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.
The weather really warmed up at the beginning of March and we had three fantastic weeks, very hot and sunny, so the wildlife caught up quickly from the cold February.
BUTTERFLIES
The spring butterflies were out in force, plenty of Orange Tips, Green Veined, Small and Large Whites. Holly Blues were regularly seen and there were several sightings of the most impressive of the adult hibernators, the Camberwell Beauty, some of the individuals seen were very fresh looking.
By the end of the month both Swallowtail and Scarce Swallowtail had been sighted, as well as Cleopatra, Short Tailed Blue and Common Blue, Map, Small and Sooty Coppers and Green Hairstreak.
FLOWERS
The flowers came out in a great rush, lots of Hepatica in its various hues of blue pink and white, the most common form being blue. Masses of Violets all over the place as well as masses of Lesser Celandine.
BIRDS
The Lammergieres nearby unfortunately did not lay any eggs, nor in fact did any of the other three known pairs in the Ariege. It is believed this was due to the very heavy snow falls in February, which came at the normal time for egg laying and so disrupted everything. So not good news at all, but seemingly due to the weather rather than some man made problem.