Graham Hart has lived in Ariege since May 1998 and has known the area since 1991.He has a life-long interest in natural history, which started with butterflies and birds and now includes other insects (especially moths) and flowers. He leads butterfly watching holidays in the region and is writing a book on the butterflies of Ariège. When not out chasing butterflies Graham works as a vet in Ax-les-Thermes.

9 June 2002

The weather was pretty good for about a week, then dreadful for the last week--even so there were a few sunny spells in which butterflies took to the air. It seems to be a very good year for orchids, which can fortunately be found in bad weather as well as good. Even in bad weather it is quite easy to find roosting butterflies, my record being 21 species with a group a couple of years ago. The other day on a short excursion in the rain Nick Bowles and I found nine.

BUTTERFLIES
Several species to add to the year list: on 2nd June Pearly Heath, Southern White Admiral, Duke of Burgundy, Spotted Fritillary and Olive Skipper. These were among the 37 species seen that day by Roger Carter and myself on a walk out from my house at Alas near St Girons. We walked up the limestone escarpement that goes up behind the house, going through light woodland, meadows, short limestone grassland with Juniper then up into limestone scrub and dry open woodland, and finally at the top at 1200m Beech woodland. It was whilst high up at over 1000m that we first spotted the Duke of Burgundy: first we found a very fresh looking female, then later we found two males, both along an open woodland path as we were descending, staking out their territories and ever vigilant for passing females. It is very interesting that here in the Pyrenees we have never recorded the Duke at under 950m altitude. Here where we found it; suitable habitat descends to the bottom of the valley at around 450m and my own land looks ideal with loads of Cowslips growing in nice shady places very similar to places where I have had no difficulty in finding eggs high up. So this presents an interesting observation. The habitat is widespread at lowish altitudes but something stops the butterfly from using that habitat, probably just the hot climate at that altitude. However, the Chequered Skipper, a butterfly associated with damp woodlands and bogs in Scotland in the UK are found down to 400m! Half way up the ascent, on an area of short limestone grassland, I had a great view of a Lesser Broad Bordered Bee Hawk Moth, buzzing around nectaring on various plants, then just as suddenly as it had arrived it was gone.

On the 3rd of June Roger and I added Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary and False Heath Fritillary to the year list. We saw 22 species along the Aston valley in the east of the departement, including several Camberwell Beauties that were very obliging, basking on rocks at the side of the road, and a couple of them did a fantastic spiral flight going up vertically for about 20metres before separating. It seemed to me that it was a male and an already mated female who was just not interested in his advances. There were some day flying moths flying around, very good numbers of Chimney Sweepers, with the tiny white mark at the tip of the fore wing, Black Veined Moth, a white moth with black veins which are much more obvious on the underside. I believe this moth is found at only one site in the UK. Here we are very lucky: it flys all over the place in damp situations. Also today both Broad Bordered Bee and Humming Bird Hawk moths were seen buzzing around the flowers feeding on the wing.

On the 4th, in very threatening weather Roger Carter, Nick Bowles (of Butterfly Line) and I set off in search of the Violet Copper. The weather forcast was awful, but we took a chance on going to a site high up in the mountains at about 1600 metres where the weather is often a bit better…… "a bit" being the operative word. We wandered around the bog for about half an hour before spotting the first one, a male, perched in a bush. Then over the next hour the sun came out a bit and we found in all probably about a dozen males, some very fresh, probably just emerged that morning. The bad weather was good for photographing the butterflies once found, but it prevented the females from coming out to fly and we had to content ourselves with searching Bistort leaves for evidence of females…..eggs, rather than the females themselves. In one of the sunny spells a couple of perfect Pearl Bordered Fritillaries graced us with their presence and one was very obliging for photos. Also I captured a solitary Small White-sized butterfly which turned out upon close examination to be a Southern Small White, another first for the season. We carried on trying to chase the sun, round to a region called Cerdagne, and Font Romeu, the sunniest place in France. It did not let us down and we ate our picnic on a dry scrubby hillside with Small Blues and Green Hairstreaks flitting around as well as the occasional Swallowtail and Scarce Swallowtail, then just one Osiris Blue, another first for the year. The day’s tally was in the end thirty species of butterfly and quite a few orchids.

FLOWERS
One of the most memorable recent finds was Pyreneen Turks Cap lillies with their lovely yellow flowers and vivid orange stamens extending down from the always downturned flowers. There were lots growing along shady woodland edges and the roadside near Aston. Also in the same area there was Dusky Cranesbill (now a popular garden plant) in flower. As for orchids, a search for Vanilla Orchids at a 2000m col that I know well turned up nothing. This along with the presence of daffodils still in flower lead me to think the season this year is rather late. However, we did find Elderflower Orchids just over the col.

A few days later, on the Violet Copper trip we added Pale Flowered Orchid and fantastic numbers of one of the Marsh Orchids that were the most spectacular vivid colours and in numbers that I have never seen before at that particular site.

On the 5th of June when the weather was not looking at all good Nick Bowles and I went to a site in the foothills in search of the sun (which we did see for all of 15 minutes). It is a limestone area, and as well as several species of butterfly in the short sunny spell we found no less than seventeen species of orchid: Pyramidal, Tongue, Long Lipped Serapia (Serapia Vomicaera), Bug, Early Spider, Fly, Bee, Woodcock, Fragrant, Lizard, Man, Burnt Tip, Military, Lesser Butterfly, Red Helleborine, Broad Leaved Helleborine and Twayblade. The most abundant was the Lesser Butterfly, of which there must have been hundreds dotted around all over the place.

BIRDS
Red Backed Shrikes have been in evidence lately. Dave Watts had a pair nesting within 20 metres of his house!! He informs me they have laid four eggs and the female is now sitting on the nest.

Whilst out on the slope behind my house at Alas I was fortunate enough to have good close up views of--one after the other-- Short Toed Eagle, with its dark head and chin but white highly banded wings and body; then Honey Buzzard, with its small head and marked banded underside; and finally two ordinary Buzzards, all whilst sitting having a picnic in the shade of a small oak tree right near the top of the escarpement. It was a real live lesson in how to identify these three species which one can sometimes confuse, especially at a distance.

In the garden we have Great, Blue, Coal and Marsh Tits, Nut Hatches and a Great Spotted Woodpecker regularly feeding at the fat balls that we put out. We have to put out two a day to keep up with demand!!