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Matt Rowlings

 

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JANUARY

13th Ridiculous warm conditions upto now. Most days are hovering around 10C. No frost at all! Saturday 13th was spectacularly sunny so we visited our usual site near Martigny and found 3 Red Admirals, Vanessa atalanta, on the wing plus a Clouded Yellow, Colias croceus. I guess these were hibernating specimens, but one of the Red Admirals was so fresh I wonder if it had recently emerged.

20th The heat wave continues and today I was staggered to find a stunning fresh male Holly Blue, Celastrina argiolus along the Montreux waterfront. Also flying were a dozen or so Red Admirals, Vanessa atalanta, many of which were also extremely fresh.

Finally cold weather arrived on the 23rd with snow down to the lake side. The snap lasted until around 30th with day time temperatures not exceeding -2 or -3C. Then the warmer weather returned with day temperatures around 8C at the lakeside with night frosts.

FEBRUARY

4th Fine weather at the weekend brought out hibernating Small Tortoiseshelles, Aglais urticae, a perfect freshly emerged Clouded Yellow, C. croceus and half a dozen perfect first brood Queen of Spain Fritillaries, Issoria lathonia. The latter appears to be exceptionally early so I hope there is no risk of a wasted generation when the winter really starts (assuming it does so!). We enjoyed a beer in the evening sunshine at 4.30pm, sitting outside in our t-shirts and light jumper with sleeves rolled up.

20th Well, hardly a frost all of February and daytime temperatures around 10C near Lake Geneva. Exceptional weather, following an exceptionally hot January. A lovely walk in hot sunshine in the Valais on 20th produced 5 species with two Large Tortoiseshells, Nymphalis polychloros finally venturing out of hibernation. The first brood Queen of Spain Fritillaries, I. lathonia, were generally looking worn.

MARCH

4th Still no sign of cold weather with day time temperatures consistently around 10ºC and no air frosts for another 2 weeks. Today a visit late in the day to the Valais produced worn Small Tortoiseshells and Queen of Spain Fritillaries and a couple of Large Tortoiseshells.

17th Some gorgeous weather with daytime temperatures rising frequently to 15ºC and the occasional very light frost. A trip to Valais produced 11 species today in lovely warm hazy sunshine. Perfect Walls, Lasiommata megera were on the wing and plenty of Large Tortoiseshells, N. polychloros. Commas, Polygonum c-album made its first appearance for the year as did two very early Berger's Clouded Yellow, Colias alfacariensis, Southern Small White, Artogeia mannii, Green Veined White, Artogeia napi and Small White, A. rapae. The year is certainly early but snow is forecast for tomorrow which I hope will not cause too many problems for these early butterflies.

24th A cool week with plenty of snow on the ground.

APRIL

1st The surprise snow fall of the 30th March lasted but a day. Today the sun was out, and occasionally shining though high stratus, which warmed things up nicely. A quick trip down to the Valais produced a highly respectable - no incredible -  17 species including these new for the year: Scarce Swallowtail, Iphiclides podalirius (5 individuals seen, including two feeding on flowers of Blackthorn, one of the larval food plants. Exceptionally early for this species), a single Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae, half a dozen Dingy Skippers, Erynnis tages (early for the skippers), dozens of gorgeous male Orange Tips, Anthocharis cardamines but not a single female seen, a Peacock, Inachis io and a Large White, Pieris brassicae. Queen of Spain Fritillaries, I. lathonia were in force too, with some gorgeously fresh, large individuals on the wing, presumably second generation individuals. Large Tortoiseshells, N. polychloros, were still flying strongly - I even found one feeding on a yellow flowered species of Mustard (Cruciferae). Until now I only remember seeing them feed on tree blossom, and then only rarely. Holly Blues, C. argiolus, made an appearance with males and females on the wing.

UPDATE: 11th April
6th Easter trip to the usual spots in Var. Wonderful weather was forecast for all 4 days and was delivered. It is a long drive south with a young baby but he well rewarded with the butterflies (the interesting flappy things). I was very pleased to find another site for the Provence Hairstreak, Tomares ballus and promptly found a mating pair perched in plain view of the camera lens. The season's first Common Blues, Polyommatus icarus and Brown Arguses, Aricia agestis, were flying with them. Also feeding on the Thyme were Cleopatras, Gonepteryx cleopatra and Western Dappled Whites, Euchloe crameri. Lovely to see the delicate Provence Orange Tips, Anthocharis euphenoides fluttering delicately along the hedge rows and forest edges.

