Sightings - South Of France Part 3
Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 6:23 pm
The next excursion of our family holiday took us up into the Parc Du Mercantour. We drove from Monaco towards St Martin-Vesubie before leaving the main road at Belvedere and heading down the Gordolasque valley. At an altitude of 1500m this dramatic alpine setting was just over an hour away from the beaches of the Cote d'Azur.
The beautiful Gordolasque Valley No sooner had we entered the valley, when we came across a lay by with several Buddleia on bloom. Although they were slightly elevated (which made photography a challenge) it was amazing to see such a wide variety of species sharing the blooms. These included Scarce Swallowtail, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Marbled White, Western Marbled White, Dryad, Great Sooty Satyr, as well as a variety of Erebia, Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae.
First shot captured was this Rock Grayling Dryad Great Sooty Satyr Marbled White Also seen was this female form leucomelas Not 100% with this one, but I believe it could be a female daphnis (Meleager's) A little further up the valley and you pass the Cascade Du Ray. Whilst enjoying this waterfall, we were joined by this White Letter Hairstreak (certainly the closest and friendliness encounter I have had with one). We reached the far end of the valley at Relaise De Merveilles for lunch and by this time the temperature was up to 34 degrees and not a drop of breeze. As a result the butterflies were reluctant to settle for more than a few seconds, which meant I had to be a bit lively with the camera. Now this is the bit of the log where identification errors may become slightly more frequent. But it's better to try and fail than not to try at all.
Large Ringlet I'm thinking montana (Marbled) or meloans (Piedmont) for the next couple Could the next two be neoridas (Autumn)? Really not sure about this final one We end this post with Scarce Copper, a species I was particularly hoping to see.
Female Male Male/Female The final report from the Parc Du Mercantour follows in my next post. Thanks in advance for any corrections.
Regards Kev
The beautiful Gordolasque Valley No sooner had we entered the valley, when we came across a lay by with several Buddleia on bloom. Although they were slightly elevated (which made photography a challenge) it was amazing to see such a wide variety of species sharing the blooms. These included Scarce Swallowtail, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Marbled White, Western Marbled White, Dryad, Great Sooty Satyr, as well as a variety of Erebia, Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae.
First shot captured was this Rock Grayling Dryad Great Sooty Satyr Marbled White Also seen was this female form leucomelas Not 100% with this one, but I believe it could be a female daphnis (Meleager's) A little further up the valley and you pass the Cascade Du Ray. Whilst enjoying this waterfall, we were joined by this White Letter Hairstreak (certainly the closest and friendliness encounter I have had with one). We reached the far end of the valley at Relaise De Merveilles for lunch and by this time the temperature was up to 34 degrees and not a drop of breeze. As a result the butterflies were reluctant to settle for more than a few seconds, which meant I had to be a bit lively with the camera. Now this is the bit of the log where identification errors may become slightly more frequent. But it's better to try and fail than not to try at all.
Large Ringlet I'm thinking montana (Marbled) or meloans (Piedmont) for the next couple Could the next two be neoridas (Autumn)? Really not sure about this final one We end this post with Scarce Copper, a species I was particularly hoping to see.
Female Male Male/Female The final report from the Parc Du Mercantour follows in my next post. Thanks in advance for any corrections.
Regards Kev