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This tour was an excellent one, with a great selection of butterflies and, in general, very favourable weather.

Like much of France, the SE had been basking in sunshine and warm temperatures, although that wasn't the case on arrivals afternoon, when an intense, 15 minute long thunderstorm kept everyone inside shortly after checking in!!

Here are some images of this beautiful part of Europe that we saw during the fortnight:

One of the joys of being able to easily access habitat from 1,000m to almost 3,000m is the range of species that one can encounter just by changing altitude.

Above 2,200m, things get very interesting, with several of the harder to observe Erebia in range. One of the rarest in my experience has traditionally been False Mnestra Ringlet. In good years we might see four or five, and in poor ones, none.

Pleased to say that the early season saw record numbers of these - I never knew they could be so common. We saw a few during the first week, but in the second there were a few higher altitude spots where they could be counted well into double figures.

I was particularly pleased to receive a 'trousering' from this one:
Occasionally, you catch one basking, whereupon the dark uppersides can be properly appreciated:

Another high altitude Erebia that put in an appearance was Sooty Ringlet. We saw them at Col de la Bonette but couldn't get close to them on the precarious slopes.

Managed to get a distance shot of this male on Col du Galibier though:
This female was far more approachable:

Yes David it was a great trip

Thanks, John. It's always a highlight of the butterfly year.

Large Ringlets were extremely common as the fortnight progressed, to the point where they were about in epidemic numbers!!

This made hunting Arran Browns rather tricky, although they too became fairly common towards the end of the second week.

On the last full day of Week 1, one of the guests, Andrew C, took this fabulous image of both species settled alongside each other (Arran Brown is the lower one). When seen together, there can be no doubt you are looking at two different species:

That last image of both Large Ringlet and Arran Brown really is excellent

It's a cracker isn't it, Paul? Very useful as a diagnostic too.

Amongst the less ubiquitous Erebia were Blind Ringlet and Marbled Ringlet.

The former can be seen at a small site near Col de Vars and the bulk of the specimens are of the phartina form, with reduced orange markings on the uppersides:
Since Roger G tipped me off about this colony, I have never failed to see them there, although during the second week there were only a small number around.

Having seen Marbled Ringlet on an independent trip two years ago on the far side of Col du Galibier, I thought I'd take the group there to see if we could find it. I potted one seen puddling within 3 minutes of arriving, but mysteriously that was the only one we saw in nearly two hours at the site:

The early season made some species scarcer and others commoner.

Normally, Dewy Ringlets are numerous near Col Agnel, but this year they were clearly coming to the end of their flight period in late June:
By contrast, Common Brassy Ringets were about in larger numbers than usual, particularly during the second week:
I've also never seen so many Mountain Ringlets on this tour:

Nymphalidae - Erebia

1. False Mnestra Ringlet
2. Almond Eyed Ringlet
3. Common Brassy Ringlet
4. Mountain Ringlet
5. Large Ringlet
6. Arran Brown
7. Sooty Ringlet
8. Blind Ringlet
9. Dewy Ringlet
10. Marbled Ringlet

There are always lots of different Fritillaries flying in this region, but on the first full day we failed to even get to the Balkan Fritillary site, due to Madone de Fenestre being inaccessible due to severe landslides the winter before last (remedial work is still continuing).

Having given up on it, I was therefore delighted to find a few at Col de la Lombarde, somewhere I have never seen them before:
Here's the same insect following its release (the Mountain Ringlet, which was unusually heavily marked, had also briefly been in the same pot):

I'd seen Cynthia's Fritillary on the mid-June tour to Italy, so I had no doubt there would be greater numbers in late June and early July. In truth, there weren't too many more during the first week, but numbers swelled considerably in the second, and my best daily count was over 30 at Col Agnel:
Female Cynthia's were about, though rather harder to find:
There were plenty of Grison's Fritillaries in both weeks:

One species I've seen precious little of this last 3 years is Niobe Fritillary, so I was delighted to come across quite a few, although they were far less common than Dark Green Fritillary, which was about in huge numbers:
Meadow Fritillary is another which crops up in smaller numbers. I reckon I saw no more than a dozen:

Both Shepherd's and Mountain Fritillaries were about, although the males are hard to tell apart.

Female Mountain Fritillary is quite distinctive, however, with a brassy, greenish sheen:
Without this sheen, the assumption is that this is a female Shepherd's:
Getting images of the flighty males is tricky given the levels of near constant activity, but I believe I have both Mountain & Shepherd's here:

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries

11. Balkan Fritillary
12. Provençal Fritillary
13. High Brown Fritillary
14. Dark Green Fritillary
15. Niobe Fritillary
16. Silver Washed Fritillary
17. Weaver's Fritillary
18. Pearl Bordered Fritillary
19. Mountain Fritillary
20. Shepherd's Fritillary
21. Titania's Fritillary
22. Marbled Fritillary
23. Lesser Marbled Fritillary
24. Marsh Fritillary
25. Cynthia's Fritillary
26. Queen of Spain Fritillary
27. Heath Fritillary
28. False Heath Fritillary
29. Glanville Fritillary
30. Spotted Fritillary
31. Meadow Fritillary
32. Knapweed Fritillary
33. Grison's Fritillary

As ever in the mountains, Aristocrats were rather scarce. Even Painted Ladies were relatively few in number.

By far the most notable moment was when this Poplar Admiral was seen at the base of one of the local residents' lavender bushes. It was a female too...the first I've ever knowingly seen:

The Southern Commas which inhabit the village where we base ourselves for part of these trips are occasionally seen on the lavenders too. I was guilty this year of not spending enough time with the first one I saw just two days in. Turned out to be the only time I encountered it:
The only other member of this group to elicit a lunge for my camera was Southern White Admiral:
These are beautiful insects when fresh:

Great Stuff David ,nice to see a few species which we don,t get to see over here particularly the Cynthias Frittilary ........what a stunner .................and the Southern White Admiral is none to shabby either !
Regards Allan.W.

Thanks, Allan. Yes, the French Alps can be a little too much for some given the sheer range of butterflies on the wing there in late June/early July.

Cynthia's is definitely one of the most highly prized, although False Mnestra Ringlet, Alpine Blue & Poplar Admiral run it very close.