7th I went off on my own on a failed attempt to find the Spring Ringlet, Erebia epistygne. But I was stunned to come across a single, perfect example of Portuguese Dappled White, Euchloe tagis, seemingly very early in the season. This is a great discovery but I was left wondering if this was just passing through and the actual colony was some distance away – where it might be was not at all obvious amongst the square miles of stunted oak forest. I was happy to manage a few photos of Baton Blue, Pseudophilotes baton at the same site before clouds formed over the hills and stopped play.

8th Pottered about in the low coastal hills of Var where I was delighted to find Chapman's Green Hairstreak, Callophrys avis, had just emerged. Particularly pleasing is the photo (slight camera shake unfortunately) of this species feeding from the same flower as a Green Hairstreak, C. rubi. The differences between the two species could not be better illustrated! I then found a damp meadow in the dry hills that was frequented by some very fresh Southern Festoons, Zerynthia polyxena. The flowers were wonderful with Cistus showing pure white and purple flowers with plenty of yellow Compositae and Cruciferae carpeting the hills beneath the cork oaks.

9th The drive home, but not without stopping at a few other favourite sites. Black Eyed Blues, Glaucopsyche melanops, posed for a few photos, but mostly they were sitting high in trees angled to capture the morning sun. This time we did find Spring Ringlet, E. epistygne, but they were not stopping at all – their large black forms drifting here and there over the vast expanse of exposed, sparsely vegetated limestone grassland.

UPDATE: 22nd April:
21st Switzerland has been bathed in sunshine and been enjoying temperatures above 20C for at least 2 weeks now. And the butterflies have responded. My first trip to the Valais today since the massive 17 species found on the 1st April clocked up an enormous 35 species. Previous "best" visits to this site in April have only achieved 6 or 7 species in a day in April and only around the 20 mark in May!

Highlights for the day were Duke of Burgundy Fritillaries, Hamearis lucina in many places I've not found them before. The first Mountain Dappled Whites, Euchloe simplonia in excellent condition but not stopping for photographs. A very early Sooty Copper, Lycaena tityrus and a Mazarine Blue, Cyaniris semiargus plus an Adonis Blue, Lysandra bellargus. Chequered Blues, Scolitantides orion in very good numbers, and in good condition although Guy Padfield found them on the wing on 12th. Good to see Pearl Bordered Fritillary Clossiana euphrosyne, Glanville Fritillary, Melitaea cinxia and Green Underside Blues, Glauchopsyche alexis beginning to put on a show. A Pale Clouded Yellow, Colias hyale was also confirmed which is interesting as the usual fare is the Berger's, C. alfacariensis.

28th Finally my first Brimstones, Gonepteryx rhamni, of the year flying at the roadside in stifling hot and humid Besançon.

30th The rain finally came. It is still hot and very humid but at least the ground is now thoroughly wet. The news is that April 2007 has been between 5 and 5.5°C above the average for the month: equivalent to early June. That is seriously abnormal. And the snow levels are reflecting this. Just a few patches remain above 1500m and normally white hillsides have been bare for a month already. Guy Padfield has been finding some amazingly early species, such as Violet Copper, Lycaena helle and Iolas Blue, Iolana iolas. Refer to his butterfly log for more details (link at the top of this page).

MAY

3rd Last morning at work and now looking forward to 4 weeks off between jobs. Typical isn't it - the endless high temperatures and blue skies of April have given way to rain, cool air and clouds. Nevertheless, I managed a brief 5 minute break in the sun locally and ticked off my year's first Provençal Short Tailed Blue, Everes alcetas.

7th Following Guy Padfield's footsteps, I went hunting for the special butterflies he saw at the end of April (see 30th April above). Blanket cloud and temperatures around 10°C until 11:00. Then the wet (following rain) damp meadow chugged into some semblance of life as a couple of Small Blues, Cupido minimus, and Small Heaths, Coenonympha pamphilus, managed a few wing beats. Finally I found a single worn Violet Copper, Lycaena helle, the end of their season coming around a month earlier than normal.

