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 July 2002

The weather since the last report has been somewhat mixed, but with plenty of sunshine in between grey spells. Temperatures have been getting up into the 30's on sunny days and now we often get a thunderstorm in late afternoon which clears after a couple of hours. So the mornings are the best for going out for looking at nature at this time of year.

BUTTERFLIES
A lot to report since last time. The most important and exciting was the discovery of a new species for the Ariege, the Black Hairstreak. This always elusive butterfly was recorded some years ago in two of the neighbouring departements, so this is the first modern record for this whole area of the Eastern Pyrenees. It was discovered by Nick Bowles and what's more it was on my land -- mind blowing!! I've yet to see one myself but will be keeping a keen eye out next year. In fact I think it must be breeding on some large stands of Blackthorn on some land adjacent to mine so perhaps I will go on an egg hunt this winter.

The first Apollo was seen by Tim Nash in the Couserans on the 10th of June. Their emergence is now in full swing. It seems to be a good year for them: yesterday on a walk up to a refuge at 1600m I came across an area where I was seeing at least one all the time and sometimes two or three. I must have seen at least forty in all-- wonderful

The research in the Saurat valley has been continuing. On June 12 David Corke, Tim Nash and I went up quite high, to nearly 1200m to an area where Nabakov had recorded the Duke of Burgundy Fritillary. Well, we found some of the food plant, Cowslip, and we found plenty of good ancient woodland indicator plants such as Herb Paris, Wood Sanicle and Leopards Bane. Most of the woodland was very shady. We found two small hamlets of now derelict barns and small houses. There were plenty of terraced walls in the woodland and in the end we found several small open areas with a limestone flora, Rockrose, Horseshoe Vetch and Cowslips. In the Hazel around these open areas there were plenty of orchids, but not a single sign of a Duke of Burgundy Fritillary. A bit higher up we found larger open areas but the flora was totally different, not a limestone flora at all and the area was heavily invaded by Spanish Broom--scrub invasion just like in the UK!

On talking to some of the locals a few days later I learned that fifty years ago the hamlets we had discovered were very much used, and the terraces in the woodland were farmed as well. So it had been an area of mixed mature woodland with large clear areas that were used for growing wheat and maize. The people came up here in the summer and stayed for 5 months, growing their crops and grazing their animals. So back then the environment would have been very different, lots of woodland edge habitat ideal for the Duke of Burgundy. Abandonment and woodland regeneration has therefore changed this area dramatically, leading to the disappearance of the Duke of Burgundy Fritillary. Other butterflies seen on this trip were Southern Small White, Green veined, Large and Wood Whites. I failed to net another white which was either a Bath White or a Dappled White…..we will never know! Orange tip and Moroccan Orange Tip, Brimstone, Clouded Yellow, Small Tortoishell, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Map. Grizzled, Dingy and Oberthurs Grizzled Skippers, Small Heath, Small Mountain Ringlet, Small Copper and Common Blue.

That afternoon we went to a different site, a disused limestone quarry near the base of the valley. It was very hot here and the butterflies were very different and abundant. We added the following to the days sightings: Cleopatra, Chapmans, Adonis, Small and Provence Short Tailed Blues, Sooty Copper, Bergers Clouded Yellow, Meadow, False Heath, Heath, Provencal, Knapweed and High Brown Fritillaries, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Deprunners Ringlet, Pearly Heath and Red Underwing Skipper. Making a total of 39 species.

The next trip to Saurat was on the 16th June. David and I started at the woodland track where we had discovered the Chequered Skipper in April. To our dismay the sides of the track had all been cut, massacred would have been a better word, even the wildflower bank where we had found Green Hairstreak and Sooty Copper before was all chopped down. We did however manage to find some butterflies, mostly in an area next to where we parked the cars, we recorded 14 species, adding one new species the Ringlet to our list. We decided to move on and went back to the old ruin where we had found the hill topping Swallowtails. We were again lucky enough to see both Swallowtail and Scarce Swallowtail hilltopping. Also we added two new species to the list, Tufted Marbled Skipper and Large Chequered Skipper, the latter having a very characteristic flight, as if it is bouncing along…….boing, boing , boing boing, boing. Once seen never forgotten. A species not seen by Nabakov, it likes long grass so has probably colonised the area as land was abandoned.

The final trip to Saurat with David was on the 19th of June. We went to a different place, up the base of a limestone outcrop on the southern side, very rocky and very dry and hot. This went up eventually to some rather shady woodland in which there were some areas of nice light rides suitable for butterflies.

The most exciting find of the day was the Mountain Small White, only the third known site in the Ariege. This butterfly is easy to identify because of the lack of a black central spot on the underside of the forewing in the female (there is a black spot on the topside but not the underside). We saw 34 species of butterfly, new ones being Mountain Small White, Southern White Admiral, Idas Blue, Silver Studded Blue, Niobe Fritillary and Great Banded Grayling. We came down to the valley bottom by a different route and discovered a fantastic damp meadow with loads of Devils Bit Scabious, but no evidence of Marsh Fritillaries…..we were probably a bit late so perhaps I will go back there near the end of August and look for the characteristic larval webs on their host plant.

