Last year I had a great trip to the Alpes-Maritime with Greenwings, six days of solid butterflying in some fantastic alpine scenery. The end result was a tick list of 122 species, a great deal of which were lifers. When a similar trip was announced I immediately signed up as I had missed a few scarcities and the second half of the trip would be based on the Haute-Alpes in the Queyras area, so a chance to see some high alpine butterflies.
The first three nights were based at Rimplas and as we arrived on the Saturday afternoon I made straight for the Promenade de la Foret, a 1.5 kilometre path that on most occasions will yield more than 50 species. I had expected it to be much the same as last year. However I found fewer butterflies, the same number of species just not in the same numbers. This being a consequence of a late spring with snow on the ground at lower altitudes, meaning that plant growth had been retarded and the emergence of the butterflies with it.
Nevertheless there was still plenty to chase around in the warm weather.
Separating resting Cleopatras and Brimstones was fun - no problem when they were in the air. Collins says - Brimstone - "the apical hook is well developed". Whereas in the Cleopatra "the apical hook is poorly developed".
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| Brimstone |
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| Brimstone |
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| Cleopatra |
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| Blue Spot Hairstreak |
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| Sloe Hairstreak |
Lots of Clouded Yellows nectaring.
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| Clouded Yellow |
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| Baton Blue (f) |
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| Escher's Blue |
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| Escher's Blue |
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| Sooty Copper |
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| Sooty Copper |
Dusky Heaths outnumbering Pearly Heaths for a change.
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| Dusky Heath |
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| Dusky Heath |
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| Pearly Heath |
Plenty of Great Banded Grayling up at Fort Rimplas, happy to pose in the early morning sunshine.
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| Unusual to capture them "in cop" |
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Not too many Skippers about but I did manage Mallow, Marbled and Red Underwing
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| Mallow Skipper in the early morning sunshine. |
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| Marbled Skipper - well worn too! |
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| Red Underwing Skipper |
The much sought after Southern Comma was to be found in exactly the same place as last year, always on the Lavender.
Nothing exceptional in the Fritillary department but I was pleased with the female Spotted Fritillary posing for me.
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| Spotted Fritillary (f) |
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| Spotted Fritillary (f) |
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| Spotted Fritillary |
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| Heath Fritillary |
Both Swallowtails well represented, fresh too and no tails missing.
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| Scarce Swallowtail |
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| Swallowtail - the background provided by the distant and shaded side of the valley |
The final tally for the day was 62, I did have an "iffy" sighting of a Large Tortoiseshell but as I couldn't get a positive id it goes in the list of possibles. It is notable that in one small site you can find more butterfly species than in the whole of the UK.
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| A large Pyramidal Orchid |
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