Then it was off to a planted stand of Colutea arborescens (Bladder Senna). Again a wait for some sunshine but it was wonderful to find my first ever Swiss Iolas Blues, Iolana iolas. I think there were two males. They were zipping around the planted Colutea, some of which were already sporting 2 inch long bladders. Not much flying with them though, except some pristine Queen of Spain Fritillaries, Issoria lathonia.

A standing cloud developed so I moved on a little further up the Valais to a meadow I discovered last year. It was alive with butterflies and most excitingly I found 3 of the rare Rosy Grizzled Skippers, Pyrgus onopordi, amongst the year's first Safflower Skippers, P. cartharmi (fabulously fresh). Also new for the year were Black Veined White, Aporia crataegi, very early Marbled Whites, Melanargia galathea (very early for this species) and gorgeous Turquoise Blues, Plebicula dorylas. All too soon the weather closed again and this time it looked permanent. Some excellent butterflying considering I enjoyed only about 2 hours of sun during the day.

UPDATE: 13th May:
9th-11th A short trip to Catalonia, Spain. The season here appears to be about one or two weeks behind the normal following an abysmal April of rain and cold. The weather during my visit was without fault, although for photography daily maxima of between 30 and 34°C is a little too hot for butterflies! Strikingly, despite the bright hot sunshine, butterflies didn't start twitching before around 10 am when it was already in the upper 20°Cs. Then suddenly they were all zipping around giving me no "photography neutral" transition period between no activity and high activity.

The hills to the north and east of Barcelona were good for the Panoptes Blue, Pseudophilotes panoptes, a species for which I have a record of a single individual from a very very long time ago. Nice to get photos to prove to myself that finally I really have seen this species. A single Marsh Fritillary, Euphydryas aurinia, was flying at one site. It was extremely recently emerged but it was malformed. I was told by a local lepidopterist that this species has a very similar phenology to the Spanish Fritillary, E. desfontainii, but my hopes for the latter species were dashed by the late season. It was rewarding to discover a Spanish site for the Chequered Blue, Scolitantides orion which were very freshly emerged. These are about 6 weeks later than the local Swiss butterflies, but it is only in parts of Switzerland that they are double brooded.

I spent the remaining two days of my trip in the arid areas around Lleida. The arable land was nothing if not repetitive. Oh, it was also very hot. Large numbers of Pierids were on the wing: 99% being the Bath White, Pontia daplidice, the Western Dappled White, Euchloe crameri and the Small White, Artogeia rapae. Sadly with the complete prohibition of the use of a butterfly net across all of Spain the interesting species hidden amongst these Pierids were not possible to single out - such as the Green Striped White, E. belemia (a new addition to the Catalan list in March this year, 2007) and the Portuguese Dappled White, E. tagis.

The principal motivation for being near Lleida was a different Pierid: the Sooty Orange Tip, Zegris eupheme, which is a creature of cultivated areas around these arid regions. No sign at all on day 1 of the search. Nice to see White Bellied Sandgrouse, Great Spotted Cuckoos (foraging on the ground at just 10 meters from me) and Stone Curlews. No Bustards unfortunately. However, on day 2, I discovered eupheme flying in a small valley, in very hot dry hills. As I was told to expect, the species is an opportunist, not relying on particular habitats, but roaming widely. The 4 butterflies I saw in the 4 hours I could spend at the site were indeed only present for a minute or so each as they took nectar "en passant" from the flowers in the olive grove. I reacted badly to the nasty little biting flies that attacked in the shade of the olive trees - 3 weeks later I still have the scars to prove it, but worth it for this exceptional and distinctive species.

I had another success, this time with the Spanish Fritillary, E. desfontainii. I found a couple of individuals about 30kms from the eupheme site, but with these roads it was over an hour's to get there. It was late evening so butterflies weren't so active but it was indeed flying with fresh Marsh Fritillaries. The Marsh Fritillaries were much more numerous so I do wonder if the Spanish Fritillary is under recorded. It is however distinctive on inspection of a settled butterfly - the bright red sub marginal bands are broad and basal areas of the upperside are visible from a distance. As was my experience in SW France last year they also showed a preference of settling on bushes and lower branches of trees.

Updated 13th May 2007

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