www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

This is part one of a report on a holiday to the Loire Valley, France from 7th June to 18th June 2010. I've decided to split the posts by butterfly family and there will be a few, followed by moths and then other creatures. It wasn't a specific butterfly holiday but my girlfriend and I were due a nice break!

We stayed at a campsite called L'Etang de la Breche (http://www.etang-breche.com) about 5k either way from Varenne sur Loire and Saumur and within the Parc Naturel Regional Loire Anjou Touraine. At the site you can stay in a tent, your caravan/motorhome or stay in a fully contained static caravan, which is what we did. Quite reasonable too really. The nearby sleepy villages of Varenne, Allones, Montsoreau and Fontevraud l'Abbaye were all lovely too.

The site was situated in 50 acres of meadows and woods but was a little too neat for butterflying. There were wild areas within though and they did seem very nature minded. There was still lots to see within the site with Meadow Browns, Marbled Whites, Small Heaths, Large Whites and the occasional Red Admiral daily sightings. The birds were great too, with Swallows swooping at head height between the caravans. More on them later.

Nearby though, the river was 10 minutes walk away with grassy banks either side of a road first and in the other direction there was farmland with grassy wild edges and some woodland.

I have also used the wonderful websites of Guy Padfield and Matt Rowlings for advice and guidance and I'm reasonably sure of my ID's but do please comment if I'm wrong!

Part 1 - Nymphalidae

Walks along La Loire yielded my first Painted Ladies of the year: Also seen in the woodland near the campsite were Red Admirals and summer brood Commas.

The grassy bank along the edge of the site contained what I think is a Meadow Fritillary: The only one I saw, unless you count this one which had met some grisly end (this was a few days later so may even have been the same one...) The nearby woodland surrounding the farmland also contained a species not on my itinery, the beautiful Marbled Fritillary, which Tolman didn't have as far north in Europe. I actually saw quite a few, in nearly all visits to the nearby woodland edges and on a trip further afield to a larger forest, where I saw 3 at once at one point! I also saw just one Lesser Marbled Fritillary, which is supposed to occur in Northern Europe: One afternoon I took a trip a little further afield visiting the Foret La Breille-les-Pins, a big forest surrounding the even sleepier village of the same name. There were some very tempting looking woodland rides on the drive to the village but I parked in the centre and there were paths leading in all directions. I picked one that bordered an area of meadow before leading off into the wood and was glad I did as still in the meadow and just into the wood I came across my first ever Heath Fritillaries. I thought the Meadow Fritillary may have been a Heath at first but these were very noticably darker and different, the first thought that came into my head at the time was that they looked like little tomatoes.....they seemed so reddish in colour. I also saw a courting couple, with the male fanning the wings of a female. The Heaths also shared an area of bramble scrub with the 3 Marbled Fritillaries. Both the Heath and Marbled Frits were stunning and I spent ages watching them.

Great stuff, Lee!

I have to say, I'm umming and aghhing about the meadow fritillary. It looks midway between female meadow and female heath, but some of the critical characters point towards heath. I've never seen female meadow with so much dark on the hindwing base, especially towards the costa. But the forewings look quite like meadow and the timing suggests meadow (it flies earlier than heath and usually looks worn when heath looks fresh). I'll have to take another look tomorrow when it's not so late!!

Here are typical female meadow fritillaries from near me in Switzerland. You can see what I mean about the base of the hindwing, even in the darker specimen:


(May 2010)


(May 2009)

Guy

I've had a think and I go for meadow! (And thanks for commending my site . I didn't notice last night).

Guy

Formidable Lee !!

Vous avez trouvé des très jolis papillons


Charles

Thanks Guy and Charles! They were indeed tres jolie.

Thanks for the confirmation Guy, although the marking are noticably different to yours, Matt's and the recent post from Traplican Still, quite a variable genus I guess. I agree the forewings look more like Heath!

I had narrowed it down to Meadow, Heath or False Heath but after seeing the fresh Heaths a few miles up the road decided it was more likely Meadow.

EDIT - I've just rechecked yours and Matt's site and Matt has quite a dark specimen a bit like mine (3rd image down).

http://www.eurobutterflies.com/species_ ... noides.htm

Will try and post part 2 tonight!

Cheers

Lee

Part 2 - Browns

Meadow Browns were very abundant, they were everywhere and I saw hundreds. Nothing too out of the ordinary apart from this chap on the trip to the Foret La Breille-les-Pins with very pale hind wings which made him look odd in flight: Marbled Whites were also common, in most grassy areas. This male (I think) near the Foret La Breille-les-Pins had damaged wings but nice little eyelets. Small Heaths were very common. Seen in most locations, the campsite, the forest, farmland and along the river. As were Marbled Whites actually. The Small Heaths ranged from quite light to quite dark in colour: Along the river I also saw something you don't often see sitting still - the upperwing of a Small Heath! I only saw a handful of Speckled Woods but all those I did were aegeria, which was new to me.

Skippers and Whites

I didn't see that many Skippers, but they were most numerous on the Forest trip. My first Small, and I think Essex of the year plus a few Large. Large Skippers were also seen around the nearby farmland in small numbers. Small Whites were common and quite a few Large Whites were seen in all locations. Green Veined Whites became more common as the second week went on. I saw a mating pair at one point by the river. I was also hoping to see a Black Veined White, having never seen one, but not this time.