David also made a couple of trips to Saurat by himself and found Ilex Hairstreak, and I have continued to go there when I get the chance. I added Sloe Hairstreak and Woodland Grayling to the list by the 29th of June when Nabakov left. Since then I have also added Purple-Shot Copper (02.07.02), Dark Green Fritillary (02.07.02), Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary (07.07.02), White Admiral (07.07.02), Purple Emperor (07.07.02) and Apollo (07.07.02). I have also found a bog at around 1200m full of Devils Bit Scabious and I will eat my butterfly net if the Marsh Fritillary doesn't fly there a bit earlier in the year! Another site to visit at the end of August to look for larval nests (if I have the time!)

On returning on the 19th from the Saurat area David and I took my girls and the dog Daisy out for a walk. It was around 6pm, there were still plenty of butterflies about and I spied my first Amanda's Blue of the year, on a limestone slope with a mix of scrub and woodland. It is quite large and is unmistakable from the underside: there are no submarginal orange lunules on the forewing. It is a butterfly I more often associate with damp areas often at or above 1000m. Here it was flying at about 700m.

On the 26th of June I took some English people out on one of my favorite trips. Up over a col at 2000m then down the other side into some damp woodland where the Violet Copper and Bog Fritillary fly then finally back up towards the col, stopping on a marvellous dry limestone slope full of wild flowers. As we were going up to the col I spied my first Apollo for the year. At the col there were Grizzled Skippers and Large Grizzled Skippers, Marsh, Meadow and Pearl Bordered Fritillaries, Small Mountain and Deprunners Ringlets, Common, Small and Silver Studded Blues and even a female Holly Blue, the highest one I have ever seen, not a deciduous tree in sight at that altitude. The other mountain specialist that we found was the first of the Mountain Clouded Yellows, whizzing about in a very steep gully and occasionally flying up out of it and right past us, superb.

Down in the woodland at the bottom of the valley there were a lot of butterflies flying, but alas I could not find a Violet Copper in the bog adjacent, we were just too late. However I did manage to find eggs and caterpillars of the Violet Copper on the leaves of Bistort, its larval food plant. To make up for it the Purple Edged Copper was putting in a good appearance, I don't think I have ever seen so many, sometimes three or four could be seen at one time. Fortunately the Bog Fritillary was still flying in reasonable numbers, but it was outnumbered by a good hatch of Lesser Marbled Fritillaries from which it was impossible to differentiate in flight. Dark Green Fritillary put in an appearance, it is obviously larger then the Bog and Lesser Marbled. However it needs to be looked at carefully to differentiate it from the High Brown and Niobe Fritillaries which are both very similar on the top side, the underside being the thing to look at for telling them apart.

Also flying down at the valley bottom was the Chestnut Heath, rather like the Pearly Heath but with rather less white on the underside hind wing and less obvious eye spots. We found another mountain ringlet species which I usually associate with damp woodland, the Bright Eyed Ringlet. It has very bright eye spots as its name suggests; if you look at the top and undersides then it is possible easily to differentiate it from all the other Erebias that fly in the Pyrenees. The only other species with which one can confuse it is the Woodland Ringlet, which is nearly identical, the only distinguishing feature is the antennae, but it does not fly anywhere near the Pyrenees!

Up on the limestone slope at mid afternoon there were plenty of blues flying and the occasional Moroccan Orange Tip flitted by. I was lucky enough to be graced with the presence of a Lesser Broad Bordered Bee Hawk Moth…..for about five seconds, just long enough to differentiate it from its close relative the Broad Bordered Bee Hawk. Also we had two new species for the year, Piedemont Ringlet and Large Wall Brown.

FLOWERS
The one flower that sticks in my mind is Herb Paris , with its peculiar form, just four leaves and one flower in the centre a most strange and wonderful plant. Of the orchids we found Vanilla Orchids at the col at 2000m and also lower down at about 1200m in a small meadow by the damp woodland. Here the plants were three times as tall as the tiny ones we found right up high.! The summer flowers are with us now: the Knapweeds are out in the meadows, Meadowsweet and Great Burnet are in full flower in damp meadows and something called Small Scorpion Vetch is at present flowering. This is a confusing little plant, at first glance you say to yourself ah… Horseshoe Vetch; then you say to yourself, but that flowers in late May, so you have a look at the leaves… again like Horseshoe Vetch, but wait a minute, they are more of a glaucous colour and there is a little point at the end of each leaflet!

BIRDS
Lots of birds are now feeding young so are less in evidence, however there is still plenty of bird song. On my trip half way up a mountain yesterday I was lucky enough to see a pair of Rock Buntings flitting about, and on my descent I had a nice view of a Crested Tit in a small birch tree just five yards away.