www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I have just spent 5 whole days (Monday 13th to Friday 17th April) in the Var region of southern France, and the following is a resumé of the delights I encountered there.

I managed to meet up a couple of times with the venerable Roger Gibbons, who spends most of the warmer months in and around this location, and his local knowledge proved most useful and I am truly thankful for it.

I will attempt to deal with non-UK and British species separately, though suffice to say I managed to get a personal audience with all but one of the species I had hoped to see.

I have a small number of butterflies that require a definitive ID, so if anyone feels brave enough to proffer one (or more) then please feel free.

The weather conditions were largely very good - Monday was the best day with 25c being bestowed upon us, whilst the worst day was Thursday when it remained cloudy for practically all the day, which was a shame as Roger and I met up with fellow UKB member Chris Jackson who, as many of you will know, lives just north of Marseilles and had travelled a decent distance to make our acquaintance. Even so, this day was not without its triumphs - sometimes overcast skies can be a positive as if you can locate the butterflies then you will get far better photographic results due to their reluctance to remain active for long.

Pierids were by far the best represented group throughout the week, with Western Dappled White being a new species for me, although getting any kind of image of one was a veritable labour of Hercules - they make Orange Tips seem comatose in comparison! This one came to rest on the only cloudy day of the week and for a moment it seemed feasible that it might actually be Portuguese Dappled White given its small size. Roger pursued it with zeal and settled on crameri having had a good look at the underside:

A bonus for me was that one of the commonest butterflies around was Cleopatra. How I love this species! Given their numbers I got the opportunity to try and take some in flight shots to see if I could capture that magnificent orange 'splash' on the upper forewings:

David M wrote:Given their numbers I got the opportunity to try and take some in flight shots to see if I could capture that magnificent orange 'splash' on the upper forewings:

fantastic pics David

One of the finest moments of the week was when Roger disturbed a Scarce Swallowtail on Day 1. We thought it had gone but when we walked back we discovered it was an impeccable, freshly emerged example, intent on hanging off this shrub to dry its wings:
My first request for confirmation of ID - are these two individuals both Mallow Skipper?

Amongst Lycaenids, Baton Blue was easily the most ubiquitous, with seemingly every patch of thyme having a few buzzing round. Here's a male:
...a female:
...an underside:

I saw two other non-UK Blues, both at the same site. I'm pretty confident I've got my IDs right, but any corrections would be welcomed.

These species are fairly similar in appearance. The first one is Green Underside Blue:
The next is Black-Eyed Blue:

Vanessids were thin on the ground with Commas numbering about half a dozen and 4 Painted Ladies seen on the last day. However, I was lucky enough to see 3 Large Tortoiseshells, although sadly the only one that descended to the ground was a tatty example:
Note the absence of yellow legs
I was particularly delighted to get my first glimpse of the curious Nettle Tree Butterfly. I saw five in all, and usually my views were from underneath looking 20 feet into the air! However, by chance I found a likely spot where one was nectaring, and I returned there on the last day to find a different individual basking on a bramble leaf which allowed me to finally capture these bizarre uppersides, which to me resemble something like an abstract Red Admiral:

Another ID puzzler. Roger informed me that Rosy Grizzled Skipper was present at many of the sites visited.

Our own Grizzled Skipper was easily the most common pyrgus but I took images of anything that didn't seem to be malvae.

The first two photos are of the same individual and the third is a different specimen. Anyone confirm?

Hi David. For those last pictures, the first two (=one individual) are malvoides but the second one could well be onopordi. I wouldn't like to say for 100% without seeing an underside but on my local onopordi/malvoides site if that was all I saw I would record it as onopordi.

Glad you got your nettle trees!!

G

PS - For your Carcharodus, the second individual looks unambiguously alceae to me. The first is a little more difficult but I end up with alceae by default. I'm interested to know what others think.

[quote="Padfield"] ... Glad you got your nettle trees!! ...

Indeed, those Nettle-tree shots are precious, David.

I love the Cleopatra upperside shots, well done - one of my favourite challenges.

Chris

Thanks for the assistance with identification, Guy. One day I'll buy you a multi-pack of beer to pay off 5% of the debt I've accrued over the years!!

Anyway, back to events in the Var....

Roger rather nonchalantly pointed out a Southern Festoon within half an hour of us first getting together last week. He seemed highly surprised that it was a 'lifer' for me. That's the reason why I visited in spring - many of these species simply don't put in a second appearance and if they do, then it's at a time when I'm unlikely to be around.

I actually got lucky soon after this first sighting, as I spotted a mating pair a little later (not sure which sex is the one with its wings open):
Following this, I was even more eager to see the closely related Spanish Festoon, that Roger had assured me was present in the region. I left it late, returning to a bit of scrubland late on my last day after having earlier seen what appeared to be one of this species, only for a Small Heath to 'buzz' it, causing it to take off before I could get an image.

I imposed an immediate fatwa on the Small Heath, returned to my hire car and swigged half a litre of water. I then became obstinately resolute in my determination to hang around to see if it would return. Sure enough, 15 minutes later I got a second chance:

Hi, great photos.
I am hoping to go to Provence for a few days mid May and wondered if you could recommend any good sites to visit?
Thanks Alex

alexpotts wrote:Hi, great photos.
I am hoping to go to Provence for a few days mid May and wondered if you could recommend any good sites to visit?
Thanks Alex

Thanks, Alex.

