Friends of Groyne No.4: Marsh Fritillary

Friday, 25 May 2018

Butterflies of the French Pyrenees, Conat and Torre de Goa

The first whole day butterflying and we had three venues to visit - roadside meadows at Conat, Vernet les Bains and finally the Torre de Goa.

Conat and Vernet les Bains

Even more Glanville Fritillaries making even more Glanville Fritillaries

Another Glanville!

Green Hairstreak

Marsh Fritillary

Provencal Fritillary

Spotted Fritillary

The Pyrenees had a late spring and snow had hung around for some time. Consequently the vegetation was not as advanced as in a normal spring, even the butterflies were late and this turned out to be a bonus. By late May the Spanish Festoons have all but disappeared but we managed to find several fresh specimens - definitely worth photographing.

Spanish Festoon

Weaver's Fritillary

Spotted Fritillary

Torre de Goa

Adonis Blue

All three species of Bee Hawk moth were on the wing and as always, very difficult to capture. This Broad-bordered Bee Hawk Moth was no exception. I cranked up the ISO and shot wide open to get the shutter speed as fast as possible, of course at the expense of the depth of focus. I guess this is a subject where you just have to get lucky.

Broad-bordered Bee Hawk Moth, unfortunately with one antenna missing.

Broad-bordered Bee Hawk Moth

Next up was a life tick, I hadn't come across Chequered Blue before and it isn't one that you would forget. It has the odd quality that it subtly changes colour and intensity in the varying light conditions. Definitely a butterfly that brightens up your day.

Chequered Blue

Chapman's Blue

Southern Scarce Swallowtail, Iphiclides podalarius feisthamelli

Spotted Fritillary

I was so intent on capturing the Chequered Blues that I only had a slight inkling of something on the path. When I looked up I was confronted by what looked like a wolf. Well it turned out that I was half right - a cross breed Wolf/Alsatian, specially bred as sheep guard dogs. At least this one a had a rather nice lady owner, not sure I would like to meet one on my own - the dog that is - not the owner.

Monday, 16 May 2016

Marsh Fritillaries

I didn't have it in me to call this blog Great Spotted Cuckoo, as I only managed a couple of record shots on a day when I was expecting to nail the bird. It was a toss up between a bird and a butterfly or two butterflies. The bird won and we were on our way to Portland with an 0600 start to miss most of the traffic. Conflicting reports cost us a bit of time but in the end we staked out Reap Lane in Southwell where the bird had been spotted most days. We waited patiently but the optimism level was starting to wilt, then Martin saw a bird flying into the cuckoo's favourite haunt. A slight relocation and we had the bird, which was skulking in the bushes, in our viewfinders albeit at a distance. Unfortunately I think the bird was replete - stuffed with Brown-tailed Moth caterpillars - and it remained on its perch for a good half hour before dropping down the hill to munch on even more caterpillars. Of course we tried to get clear shots but it remained obscured by twigs, then the inevitable happened - dog walker - and the bird returned to its perch in the dense bushes. We waited for another opportunity but we were keen to have a go at the Marsh Fritillaries of Cotley Hill.

Cotley Hill came up trumps though we had to walk a whole hundred more yards into the reserve than last time to find our first Marsh Fritillary. With some warm sunshine heating up the ground, plenty of butterflies were emerging, we counted between 20 and 30 sightings. Last time we visited we were later in the season and the butterflies were worn, you can't get them fresher than this.