www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Our third trip to the Picos in three years resulted in new species and sites as we get to know the area more . Sites in the south are important when the weather is bad, which we have always had at least one spell in every trip. The only answer is to head south over a pass into Castilla to avoid the low wet clouds which roll in from the sea. Picos terrain is very diverse with deep gorges,lush meadows.high peaks and hot dry Castilla plains so you must be prepared to drive. I shall post the Fritillaries next.

Great stuff! You don't need any help - the IDs all seem correct to me, except that the first one is a large chequered skipper, not a chequered skipper. A typo, I'm sure!

Guy

Thanks Guy I have made the correction ( Large -chequered ).Guy I would like to congratulate you on your well deserved award I know I would be lost without your help Thank you .


There are two Fritillaries photo's that I need help with please

Hi John,

My votes would be:

Niobe
Marbled
Lesser Marbled
Pass - not sure on this one
Cardinal

As ever though, I may be wrong...

Cheers

Lee

Hi John. I agree with Lee that the second Brenthis fritillary looks like lesser marbled, even though it is on bramble (presumably with the marbled frits). The black spot would be unusual in either species, but the other characters point to lesser marbled. Was there meadowsweet growing in the vicinity?

The first fritillary must be high brown, though. Niobe has very obvious black veining on the underside, as in this picture:



In fact, it's not always that distinct, but it is always clearly visible. Again, the presence of a black spot in your picture is anomalous, I think!

Guy

I disagree with the first one. The rearwing coloring screams A. adippe to me. The B. hecate is right.

Oh well Guy beat me to it.

BTW, I'm back...

Sorry - Guy and JKT are quite right, I can see that now

The spot on the HBF threw me.

Cheers

Lee

Thanks to all that have helped ,I was 99% sure of the High brown but confused by the large cell spot on the Lesser Marbled. .

The Marbled+Lesser with high brown,twin-spot,sliver-washed and four hair-streak species together with marbled whites and flying about 50+ great banded grayings the list go's on, were around a twenty metre bramble bush on a disused piece of road .
Thanks again
John