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On my second day on Falster-southern Denmark-I went on my first butterfly walk.I found about 20 species but the highlight was the Poplar Admiral-stated in the books as extinct in Denmark.It looked very much alive to me.

Hi PJ - that sure looks like a summer-brood Map to me!

Cheers,

- Pete

You are right of course.I am amazed how little difference between the two there is.I will have to search harder.
P.J.U.

Size is the main difference. The Map isn't much bigger than a Duke of Burgundy, whereas a Poplar Admiral is more like the size of a Purple Emperor!

Cheers,

- Pete

It's 1000% summer Map, of course - an entirely common Central or Continental European butterfly tied to nettles, often at ruderal, ugly sites - probably even in Denmark. I'd say as common as for you, lets say, Small White or Small Heath (eg., Maps are undoubtedly in my TOP 10 abundances at my transect walk sites).

Poplar Admiral lives almost everywhere in well-preserved parts of Central Europe too, but its abundances are like one ten thousands times lower than Maps, so they are considered to be a scarcity even for a Central European. I myself saw the only individual in my life (in spite being very active between 2011 and 2013) this June in Podyji National Park, CZE.

On a scale of other similar species, you can see several Large Tortoiseshells and literally dozens of Emperors at one bigger, sutiable site but never Poplar Admirals. IMO, the only species that can equal its scarce distribution, is sometimes Camberwell Beauty.

Last but not least, Maps are like five times smaller. That means Poplar Admiral is roughly among three biggest CE butterflies together with Apollo and Swallowtails. Emperors, big Graylings, biggest Argynnises - all of them are remarkably smaller butterflies. So, everything suspected to be a PA must be very, very big.

Also, flight period of PA is already gone (maybe saving Alps and so - ask Guy).

P.S. I'm happy that you're happy about your own find but it's not likely to lurk for Poplar Admirals very concretely. At least I don't know site where it would be possible. And I don't know person who'd say "lets see Poplar Admirals today" and was successful in either - the thing is the species is so "hard to read".

I’d go a little further than that; Poplar Admiral is the largest European butterfly by wing area, probably only challenged by Two-tailed Pasha, and maybe Plain Tiger. If you've seen one, you’re in no doubt. On the first occasion in 2008, I saw something 10m away on a remote mountain road at the end of the day and I have to say that it was instantly clear that it was not a Purple Emperor.

I have only ever seen them at three locations, and only at one could I say I was confident of seeing them. Sadly, this location no longer exists as the spot where they would come down to puddle was destroyed in 2011 by a channel dug to divert a river, thus flooding the spot. In this location (which is about 20m x 5m) I had seen 65 species puddling over two days and could be sufficiently confident to recommend to two friends from Lyon to make the day trip; we saw three, probably four, Poplar Admirals that day.

My only regret is that I spent most of the time looking and admiring and not enough attention to taking photos.

It is highly nervous and if disturbed, shows its powerful flight by heading for the treetops. Popular (or is that Poplar?) wisdom decrees that they do not come back to the same place if disturbed, although this particular spot was so appealing that they did this several times.

There are places in eastern Europe where it is more numerous, it being a rare customer in the western end of its range, which just extends into eastern France. Here is a link to a video taken at Farm Lator in Hungary; Poplar Admirals appear about half-way through http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTs4MYmXkZE

They run butterfly tours at this location – here is a Pete’s report: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports/ ... ungary.pdf but it appears they didn’t see Poplar Admiral.

The first time I saw a summer brood Map I thought at first that it was an aberrant White Admiral (it was that much smaller).

Still, for a British butterflyer, it's an exciting find. I saw two on my holiday in Austria but didn't manage a photo of either.

Lovely species.

A couple of Maps in Austria, but quite common in the German-Austrian border near Salzburg.

As far as L. populi is concerned, I suppose Finland is part of Eastern block then. It goes at least as far north as Oulu and a good place can yield a number of sightings in a couple of hours. I think I'll pass the comment on N. antiopa.

P.J.Underwood wrote:On my second day on Falster-southern Denmark-I went on my first butterfly walk.I found about 20 species but the highlight was the Poplar Admiral-stated in the books as extinct in Denmark.It looked very much alive to me.

Hi P.J,

That's great that you're in Falster, its my neck of the woods when I go to Denmark (I'm half Danish). I can recommend Mons Klint not too far away as a good butterfly site. Also the dunes in between the beach and the forest all down the Falster coast is good, as I'm sure you've seen. I'd love to see a more detailed report of your Denmark trip, with species seen and where etc. I saw spring form Maps in the woods there back in May 2012, which was lovely.

Many thanks, Leo

http://leosnaturetrips.blogspot.co.uk

[quote][/quote]
Leo,
My youngest son lives in North Copenhagen,near the Utterslav Mose,and we come over many times a year.We booked a holiday house near Marielyst which was super.I found the walk behind the bird reserve brilliant for butterflies and I walked the seven miles on the coastal path next to the sea.I will do a list with photo's on returning home.I am still struggling to find more blues than the Common and Brown argus.Of the skippers I have only found the Essex which is everywhere.I am hoping to go to Mons Klint on Sat morning when the weather should be good.I have read that Chalkhill Blues do not exist in Denmark,but the Large Blues do!
P.j.U.

Leo,
I promised to send you some details of my trip to Marielyst and Mons Klint.Ringlets were everwhere,as were Essex skippers,Small whites,Meadow browns and Common blues.At the back of the bird reserve I found Small and Sooty Coppers,Small heath,Queen of Spain fritillary,one Map,Peacocks and a Red Admiral.In the wooded area I found a Wood white,Speckled wood,and Green veined whites,which were fairly common in other wooded areas.Along the coast behind the dunes was very interesting.Queen of Spain F.was fairly common as were Painted ladies,Small whites and Large whites,Common Blues,Meadow Browns, Ringlets, and I found a single Small pearl bordered Frit.At the Southern end were numerous Grayling on the paths.I also found a single Large skipper behind our house.
I had a short time at Mons Klint where I found several Maps,Peacocks,and a Silver Washed Frit.I then went to the Large Blue site-which is a magnificent chalkhill meadow-but was probably two or three weeks too late for the Large Blues.So 20 species in all in say two or three days that I could go looking.
I will save the Large Blues for another year.
P.J.U.