www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

continued from part 4

At the cafe-bar I found Sharon with the girls. They had popped in for a drink and were just about to leave. The girls were whingeing about the heat and the walk back. I told them to hang on a few minutes while I had a coke and that I'd give them a lift back to the campsite to cover some of the distance. I was also keen for them to see the butterflies and demoiselles along the shaded stream path which had the added bonus of keeping them out of the sun.

Back at the steam path I was soon into Demoiselles and Specklies but my girls were just keen on getting home. My eldest had forged on ahead of me as she often does and half-way along the path she put up a butterfly from the ground. Immediately I knew it was something different. The butterfly did a few flaps and glides then (thankfully) landed on a tree about 7ft up. As I trained my Tamron long lens on it I immediately recognised it as a Lesser Purple Emperor Apatura ilia. My 7th lifer (8th counting the malvoides) and without doubt my best find of the holiday, a totally unexpected encounter ... brilliant .
Getting a picture was harder as I shoot in manual and light was low requiring high ISO and in my excitement it was hard to get the settings right. Then like a typical Emperor it then moved but landed close by to give me a second chance. After getting off many shots but knowing the quality of the pictures would be a bit iffy on zoom, I tried to get in with the macro, but that pushed it just a bit too far and it was off. Nevertheless I'm happy with what I got . After picking up the car at the end of the meadow and dropping the others off at the campsite I wasted little time in getting back into La Bastide .... "I'll be back at 6:00"!

In the town square is a post office and behind it a car park next to another bit of non-private 'waste ground'. A couple of days ago I'd seen what I'm fairly convinced was a fly-by Scarce Swallowtail Iphiclides podalirius and I had been building up my hopes for another encounter. However a chance sighting in a particular spot is often just that, a chance sighting, a one-off (something I never seem to learn ). There were butterflies of course. Most noticeable was another Provencal Short-tailed Blue Everes alcetas which I spent some time with to try to get a good photo. On this occasion I think I achieved it. The butterfly was in an area that had a lush grass sward but also close by was another more scrubby area which looked promising. Moving on to that area I caught sight of a Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus and was able to get this record shot. The next area had Heath Fritillaries; Small Copper; Common Blue and my First Brown Argus Aricia agestis The heat was getting to me again so it was time to jump in the car and move on. This time I thought I'd explore some of the backroads around La Bastide and headed off to a place called Suzan.
The road was narrow and largely deserted, a typical farm track. At one point by a cross road I came to an open area with a small cliff face so parked up to have a look around. No sooner had I scanned the rock face when I saw a canary yellow coloured Cloudie flying by, but it was too high up and gone within seconds . Can only speculate what it might've been.
No more butterflies were seen so I moved on upwards along narrow but well tarmacked roads seeing Silver-washed in the wooded areas and a few whites and clouded yellows as I drove. Then the road forked, the right hand going across a little bridge and just to the left of it was a buddleia bush and on it a Swallowtail Papilio machaon .I stuffed the car into the verge by the bridge, jumped out of the car and grabbed my camera like there wasn't a moment to lose. However seconds after loosing off a few shots a cavalcade of cars and then two-stroke motorbikes came by and all the visual commotion told the butterfly it was time to leave. Like Victor Meldrew I just couldn't believe it .... absolutely nothing about then at the key moment wham! Other butterflies were on that bush like Silver-washed and Meadow Browns but it was the Swallowtail I really wanted .

