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Thursday 9 March 2017

Butterflies seen during our Pyrenees holiday - Part 1

I have yet to see a butterfly this year so in the meantime, what better to do than to go through all my butterfly photos and notes from my holiday last September.

I saw a lot of lifers plus ones I've only seen once before, the vast majority being in the mountains or hills where it was green and there were flowers for them to nectar on. In the arid areas - and in September there are a lot - no or few wildflowers meant very few butterflies. Even so, part 2 of this post will feature the butterflies seen once we hit the Mediterranean. These following were in the mountains and foothills of the Ariege and the Pyrenees-Orientales. I'm only numbering the lifers in these posts (lifers being butterflies I've seen for the first time).

1. Number one lifer was at the bird reserve at the Arcachon basin however, a Southern White Admiral (Limenitis reducta), although no photo was possible.

Les Papillons d'Amaranthe, Lesparrou, nr Lavelanet, Ariege

This is a butterfly park but it also has a beautiful flowery garden which is open for you to walk around and spot the native butterflies. Oh, there were tons! I loved it better than the polytunnel with the exotic species. 

The butterfly below I've seen once before, in my own garden, but no less exciting. It's a Long Tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus).


2. This is the best photo I could get but I was still able to ID it from my photos - it's a Great Banded Grayling (Brintesia circe).


3. This butterfly was annoyingly flying low in a paddock with some goats so I couldn't get any closer. I think from being able to get a glimpse of the underwings, that this is a Dark Green Fritillary (Argynnis aglaja). Even if it's not, it's still a lifer. And I did see a DG Fritillary later on!


4. More blues, this one being a Provençal Short-tailed Blue (Cupido alcetas).


Provençal Short-tailed Blue again, showing a bit of its upper wings.


5. I'll number this one as a lifer although I don't know what it is, and don't think it's a blue that I've seen before. I need to spend more time IDing but it's those two marks at the base of the front under wing that mean it's definitely not a Common Blue.....



Roadside ditch near the Chateau de Montsegur, Ariege

This ditch was teeming with butterflies as it was full of oregano and pond mint in flower. I could have stayed all day....

One of my blogging friends is going to hate me (you know who you are <grin>); this butterfly isn't a lifer but it's the first time I've seen the beautiful underwings of the Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia).


6. In the same place, Provence Chalkhill Blue (Polyommatus hispana), or possibly Chalkhill Blue - apparently it's very hard to tell the difference. The Provence one is usually a little lighter, and given where it was seen I'd like to think it was the former.



Eyne Valley, Pyrenees-Orientales

This valley (1600-1700m altitude) is supposed to be very rich in flora and thus insect life - I read somewhere that it has the most species of bumble bees in all of France. In September there were still wild flowers in bloom and whilst we only walked for about an hour an a half uphill we saw many species of butterfly.

7. I'm not 100% sure as I don't have a shot of the underwings, but think this is a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene). In any event, it's still a lifer!


Now here is a Dark Green Fritillary (Argynnis aglaja) for sure, and you will see from the blurry movement shot of the underwing how important it is NOT to delete all your blurry shots as they can be very important in helping you with ID!



8. Adonis Blue (Polyommatus bellargus). We were walking beside a small mountain river and in places where the soil was damp there were little clouds of butterflies puddling. This means taking minerals and salts from the soil. Upon reading more on the subject I hadn't realised it is just the males who do this - the minerals in the soil help brighten up their colours and thus make them more attractive to females. It might explain why I saw some Adonis Blues which were darker blue than others. I fell in love with these little butterflies.


9. I also saw several of these butterflies which I managed to partially ID after seeing more of them in another location. This one below is a female Ringlet of some sort, possibly the Autumn Ringlet. I hadn't realised there were so many different kinds of Ringlet and they have some very similar markings!


Mont Louis, Pyrenees-Orientales

The location here was also quite high, about 1500m, beside a mountain river in a forest of pines with open areas of grassland, with a few wild flowers still in bloom.

The same Ringlet as above but this is the male.


Next post to follow shortly. Now I'm itching to see some butterflies, it's been far too long!


13 comments:

  1. Thank you for starting my day off with all your lifers!!! I'm really looking forward to part 2. Very few species showing up here so far but it won't be long I hope!

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    1. Thanks so much Marianne! Have seen a few butterflies the last few days, so not long to our season commences. :-)

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  2. Wow! what lovely photos of all the beautiful and unique butterflies! I saw our first butterfly last week but temps are going to be in 20's at night and we may have snow showers, so think I'll have to wait a little longer to see the lovely flutters.

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    1. Thanks Juliet! You can never tell what the weather will do this early in the year. I hope you didn't have snow, or that it didn't last long.

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  3. Me too, I bet when I have a wander outside in a bit I might see one fluttering past! Lovely photographs!

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    1. Thanks Simon! I did see some the next day, some Peacocks up at the coast.

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  4. A wonderful post Mandy with beautiful photos :) Most of those butterflies would have been lifers for me!!! :) You did see some delightful species :) I didn't realise there was more than one type of Ringlet - I am pretty sure we only get the one type over here.

    VERY jealous of that Glanville Fritillary - we've been to the Isle of Wight where they can be found about a dozen times and despite diligent searching of the Compton Bay clifftops I have never seen one!! Although to be fair we go very late in their season so a sighting would be lucky!

    Look forward to seeing more of your flutter sightings in the next post :)

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    1. Many thanks Caroline - yes I thought of you when I was writing this. Sorry! Your searching sounds a bit like us and certain birds - the Dartford Warbler is eluding us although we are pretty sure we saw one when we didn't have binocs, but the giz (sp?) and habitat were right. Oh and I did finally see the Ringlet which you lot see commonly, not at home but in another part of Brittany, last summer. I have a butterfly book for all of Europe and there are tons of Ringlets and tons of Graylings - I had no idea!

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    2. I thought you might mean me :)) Dartford Warbler has eluded me too - finally, went to Arne, Dorset a few years ago (a bit of a stronghold for them) but did I see one?? No!!! Not sure I have ever seen a Grayling!! Was reading a brilliant recent purchase "Butterflies of the West Midlands" and reading of locations where I might see some "lifers" including Grayling!! :) Ringlets are fairly common round here but only one garden sighting.

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  5. Yes, definitely the subject of some considerable hate at the moment, :)
    but you took some great shots and roll on the Spring.

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    1. It was aimed at Ragged Robin but you are welcome to hate me too. ;-) Cheers Roy.

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  6. Well that is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G collection of butterflies Mandy. You lucky girl. Some gorgeous insects here for sure. A great post and I look forward to part 2...

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    1. Hey JJ, thanks for looking in. At least I had an insect 🐜 post for you to see. (I wonder if that little bug emoji that just popped up on my iPad will show when I'm on my proper computer?) We are off 'down south' again in May so I'm looking forward to the spring flutters I might see there... 😀🦋🦋🦋 (and that's a Blue Morpho emoji!)

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