Blues and Coppers

I was hoping in advance to see loads of different blues and then spend hours pouring over IDs. However, in the end I only saw 1, at distance and in flight down by the river and so with no hope of an ID!

The only other blue was this one which, by the process of elimination (basically Tolman and cell spots) I think has to be a Brown Argus. It was near to the campsite in a small and damp woodland clearing, different to where I've seen them in the UK but fitting in with Tolman's listed habitat types. In the same clearing I found a colony of these lovely Sooty Coppers, another new species to me. I saw 3 or 4 males and 1 female in total over 3 visits. And you don't want to know how many mosquito bites I endured to see them... Towards the end of the second week along the river (it really was lovely there, long expanses of wild flowers for hundreds of metres along the levee) I came across some lovely fresh and some darkly marked Small Coppers:

Interesting pics, Lee.

I'd be fairly confident that is a female brown argus.

Sooty copper is a lovely butterfly, isn't it? Well worth a few mosquito bites. The species is highly variable, particularly in the females - and I notice yours has lovely blue spots on the hindwing. Males vary altitudinally in the amount of orange. Yours, at sea level (or thereabouts) show plenty of orange. By the time you climb up a mountain you find them looking like this:



The dark on small coppers is also a known variation, this time with latitude and temperature. In the hot south, later broods are increasingly suffused with this deep gold/brown.

Guy

Thanks Guy.

Yes they are lovely, I enjoyed watching the behaviour, type of flight etc of these new species, really interesting. The Sooty Coppers were nectaring on buttercups, the Marbled and Heath Frits on brambles. I noticed the blue spots weren't depicted in Tolman/Lewington and figured it was a bit like the Small Copper blue spots you sometimes get here in the uk.

Thanks for the Brown Argus too!

Cheers

Lee

Moths

The moths I saw in France were just as lovely as the butterflies, and I saw quite a few. I think I'm there with the ID's but do chip in if I'm wrong!

Plenty of Burnets: These Purple Barred Yellow were very common along the river: Hummingbird Hawk moths were fairly common, I saw around 8 along the river and a couple around the campsite. I even saw something you don't often see - a Hummingbird Hawk moth not moving! This stunning Cynaeda dentalis caught my attention while walking along the river - just look at the way its antennae droop back over its head like it's in a wind tunnel and its pointy palpi (?) - beautiful. On the trip to the forest in a big grassy meadow I came across these beautiful moths, a Black Veined moth and a Forester: I'd never seen a Forester before and was amazed at the colouring, even on the underside of the body.

Around the terrace bar and restuarant area of the campsite they had one of those fly killer things that kept zapping with a buzz every few seconds. I can understand why but it also attracted moths. Most mornings there would be something interesting at rest underneath it. Sometimes though they would be trapped inside the cage. I rescued this Cream Spot Tiger. Another rescue was this Puss Moth. I actually carried it back to the caravan. I walked in with the baguette and my girlfriend said 'what's that cotton wool thing on your hand?' - it was huge! I put it away from danger on a bush but it looked a bit out of place and liable to predators. So I placed it on a nearby tree where its camoflage was much more effective. One last rescue was this Garden Tiger at our first petrol stop on the way home. My girlfriend said 'quick there's a moth that looks like a leopard!'. It was on the garage forecourt right in the way of the cars so I moved it to a nearby bush. In doing so it started to beat its wings like a butterfly does giving us a fantastic view of bright scarlet hind wings with blue spots. My girlfriend loved it! Also seen were, Cinnabar, Mother Shipton, Burnet Companion and Silver Y.

One part left to post, other creatures. They were pretty fantastic too!

Cheers

Lee

Well done Lee... those moths were wonderful.

I have just found another French Butterfly & Moth resource: http://www.lotmoths.com/index.php

Hope this is of interest

Charles

Thanks Charles

Could be very helpful, we were deciding where to go next in France....

Cheers

Lee

The final part - other creatures.

Sorry for the delay, I've been busy seeking an audience with His Majesty!

Some of these creatures were beautiful, weird and big, sometimes all at once!

The beetles were pretty stunning: As were the bees: The shield bugs nearly deserve thier own entry: Damselflies were common along the river, as you may expect: On the forest trip, I disturbed this deer from a meadow and it quickly ran toward the wood. I guess it coudn't get in as it then ran along the tree edge. I tracked it with the camera shooting as I did and managed this lucky 'in flight' shot, although not in great focus: I saw a few of these along the river and one even lived under our caravan! The bird life around the campsite was amazing. Species seen include; Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Crow, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Swift, Swallow (these would swoop at head height between the caravans - simply magical to watch), House Martin, Kestrel, Buzzard, something bigger than a buzzard but with a shorter tail and wings like barn doors (the closest I can get to this is some sort of eagle but I'm really not sure), Pied Wagtail, House Sparrow, Grey Heron, Magpie, Mallard, Starling, Cuckoo (heard, not seen), Blackcap, Black Redstart, Siskin, Great Tit.
Most numerous (and noisy) were Chaffinches though. That's it!

Until the next trip,

Lee

Great report Lee. My favourite photo is the one entitled "I think this is a bee".

Vince.

Thanks Vince

I was amazed by the variety of wildlife I saw and can't wait to go back to France.

Cheers

Lee