The shot I did get wasn't too bad though... I continued along the road which led to a farm and what seemed like a dead end. It also felt like I should've brought a very long ball of string to find my way back through the labyrinth of farm roads. However, it wasn't long before I was back at the buddleia bush and to my relief the Swallowtail was also back . This time no interruptions, just me and this magnificent insect . Eventually the butterfly had had his fill of buddleia nectar and nonchalantly made off and up into the surrounding trees . It was around 03:30 so I made my way back and with no wrong turnings was soon back in La Bastide. Always hopeful of a chance encounter being repeated, I made my way to the stream path where I'd seen the ilia a couple of hours earlier. On the way in I spied what had been a familiar sight in Tenerife, the Geranium Bronze Cacyreus marshalli The chance encounter wasn't repeated but the Speckled Woods provided some consolation. I also photographed a Male Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina. The males seemed less common than the females . Then a Common Wall Lizard Podarcis murali which had actually stopped for a few seconds, made a good subject Still determined not to give up on seeing the ilia again I went back to the café bar to kill some time before coming to check over the area again. It was all to no avail . This was a one-off encounter and I needed to forget it. Nevertheless I was still tuned-in for a repeat encounter so decided to check out the blue leguminous plant in the meadow where I'd seen the Praying Mantis. On the way in a tidy looking Small Heath provided me with a quick shot before a blue legume rewarded me with a cracking Lang's Short-tailed Blue Leptotes pirithous. The Blues weren't finished, A short-tailed Blue Everes argiades my 8th lifer, and then Common Blue Polyommatus icarus icarus were added with a Latticed Heath moth sandwiched in-between. That finished off the day for me and I made it back to the campsite to arrive bang on 6:00 where I found the others sat around the swimming pool reading their books . When I asked if they'd been cycling I was told that Brigitte had been horrified by the prospect of loaning the bikes out for "an hour ". (something lost in the translation). So no cycling in the end but her response had kept them amused for (much) more than an hour .

Species count now standing at 31 (18 for the day).

Hi Phil. Your first short-tailed blue looks like - OK, I'll say it, it is - a Provençal short-tailed blue. Do you have a reason for calling it short-tailed? The last one, near the bottom of the post, is however, a short-tailed blue, so the lifer is safe!

Guy

Hello Guy.
Yes I thought this might come up. The reason why I called it Short-tailed and not Provencal S-t was that I perceived this butterfly as considerably larger than the first one I saw in the meadow in the morning (Part 4). This size difference shows up in the illustration in my Collins Field Guide. However what also shows up are the underside hw orange lunules on argiades and not alcetas. Despite this and also having a total lack of experience with European species, I am inclined to look on the internet for images for quick answers (where I know there is lots of mis-information too). Some of the images of 'argiades' showed them without the orange lunules so after some deliberation I put size difference down as being the key factor to my conclusion.

Later on same day I got the true argiages, the Everes with the orange lunules so there was no need to worry about losing a tick on the list (not that that should matter of course ) if I renamed the earlier one as alcetas. I was still uncertain and curious to see which way this was going to go . Also I'm still not 100% sure if this is the correct reason for separating them.

Thanks

Phil

Hi Phil. The size thing is a misdirection - both species are very variable. At the start, as you get to know these species, the orange lunules are definitely your best bet. They are always present in argiades, even when worn (they may be inconspicuous and very faded but always full). There may be some orange in alcetas but this is restricted to a thin lunule - never full and complete. The tail is also different, being longer and more substantial in argiades. There are other, more subtle differences, which come with experience and feel. Your first butterfly above is alcetas all over.

Guy

Thanks again Guy. You mentioned the tails too which on the first 'afternoon butterfly' seemed to haver longer tails that the barely noticeable ones on the morning 'meadow example' in Part 4 (I'm getting my days mixed up too ). To avoid more internet misinformation I'll go and edit now .

I'm glad you got so many lifers, Phil. It makes holidays even more worthwhile.
I loved the narrative of your unfortunate scene in the "English pub", although probably frustrating for you at the time. Hilarious - well told
Cheers, Chris

cjackson wrote:I'm glad you got so many lifers, Phil. It makes holidays even more worthwhile.

Most definitely. Lots of great moments.

cjackson wrote:I loved the narrative of your unfortunate scene in the "English pub", although probably frustrating for you at the time. Hilarious - well told

Thanks Chris. I was concerned that I may have portrayed myself like an idiot abroad but really it was just the result of a series of circumstances that had frustrating farcical and funny outcomes. Most of the eating out was enjoyable and the food fabulous . All in all the ups and downs made it a holiday to remember

Phil

Cracking stuff again Philzoid There is only one problem and that is I think you're nearing the end of your holiday so the postings will stop You'll have to head off again soon
Also 8 lifers...you're almost at my tally now
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel wrote:Cracking stuff again Philzoid There is only one problem and that is I think you're nearing the end of your holiday so the postings will stop You'll have to head off again soon

Thanks Wurzel The holiday was coming to an end but I've still got two more postings in the pipeline. If we weren't tied up with Club La Costa I'd be back again . Still, CLC have an alpine resort in Austria so it might be butterfly heaven if the others are keen to go there

Wurzel wrote:Also 8 lifers...you're almost at my tally now

Two more, possibly three .... could be close