examined with the aid of a powerful magnifying glass and checked for eggs, one particular plant situated on a steep scree slope had been frequently visited and had numerous eggs, the steepness of the slope and a strong breezy wind made macro photography difficult but I did manage some passable shots of the eggs, later followed by the newly emerged larvae.
We then took a break to visit another favourite site and returned a week or so later, the larvae had grown but it appeared that a high rate of loss had taken place, the plants had been desiccated by the excessive heat in the quarry, regrettably we left before the remaining larvae had reached an advanced stage of maturity.
My plans to return this year 2020 in the hopes of seeing this beautiful butterfly again have been dashed, another casualty of the Corvus curse.
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p18 ... #he7cf284b Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor)
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com
High on many peoples list of must see butterflies is the elusive Southern Swallowtail without doubt one of the most sought after butterflies of France
Previous visits to the Vaucluse department of France with the hopes of finding this iconic butterfly had not been successful so I planned another visit to the region in 2017 this time concentrating on the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in the hopes of meeting with the Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor), this time I had more detailed information and location maps kindly provided by a French friend.
Even though, I had no high hopes, success can never be guaranteed, nevertheless My Wife and I set off with my guiding principal of nothing ventured nothing gained.
We first visited the locations where my friend had had previous sightings but drew a blank although the locations fitted the environment preferences of Alex.
We continued searching around the district looking for likely habitat that might give us a sighting of our elusive quarry but without success, disappointed I resigned myself to failure.
That's a likely looking place my wife called out as I concentrated on negotiating a dangerous bend, when possible make a u turn,
doubling back we parked up in a disused quarry I got out to take a look around and to my amazement three Swallowtails were seen putting on a display of aerobatics, but were they Alexanors ?
My first photos confirmed my hopes, I was in luck my efforts had not been in vain.
The opportunity to observe this exciting find was too good to miss, I soon took more shots even though Alex is an extremely difficult species to photograph.
We spent time watching as the female laid her eggs on the host plant (ptychotis saxifraga) she made regular passes though the quarry passing all but the ptychotis plants searching for suitable plants that she instinctively recognised, not all plants were deemed suitable and many were passed by, she rarely stopped to nectar, hovering over her selected plants, her wings fluttering continuously she laid her eggs.
I marked the plants she had visited, they were examined with the aid of a powerful magnifying glass and checked for eggs, one particular plant situated on a steep scree slope had been frequently visited and had numerous eggs, the steepness of the slope and a strong breezy wind made macro photography difficult but I did manage some passable shots of the eggs, later followed by the newly emerged larvae.
We then took a break to visit another favourite site and returned a week or so later, the larvae had grown but it appeared that a high rate of loss had taken place, the plants had been desiccated by the excessive heat in the quarry, regrettably we left before the remaining larvae had reached an advanced stage of maturity.
My plans to return this year 2020 in the hopes of seeing this beautiful butterfly again have been dashed, another casualty of the Corvus curse.
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p18 ... #he7cf284b Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor)