Sightings - South Of France Part 1
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:03 pm
My family and I were lucky enough to holiday in the South of France this year, staying outside Monaco and Cannes respectively.
Although not a butterflying holiday, good behavior and brownie points on my part did bring some opportunities for several close encounters. Although I cannot compete with David M's trip report, I did manage some exciting firsts during the fortnight.
Being a relative virgin to mainland European Butterflies, I was armed with Tristan LaFranchis' field guide whilst there, combined with Guy Padfield & Roger Gibbons excellent websites when I returned.However, I am still stumped on a quite a few so apologise in advance for any mistaken identities and subsequent requests. "It is better to have tried and failed, than to have not tried at all.
I will categorize my trip by location as opposed to species.
Eze (Monaco)
Location for our first week was up in the hills overlooking the Med. The coastal areas of the Cote d'azur can be devoid of large quantities of butterflies in the peak of summer and with no rain in 2 months the nearby woodland and scrub were parched in the intense heat. However, I found that a walk at breakfast time and early evening did yield some nice Butterflies.
Base for our first week First sighting of the year was a Gatekeeper. Following inspection of it's underside it was identified as cecilia, Southern Gatekeeper. After a fruitless search for Walls in my native Suffolk this year, it was nice to see these in good numbers Scarce Swallowtail were seen in good numbers throughout my holiday, in contrast to papilio machaon of which only one was seen. Finally for our first base, what I believe to be a Holly Blue There is still lots to come, which I hope to upload in due course
Regards Kev Ling
Although not a butterflying holiday, good behavior and brownie points on my part did bring some opportunities for several close encounters. Although I cannot compete with David M's trip report, I did manage some exciting firsts during the fortnight.
Being a relative virgin to mainland European Butterflies, I was armed with Tristan LaFranchis' field guide whilst there, combined with Guy Padfield & Roger Gibbons excellent websites when I returned.However, I am still stumped on a quite a few so apologise in advance for any mistaken identities and subsequent requests. "It is better to have tried and failed, than to have not tried at all.
I will categorize my trip by location as opposed to species.
Eze (Monaco)
Location for our first week was up in the hills overlooking the Med. The coastal areas of the Cote d'azur can be devoid of large quantities of butterflies in the peak of summer and with no rain in 2 months the nearby woodland and scrub were parched in the intense heat. However, I found that a walk at breakfast time and early evening did yield some nice Butterflies.
Base for our first week First sighting of the year was a Gatekeeper. Following inspection of it's underside it was identified as cecilia, Southern Gatekeeper. After a fruitless search for Walls in my native Suffolk this year, it was nice to see these in good numbers Scarce Swallowtail were seen in good numbers throughout my holiday, in contrast to papilio machaon of which only one was seen. Finally for our first base, what I believe to be a Holly Blue There is still lots to come, which I hope to upload in due course
Regards Kev Ling