www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

This wasn't really intended as a butterfly holiday, but I made use of the opportunities that presented themselves and saw some interesting creatures.

Western Sarthe

We arrived here just after the end of a particularly spectacular hot, dry summer - significantly more so even than in south-east England - yet somehow the vegetation had contrived not to get completely burnt out, and had recovered well with the return of small amounts of rain in the previous few weeks.

One of the surprises of north-western France is the way butterflies that are downright rare here manage to survive as wider-countryside species, at least in areas that are not totally given over to intensive agriculture - such as this Wall and this Glanville Fritillary, both found by roadsides.
This was the time when Long-tailed Blues were disporting themselves on Worthing beach. I only saw one here, though it had managed to locate a patch of foodplant adjacent to the shrub in which it was resting. This was the only patch of everlasting-pea we found all holiday.
I found this large beast on the edge of a stream near where we were staying - a coypu?
The garden where we were staying proved rich in butterflies, as there were some good nectar sources available in the lawn. The plant on which the Pyrausta, Common Blue and Sooty Copper are feeding is new to me, and throughout the holiday was a reliable source of good butterflies - it is plainly in the mint family, but does anyone know what it is?

Hi Matsukaze. I stuck your mint photo into the PlantNet app and it came up with Mentha suaveolens and Mentha rotundifolia (based on the flower). Looking at the shape of the leaves, rotundifolia seems a better bet.

If you don't know the app, PlantNet is fantastic in the field. It's best to get good photos of flowers and then leaves and use them both. It's not always right, but it's always close.

Guy

Thanks Guy - not sure I'll be able to tell which species after this amount of time. We have one or other of them in the garden, as it happens, but it never gets to flower here, probably because we take too many of the leaves for cooking. Perhaps I should set aside a patch for the butterflies.

The lycaenids enjoyed it greatly, and were joined by Small Heath and at least one of the smaller fritillaries, but the larger butterflies were not interested.

Never actually seen one in the flesh but it does look like a Coypu and you are in the right place for one of the introduced populations.

Coypu are not uncommon in southern France, especially in the freshwater lakes just inland from the coast. Their spread might be aided by locals and tourists that feed them, just as they do with boars.

There is a slight suggestion that the Wall might actually be a Large Wall.

I totally agree with Guy about PlantNet.org - https://identify.plantnet.org

I would not have been able to identify with any confidence many of the flowers of the PACA region without it and, in fact, a few of my IDs had to be revised when I ran them though this site. I have images of around 500 flowers and the Dactylorhiza and Ophrys groups were particularly difficult. Here are some images which might illustrate the complexity:
https://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/flo ... rchids.htm
https://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/flo ... rchids.htm

I enjoy taking photos of flowers, mainly because they don't fly away a millisecond before I press the shutter.

Roger

I am with Roger on the Large Wall Brown - the variation in size of the h/w ocelli looks quite convincing, those in S2,3 and 6 looking appreciably larger.

I agree with Roger and Pete about the large wall. Sorry - I passed over it without noticing you'd called it a wall.

Another useful feature is the white submarginal band on the hindwing, which is typically flat in large wall but bent into crescents in wall:


(large wall)


(wall)

You're showing your youth if you've never seen a coypu, Buggy! In my youth they were very common in East Anglia. Then one summer they trapped and shot the lot. The water meadows by the river Deben were covered in wire traps and dead coypus. It was quite horrible, but soon after that, otters returned to take their place.

Guy

Thanks folks!

I am really losing it if that is Large Wall - I followed it for some minutes as it flew around distractedly before it finally chose to settle, and it never occurred to me then or at any time since that it was anything other than megera - that said, both species fly together in the immediate area and that underside does look more like my photos of Large Wall than Wall.

These two species are remarkably deceptive. The problem is that maera males of the form adrasta are very different to the nominate form of maera and look very much like megera. Have a look at the illustrations in Tolman and Lewington. Don't beat yourself up.

To illustrate the point, here is an image I took in 2009 and the notes I made on this particular shot (I did italicise on my web page).

https://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/htm ... 9_-_megera_

a male megera, I originally thought, even though Lafranchis cites the absence of a uph orange discal band as a key indicator of maera. Certainly, 19142 lacks this orange band, where one would normally expect to see one for megera. However, it looks completely unlike any other maera I have ever seen in southern France where maera is relatively common, and exactly like megera which is really quite common. The reason for this is that 19142 is a male of the subspecies adrasta. I invited comment and Guy Padfield kindly pointed out that the upf s6 basal bar is always present in megera and not in maera (compare with megera 10376), and that the sex brand (the darker band in the middle of the upf) is wide and dark in megera and narrower and lighter in maera. It seems fairly conclusive that 19142 is indeed maera, despite winning first prize in a megera look-alike competition.

An extra species for the holiday! I am happy with that...

I note that adrasta is described as a southern/Mediterranean form, and this individual was a long way north in France. Could the form be moving northwards?

Hi Chris, it certainly looks like a Coypu, also known as a Myocastor,or Ragondin they are very common creatures in wetland areas such as the Vendee (la Venise Verte) and the Charente-Maritime, any English tourist can be forgiven if they mistake these animals as Otters as they swim showing only the head above the water, an introduced species , I have even seen pots of rillettes for sale labeled Paté de ragondin.

