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Erebia epistygne

Spring Ringlet

Field Notes

Var, France, April 2008

Var, France, May 2005

Var, France, May 2005

Var, France, May 2005

Var, France, May 2005

Alpes de Haute Provence, France, May 2005

Alpes de Haute Provence, France, May 2005

Var, France, May 2005

Alpes de Haute Provence, France, May 2005

Var, France, May 2005

Alpes de Haute Provence, France, May 2005

Provence, France, April 2003

Male

Provence, France, April 2003

Female - browner and with more white.

Provence, France, April 2003

Another male, this one with a lazy right forewing - possible car damage.

Provence, France, April 2003

Underside of male with lazy right forewing.

Provence, France, April 2003

Another photo of the first male

It flies extremely early for this group of butterflies. It is usually finished before any of its many relatives in the genus Erebia even consider emerging and starting to fly. It is found in April and early May at moderate altitudes in a few small regions of southern France and one mountainous area of Spain - the Montes Universales.

In April 2003 I found only 6 specimens in a well known area for this species. The April sun was weak and low so I think butterfly activity was rather low anyway but from what I hear this species is never common and has been declining. I was very lucky to find and film a female. These I'm told fly rarely, the males being much easier to find because they are more active. The males I saw did indeed fly. Infact they would rarely stop which made filming them extremely hard work. As a result I had to wait for the hazy cloud to build up sufficiently to require the butterflies to rest and bask. Hence the rather odd lighting on all my photographs - low and weak April sunshine.

The female was disturbed as my wanderings luckily took me passed her.

The habitat of the colony I found is very special. It is limestone pavement with very sparse vegetation. In April there are hundreds of the yellow-orange Lilies with fewer numbers of the purple variety. Very few other flowers were present. I didn't see any feeding activity from the ever wandering males.

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