100-butterflies Tally: 58/100
Well, this is more like it.
I've just returned from a road trip through France - well, not exactly 'just returned', it's been a week but that week has been so busy it took me a while to get my lists in order. The biggest target species was the two-tailed pasha, and searching for it went... well, just read below. There's far too much for a single reply to be honest, so I'll try to sum up some of the highlights.
We started high up in the French Alps, above 2300m. Spring has only just arrived up there: there was still quite some snow and on the higher altitudes the first flowers were just peeking out of their buds. Not that much insect activity yet (though grizzled skippers were abundant), so we spend a lot of time birding. Mountain birding is quite something else: few birds, but the ones you see are either very good mountain specialists, or the most widespread generalists imaginable, with little in between. Snow finches were singing on top of our refuge, and after a long search we also found ptarmigans. Scanning mountain slopes revealed ibex, chamois and a bearded vulture - with marmots and water pipits whistling in the background.
On slightly lower altitudes the alpine meadows were in full bloom, with carpets of flowers in yellow, blue and white everywhere and teeming with butterflies. Skippers, fritillaries and lots of odds and ends were quite easy to find. Alpine Argus and Duke of Burgundy were among the best species. Bird were trickier: not a sign of citril finch and the calling rock partridges never showed themselves. Only one nutcracker had the decency to, after a long wait, show itself properly.
Then off the Camargue, with is a totally different world. No need to go searching for wildlife there: it's so abundant one can just drive through the place and see large numbers of wading birds, rollers, bee-eaters and raptors. If there was less diversity in the butterflies the sheer abundance was breathtaking: small whites are common everywhere, but I'm not used to see them in flocks of dozens of individuals! Designated searches revealed Mediterranean tree frogs, spectacled warblers and a European pond turtle, though western swamphen, great spotted cuckoo and, most egregious, two-tailed pasha evaded us. Most unexpected was a sudden encounter with a badger, in the late afternoon. We could barely believe ourselves. It must be some sort of joke of the universe that I cannot seem to find any badgers where I live, where they're supposed to be dirt common, but encounter one in an area where they are exceedingly rare!
From the Camargue we made smaller trips to the Crau and the Alpilles. In each case we found some targets but not others. Birds and reptiles proved difficult, perhaps because of the heat, but butterflies and dragonflies did better. We found basically all target dragonflies except the very best (purple dropwing), but I'm content anyway. The last location in the south of France was a cute town called Collias, from where we walked up a hill for a final try at two-tailed pasha. It was teeming with Mediterranean butterflies there, and sure enough after finding the host plants and possibly pasha eggs, we managed to find and photograph a two-tailed pasha - only to find three more on our way down! Our way back included a short stop at the edge of the Jura, before we reached the Netherlands again.
All things considered a great trip with many good species seen, but enough left unchecked to return to France some other time.
Butterflies
20. Green Hairstreak, Callophrys rubi
21. Southern Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvoides
22. Small Blue, Cupido minimus
23. Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages
24. Mazarine Blue, Cyaniris semiargus
25. Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia
26. Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Boloria euphrosyne
27. Southern Heath Fritillary, Melitaea celadussa
28. Northern Wall Brown, Lasiommata petropolitana
29. Alpine Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus andromedae
30. Red-underwing Skipper, Spialia sertorius
31. Dewy Ringlet, Erebia pandrose
32. de Prunner's Ringlet, Erebia triarius
33. False Heath Fritillary, Melitaea diamina
34. Duke of Burgundy, Hamearis lucina
35. Common Swallowtail, Papilio machaon
36. Alpine Argus, Agriades orbitulus
37. Wall Brown, Lasiommata megera
38. Large Skipper, Ochlodes sylvanus
39. Mallow Skipper, Carcharodus alceae
40. Southern Gatekeeper, Pyronia cecilia
41. Cleopatra, Gonepteryx cleopatra
42. Great Banded Greyling, Brintesia circe
43. Bath White, Pontia daplidice
44. Oriental Meadow Brown, Hyponephele lupinus