Another unwelcome invader in France living in the marshland areas of France is the Louisiana crawfish , whist looking for the Large Copper I met a party of French people fishing for these creatures, they were very friendly locals and curious as to why a "mad" englishman was wandering around such an isolated location, the French never seem to miss an opportunity if its "bon à manger" they had filled a large container with the crawfish, one lady of the party generously offered me a glass of her home made sloe brandy, another amazing talent that the French possess.
PS mission accomplished Large Copper. and the cherry on the cake,a Black Hairstreak (Satyrium pruni) https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/

Padfield wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 8:06 pm...Another useful feature is the white submarginal band on the hindwing, which is typically flat in large wall but bent into crescents in wall

Useful diagnostic indeed, Guy. I'd never clocked that before.

Ile de Ré (1) - Cardinal

This is the one special butterfly on the Ile de Ré, off the Charente-Maritime coast, and as luck would have it, we had timed our visit for its flight period. The butterfly flies in the pine woods that back on to the island's sandy beaches (it's also meant to occur in similar habitats nearby, on the mainland). I happened across one that had taken up territory in a glade backing on to the seafront with only a thin line of pines separating it from the beach - had it decided to occupy the area on the other side of the pines, its territory would have stretched to North America. The butterfly was taking frequent fast and powerful patrol flights around the area, just above head height, with the many holidaymakers going to and from the beach oblivious to its presence.
This was the only definite individual I saw, though I did get a brief view of another 'possible' in a similar situation some miles away. It seems to be not too difficult to find here if deliberately looked for.

Ile de Ré (2) - Mallow Skipper

On the edge of town one evening, I noticed nibbling on the leaves of some kind of Alcea(?), and wondered... Sure enough there was a little tent... ...and inside, the caterpillar. Once I had found one, it was not too hard to find others... They proved surprisingly urban. One was feeding up in the area highlighted in white in the photo below... ...perhaps appropriately. The bar highlighted in red was called 'Le Skipper'.

The adults were about as well. Lucerne was a favourite nectar source of theirs, which they were sharing with Long-tailed Blues.

Natural Reserve Moëze-Oléron, Charente-Maritime
Hi Chris, I was fortunate in seeing several cardinals nectering on a plant in front of the Reserve's reception at the Ferme de Plaisance as shown 15-09 2011, it seems they were a chance meeting.
I frequently return to Moëze in the hopes of seeing them again but without success. https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com

Pictures of the region Moëze-Oléron.
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p10 ... #h4b582a6a

Matsukaze wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 9:15 pm...On the edge of town one evening, I noticed nibbling on the leaves of some kind of Alcea(?), and wondered...

I've occasionally found them on waste ground where mallow has been growing, Chris. Seems this species can make a home almost anywhere if the lhp is around. Shame they can't get over the Channel as I'm sure they'd thrive here too.

Medard wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 4:46 pm Natural Reserve Moëze-Oléron, Charente-Maritime
Hi Chris, I was fortunate in seeing several cardinals nectering on a plant in front of the Reserve's reception at the Ferme de Plaisance as shown 15-09 2011, it seems they were a chance meeting.
I frequently return to Moëze in the hopes of seeing them again but without success.
JAG_7454 Cardinal (Argynnis pandora).jpg
JAG_7461 Cardinal (Argynnis pandora).jpg

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com

Pictures of the region Moëze-Oléron.
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p10 ... #h4b582a6a

Hi Jim, you're lucky to have seen several at once! I've only seen a handful of them, and then only singly. I think they're essentially a species of glades in the coastal pine forests in western France.

I think it was you who put me on to the Charente-Maritime coast as a place to visit - we really enjoyed ourselves! Many thanks.

David M wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 10:49 am

Matsukaze wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 9:15 pm...On the edge of town one evening, I noticed nibbling on the leaves of some kind of Alcea(?), and wondered...

I've occasionally found them on waste ground where mallow has been growing, Chris. Seems this species can make a home almost anywhere if the lhp is around. Shame they can't get over the Channel as I'm sure they'd thrive here too.

As far as I can make out, they've only just made it north to the Channel coast, so I think they'd probably struggle with British conditions at the moment. Climate change is encouraging them to spread north, but rather slowly, and I think there's some other factor holding them back. To the best of my knowledge they've never been recorded on the Channel Islands, which tells me they're unlikely to make it across the sea under their own power anyway.

I was delighted the early stages are right up there amongst the easiest to find, though. I really must try for Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and see if their larvae are reasonably easy to find too - there are a few sites near me with small/intermittent populations, where I only see the adults once in every few years.

Ile de Ré (3) - the others

There were quite a few migrants around - most commonly Clouded Yellows, but also Vestal moths and a Lang's Short tailed Blue.
This was the time when the Long-tailed Blues were congregating on Worthing beach. There were a few around here, too, but not in great numbers. They were easiest to find around clusters of lucerne, like this one, where they were joined by Mallow Skippers.
There were a few leaf-miners to be found - this is Phyllocnistis unipunctella mining poplar.
Always a pleasure to come across a hoopoe!
Species list: Geranium Bronze, Mallow Skipper, Wall, Clouded Yellow, Cardinal, Small White, Lang's Short-tailed Blue, Red Admiral, Long-tailed Blue, Small Copper. Surprisingly no Common Blue or any of the other non-migratory blues, though I was endlessly having my hopes raised by the blue-winged grasshopper Oedopoda caerulescens, which I've now named False Escher's Blue...