Hard to say really given the size of the region, but to be honest practically anywhere a bit 'wild' will produce pretty impressive results. I took a chance on the track south of the lac d'arena which was 2km from my hotel and it threw up surprises even in mid-April.

Light woodland, river tracks, grassy fields, herb-rich rocky areas....all of these and more should provide quite a return. I think you're a bit too early for high altitude species though.

Padfield wrote:Hi David. For those last pictures, the first two (=one individual) are malvoides but the second one could well be onopordi. I wouldn't like to say for 100% without seeing an underside but on my local onopordi/malvoides site if that was all I saw I would record it as onopordi.

Glad you got your nettle trees!!

G

PS - For your Carcharodus, the second individual looks unambiguously alceae to me. The first is a little more difficult but I end up with alceae by default. I'm interested to know what others think.

Internet here is decidedly wobbly as they "upgrade" (there are five minutes of internet each day but these five minutes can arrive at any time), but I agree 100% with Guy's IDs. Several Rosy GS (P. onopordi) at the site "LA" a couple of days ago.

You were probably lucky to see Spanish Festoon (Z. rumina), David, as in this late-ish season they are only just emerging.

We (more correctly, Tim) found Provence Hairstreak (T. ballus) at a site 15km east of any other known site yesterday. So little is known about its distribution in Var.

Better post this before internet disappears,

Roger

Thanks for that, Roger. Yes, the Spanish Festoon was sparkling so I daresay it had recently emerged. I certainly got a bit lucky there (in spite of that infernal Small Heath)!

The only non-UK Fritillary seen was Weaver's Fritillary, which is a species I am familiar with from my summer visits.
An out-and-out spring species, by contrast, is Provence Orange Tip. If you think ours are lovely, well these critters are to die for. Sadly, they also share the same 'dithering' tendency, meaning that they are awkward subjects to photograph. Add the fact that virtually the only flower they ever alight upon is a biscotella with long, fragile stems, meaning that they need to flutter their wings just to keep their balance.

I did manage to snatch a few shots of a female at rest:
Males, on the other hand, were almost impossible:
Still, they are a delight to behold and not at all uncommon in these parts - certainly 1 for every 5 'normal' Orange Tips, of which I probably saw 200+.

The iconic species round these parts, certainly in spring, is Provence Hairstreak.

I've always been fascinated by its appearance - sort of a halfway house between Small Copper and Green Hairstreak.

Well, having now observed this species for a fair period, I can also state that its behaviour exhibits characteristics of both these other butterflies.

Provence Hairstreaks seem to like flying in and out of the shrub cover just like a Green Hairstreak does, yet they are also just as happy pottering about in more open areas, often settling on disturbed ground in the same way a Small Copper might.

I saw 10 in total at two different locations. The first caught my eye as I was merrily snapping away at a male Cleopatra and it landed conveniently on a thyme flower within 5 metres of me:
The males are most difficult to track in flight due to their uniformly dark uppersides. Females however have pale brown markings on the upperwing surfaces meaning that they are unmistakeable and much easier to follow, though neither sex rests with its wings open:
In the heat of the day, I found that a good spot to look for them was on the more shadowy side of the ride. I suppose the abnormally hirsute body of this little butterfly doesn't tolerate hot conditions as well as most other species:

British species

There were plenty of UK species knocking about, many of them well ahead of their cross-channel relatives. Here are a few:

(Southern) Grizzled Skippers were fairly numerous, with well over two dozen seen:
Wood Whites were common too:
The most abundant UK species by far though was Orange Tip. They were everywhere:
I also saw a handful of Glanville Fritillaries:
A couple of delightful Swallowtails crossed my path:
Pearl Bordered Fritillaries were just emerging:
...as were Marsh Fritillaries:
Five Painted Ladies were seen in the last two days:

Summary

Having only visited France for butterflying purposes in high summer, this spring trip obviously fell short in terms of both numbers and range of species.

Normally, in summer, butterflies are about in plague proportions and it's often difficult to concentrate on a single specimen for fear that you may be missing something more desirable close by. In spring however, whilst numbers are way in excess of those seen in the UK, they are much reduced, giving you more time to do justice to those species that are present.

In total, 40 different types of butterfly were seen, with 24 of those being UK species.

The full lists are as follows (both in descending order of abundance):

Non-UK species

1. Cleopatra
2. Baton Blue
3. Provence Orange Tip
4. Southern Festoon
5. Western Dappled White
6. Berger's Clouded Yellow
7. Weaver's Fritillary
8. Mallow Skipper
9. Provence Hairstreak
10. Scarce Swallowtail
11. Green Underside Blue
12. Nettle Tree Butterfly
13. Large Tortoiseshell
14. Black-Eyed Blue
15. Rosy Grizzled Skipper
16. Spanish Festoon

UK Species:

1. Orange Tip
2. Wood White
3. Green Hairstreak
4. (Southern) Grizzled Skipper
5. Small White
6. Clouded Yellow
7. Brimstone
8. Common Blue
9. Holly Blue
10. Speckled Wood
11. Small Heath
12. Wall Brown
13. Green Veined White
14. Small Copper
15. Brown Argus
16. Small Blue
17. Glanville Fritillary
18. Dingy Skipper
19. Comma
20. Pearl Bordered Fritillary
21. Painted Lady
22. Marsh Fritillary
23. Large White
24. Swallowtail

Your final tally is very respectable for a 5-day visit, and in many cases you saw both male and female of the species.
I'm glad you got photos of the Provence Orange Tip male and female.

Were there any species you were you expecting but did not manage to see ?

Cheers, Chris