45. Marbled White, Melanargia galathea
46. Clouded Yellow, Colias croceus
47. Blue Spot Hairstreak, Satyrium spini
48. False Ilex Hairstreak, Satyrium esculi
49. Spotted Fritillary, Melitaea didyma
50. Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris
51. Spanish Gatekeeper, Pyrionia bathseba
52. Provence Chalk-hill Blue, Lysandra hispana
53. European Beak, Libythea celtis
54. Two-tailed Pasha, Charaxes jasius
55. Lulworth Skipper, Thymelicus acteon
56. Scarce Swallowtail, Iphiclides podalirius
57. Iberian Marbled White, Melanargia lachesis
58. Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola
Birds
193. European Serin, Serinus serinus
194. Water Pipit, Anthus spinoletta
195. White-winged Snowfinch, Montifringilla nivalis
196. Red-billed Chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
197. Alpine Chough, Pyrrhocorax graculus
198. Bearded Vulture, Gypaetus barbatus
199. Eurasian Griffon, Gyps fulvus
200. Spotted Nutcracker, Nucifraga caryocatactes
201. Rock Ptarmigan, Lagopus muta
202. Western Bonelli's Warbler, Phylloscopus bonelli
203. European Roller, Coracius garrulus
204. Glossy Ibis, Plegadis falcinellus
205. Crested Lark, Galerida cristata
206. Sardinian Warbler, Curruca melanocephala
207. Black-winged Stilt, Himanotopus himanotopus
208. European Hoopoe, Upupa epops
209. Zitting Cisticola, Cisticola juncidis
210. Corn Bunting, Emberiza calandra
211. Montagu's Harrier, Circus pygargus
212. Greater Flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus
213. Melodious Warbler, Hippolais polyglotta
214. Short-toed Snake Eagle, Circaetus gallicus
215. Squacco Heron, Ardeola ralloides
216. Purple Heron, Ardea purpurea'
217. Gull-billed Tern, Gelochelidon nilotica
218. European Bee-eater, Merops apiaster
219. Slender-billed Gull, Chroicocephalus genei
220. Kentish Plover, Charadrius alexandrinus
221. Little Tern, Sternula albifrons
222. Sandwich Tern, Thalasseus sandvicensis
223. Little Stint, Calidris minutus
224. Northern Gannet, Morus bassanus
225. Iberian Grey Shrike, Lanius meridionalis
226. Eurasian Stone Curlew, Burhinus oedicnemus
227. Tawny Pipit, Anthus campestris
228. Whiskered Tern, Chlidonias hybrida
229. Black Tern, Chlidonias niger
230. Spectacled Warbler, Curruca conspicillata
231. Western Subalpine Warbler, Curruca iberiae
232. Dartford Warbler, Curruca undata
233. Red-backed Shrike, Lanius collurio
234. European Nightjar, Caprimulgus europaeus
235. Alpine Swift, Tachymarptis melba
Mammals
20. Alpine Marmot, Marmota marmota
21. Alpine Ibex, Capra ibex
22. Alpine Chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra
23. European Badger, Meles meles
24. Pallas's Squirrel, Callosciurus erythraeus
25. Serotine Bat, Eptesicus serotinus
26. Soprano Pipistrelle, Pipistrellus pygmaeus
27. European Wild Boar, Sus scrofa
Amphibians
09. Common Parsley Frog, Pelodytes punctatus
10. Mediterranean Tree Frog, Hyles meridionalis
Reptiles
7. Common Wall Gecko, Tarentola mauritanica
8. European Pond Turtle, Emys orbicularis
Dragonflies
22. Common Bluetail, Ischnura elegans
23. Red-veined Darter, Sympetrum fonscolombii
24. White-tailed Skimmer, Orthetrum albistylum
25. Lesser Emperor, Anax parthenope
26.Dark Spreadwing, Lestes macrostigma
27. Mercury Bluet, Coenagrion mercuriale
28. Keeled Skimmer, Orthetrum coerulescens
29. Small Pincertail, Onychogomphus forcipatus
30. Large Pincertail, Onychogomphus uncatus
31. Yellow Clubtail, Gomphus simillimus
32. Copper Demoiselle, Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis
33. White Featherleg, Platycnemis latipes
34. Southern Skimmer, Orthetrum brunneum
35. Broad Scarlet, Crocothemis erythraea
36. Orange Featherleg, Platycnemis acutipennis
37. Migrant Spreadwing, Lestes barbarus
38. Blue-eyed Hawker, Aeshna affinis
39. Blue-eye, Erythromma lindenii
40. Small Red-eye, Erythromma viridulum
Moths
58. Hyles euphorbiae
59. Achyra nudalis
60. Spodoptera cilium
61. Eublemma parva
62. Spodoptera exigua
63. Nomophila noctuella
64. Eupithecia ultimaria
65. Anarta trifolii
66. Agrotis bigramma
67. Eilema caniola
68. Idaea dimidiata
69. Furcula bifida
70. Scrobipalpa ocellatella
71. Nola aerugula
72. Agdistis bennetii
73. Chiasmia aestimaria
74. Acentria ephemerella
75. Pediasia contaminella
76. Menophra abruptaria
77. Eudonia delunella
78. Catoptria fasella
79. Idaea rusticata
80. Archips xylosteana
81. Udea ferrugalis
82. Emmelina monodactyla
83. Eudonia pallida
84. Epirrhoe alternata
85. Brachmia blandella
86. Oncocera semirubella
87. Zygaena filipendulae
The moths are only scientific names for my own convenience. Other species groups follow if ever we manage to identify a good number of them.
