Season Blog 2005

It seems I failed to keep the 2005 blog up to date - the last entry was sometime in June.
Maybe I'll do better in 2006?

SEASON STATUS: generally late but rapidly catching up in Switzerland.
The south of France appears to have recovered from a late start.

June

Some warmer days but plenty of unsettled weather in the first half of June. The butterfly season continues to catch up and is now almost what could be considered normal. The first weekend of June was a washout. The second weekend saw a trip to the Jura of Switzerland and France and onwards to the Cote d'Or in France. A great many excellent species were found, including Reverdin's Blue, Plebejus argyrognomon, Scarce Heath, Coenonympha hero and Scarce Fritillary, Hypodryas maturna. I also found my first Black Hairstreaks, Satyrium pruni, outside the UK and the first for about 10 years. All lovely butterflies.

May

The weather in May continued to be very variable. There were some hot days but these always coincided with weekdays so butterflying activity has been limited. The major highlight was the location of Iolas Blue, Iolana iolas in France. A friend has also found it locally in Switzerland too. This is the first time I've seen this butterfly for 10 years. My orchid photography is coming along with the addition of another 5 or 6 species in the latter half of the month.

Very poor weather across almost all Europe for the first 10 days of May. A 4 day weekend break in S France for us proved to be extremely successful, warm and sunny. Butterflies weren't in large numbers, particularly at altitudes over about 200m. Excellent species included the Spring Ringlet, Erebia epistygne which was at the very end of its season and the Eastern Wood White, Leptidea duponcheli which I'd never found before in France. A "new" species for me too: Real's Wood White, Leptidea reali, which I've only just become confident about identifying. The bad news is that my site for Provence Hairstreak, Tomares ballus, has been planted with cereal crop - it is possible the butterfly will survive but 90% of the best part of the very small habitat has been lost.

April

We spent 8 days on Lesbos, Greece, looking for the False Apollo, Archon apollinus. We were not disappointed - we found hundreds across the island. The week started very cold and windy, maximum temperatures reaching only 10degC. We found our first False Apollos flying in warm sun at an air temperature of 7.5degC. During the week, the wind dropped and temperatures rose to the mid 20s which was very pleasant indeed!

Mid April in Switzerland this year has seen appalling weather. On 17th we had 40 cm of snow - which has bent over or snapped thousands of young trees - and it rained on and off for the next week. A single sunny day brought out some butterflies even though temperatures only reached 12degC.

Finally the very end of April produced some excellent weather. On 30th I found Chequered Blue, S. orion and a number of other new species for the year. It seem that despite the poor weather and very late but sudden start to spring in March that the season appears to be fairly normal, at least here in Switzerland.

March

The very cold weather eventually ended in mid March after about freezing 4 weeks. During 1 week the overnight temperatures rose from -11degC to +9degC. Incredible variation. Ex-hibernating butterflies, mostly Small Tortoiseshells, A. urticae, widespread. Large Tortoiseshells seem to be doing better than anyone can remember, perhaps due in some way to the sudden and dramatic increase in temperatures. Switzerland experienced its hottest March day on record on 19th with temperatures reaching 28C somewhere in the south. Certainly we had 22C under a strong sun. The month appears to be ending cool and cloudy.

February

Beginning of the month sunny and without the bitter cold of January. A Small Tortoiseshell, A. uritcae, seen flying over snow on the 4th, with air temperature at the time just over 1degC but warm sunshine. Most of the rest of February was very cold, very rarely rising above 0degC in the day. Overnight temperatures hovered between -8 and -11degC for the final 10 days of the month.

January - 2nd half

Extremely cold and strong winds for most of this part of the month. Sunny though.

January - 1st half

It's been a warm and sunny start to the year in Switzerland while major storms in N Europe sink Carlisle, UK and cause widespread damage and deaths in Denmark and Sweden. Regularly over 10 C during the day here, it's been surprising there have been no butterfly sightings yet.

Temperatures continue to fluctuate widely. On 19th January I drove from a heavy snow storm in Bologna, Italy to the southern Alpine valleys where temperatures in bright sun were 13C and then into Switzerland where dull clouds were keeping temperatures to more normal levels around 0C.

January - 1st, 2nd

The year started very early for me. Visiting family in Tunisia for New Year it was a walk along the beach that yielded my first butterflies of the year and my earliest ever. Warm weather brought forth 5 species. The Speckled Wood, Parage aegeria, and particularly Lang's Short Tailed Blue, Leptotes pirithous, are not normally amongst the first on my year list!

Very sad to see the pretty valleys in the hills behind Hammamet in NW Tunisia being dammed and lost forever. Slum encroachment into the hills has been dramatic in the 6 years since my previous visit. I fear my Common Silver Lines, Cigaritis siphax, site found in 1999 site is already lost.