Ariège Wildlife Report by Graham Hart
April 2004
Graham Hart has lived in Ariège 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.
Well the weather continues to surprise us--mostly cloudy and wet, with only three very sunny days in the whole of April. A few other days saw some sunshine but on many days it just rained! (I thought I came here to escape from that type of weather!). So numbers of butterflies are low and everything is now starting to get rather late. The grass is not growing like normal and farmers are getting a bit worried that there will not be enough for their animals to eat before they go up into the high pastures, which at the moment are still covered with one to two metres of snow!
BUTTERFLIES
Butterflies were seen between the first and fifth of the month then nothing more until the twenty first. The maximum number of Orange Tips seen on at the beginning of the month was around ten, about twenty percent being females. Small Coppers continued to be seen in ones and twos as was Speckled Wood, Comma, Peacock and Clouded Yellow. The first new species of the month was seen by Tim Nash on the 5th, a Green Veined White; in fact he spotted two.
On the twenty first two new species were added to the year list by my friends Lydia and Deni, who came across several freshly emerged Maps and a Camberwell Beauty which settled right in front of them, posing very nicely for the camera. I was fortunate enough to add Camberwell Beauty to my list a few days later as I was dropping my girls off for a music lesson. It was sunning itself on the road near where I parked the car. I saw it fly up as I walked back to the car, so I stood very stil, it flitted around for a few seconds and settled about 10 metres further up the road. I slowly approached it and spent a couple of minutes just taking in the beauty (sorry for the pun) of this large butterfly. On a bike ride just before the end of the month, going a couple of kilometres along a narrow mountain valley road, I spotted two more, also sunning themselves on the road.
Also on the twenty first there were two reports of Wood White and the first Weavers Fritillary was seen. The Weavers Fritillary is also known as the Violet Fritillary, because of the violet hue to the under hind wing, especially in freshly emerged butterflies.
The first Small Heath of the year was seen on the 25th by Tim who then added De Prunner’s Ringlet, the first of the Mountain Ringlets on the 26th. De Prunner’s Ringlet flies from low altitudes (around 400m) right up to the high peaks. They can be seen as early as late February at low altitudes and late May to late June at around 2000m. Right at the end on the month I received a report of an unidentified small fritillary–there are at least four possibilities at this time of the year so I won’t hazard a guess–as well as a report of some unidentified blues. This all goes to show that here you sometimes have to be able to catch the butterflies to be able to identify them properly.
Of the moths the Tau Emperor has been spotted by several people, I received reports of early Silver Washed Fritillaries so asked how they were flying. In a rather erratic manner was the response so confirming my suspicion that they were in fact Tau Emperors. At the end of the month I saw the first Common and Latticed Heath months, little delicate looking geometrid moths that often fly in the day.
FLOWERS
The Lungwort gave a very good and very long display, holding out well in the prolonged bad weather. However, the Wood Anemonies were quickly over. By the end of the month the plants were starting to grow. I found the first Early Purple Orchids just starting to flower and Lydia and Deni came across a meadow with around 30 Early Spider Orchids and 10 Green Winged Orchids in full flower. At the month end Greater Celendine was starting to flower all over the place as was Greater Stitchwort, Garlic Mustard and Meadow Saxifrage. Some meadows early in the month were yellow with dandelions which have now become myriads of grey seed heads waiting to take flight in gusts of wind.
The French are well known for their love of wild mushrooms and this spring has been a very good one for the Morels, of which two species are edible. One is the classic pale brown, with a head that reminds me of a brain; the second has a much smaller dark brown head. We found both types and followed a local recipe–they were absolutely delicious.
BIRDS
With the bad weather the migrants have been slow to arrive and difficult to spot. However I managed to find Wheatears around the middle of the month, some probably just passing through and others perhaps waiting low down for the snow to melt high up before going to their summer breeding grounds. There are now a lot of Black Caps about, singing merrily away to cheer me up on drab mornings whilst walking the dogs. Also Chiff Chaffs are proclaiming their presence with their so characteristic “chiff chaff, chiff chaff” song, wonderful. The Black Redstarts are also calling out their little plaintive song often on roof tops (including our roof), the males are in full breeding colours: very dark charcoal breast, slightly paler back with almost a white stripe visible on the wing towards the rump.
Black Kites have arrived for the summer though as yet numbers are few, perhaps they are waiting very sensibly down in Spain for better weather to come. Swallows have arrived, taking up residence in last years nesting sites, it always amazes me how they can navigate so precisely. As yet I have not seen any Swifts, hopefully the weather will soon improve and the Swifts will soon follow.