Friday 22 July 2016

My French Adventure (Part 4)

Rock Grayling
Day 4 was a bit of a butterfly bonanza. Most of the morning was spent around Route Presles. The view was breathtaking as always with alpine swifts flying over it, but we were soon distracted from it all by the butterflies here. There were so many species found at the two locations we stopped along this mountain road, it was unbelievable. The list includes; rock grayling, wood white, Lulworth skipper, great sooty satyr, Titania's fritillary, marbled white (hundreds of them!), large skipper, small skipper, Essex skipper, wall brown and pearly heath.

The view from Route Presles
Marbled Whites
Either a Small or a Lulworth Skipper
Wood White
Great Sooty Satyr
Wall Brown
Titania's Fritillary
Away from butterflies, we also came across two new helleborines to add to our ever growing orchid list; a broad-leaved helleborine and Epipactis muelleri. Other insects were here too, including a fire bug, a hummingbird hawk-moth and cicadas, which were creating such a racket somewhere in the trees.

Epipactis Muelleri
Broad-leaved Helleborine

Fire Bug
Some sort of fly
We then had lunch at Petrouz, which had meadows full with more butterflies feeding on the flowers. Highlights here include; Queen of Spain fritillary, heath fritillary, false heath fritillary, scarce copper, Mazarine blue, common blue (taunting me again!), and black-veined white.
Mazarine blue
Heath Fritillary

Black-veined White
Scarce Copper
Common Blue
Longhorn Beetle
Queen of Spain Fritillary

Queen of Spain Fritillary
False Heath Fritillary
Scarce Swallowtail
Finally, as it was a very hot day, we went to the beautiful town of Port-en-Rouan for an ice cream. While we were here, we searched the buddleia bushes for more butterflies. It proved successful as we found another hummingbird hawk-moth, Cleopatra butterflies (look similar to a brimstone but is more orange), brimstones, clouded yellows, a white admiral, great banded graylings, a Provencal short-tailed blue and, best of the lot, a scarce swallowtail! I also heard a serin and saw a black redstart.




Hummingbird Hawk-moth
Great Banded Grayling
Provencal Short-tailed Blue
Black Redstart
Port-en-Rouan

















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