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.
In November the weather started off good, very mild with warm sunny days and lots of butterfly sightings. Then things became more seasonal, cold weather but not a lot of snow and December was a very cold month (unusually so).
BUTTERFLIES
The first half of November was very good with a number of surprises such as a Cleopatra, a Heath Fritillary and a Holly Blue! In total 20 species were seen, some just a single individual such as those above, but others were seen in some numbers. For the Clouded Yellow, on the 8th of November, Tim Nash recorded 20 + sightings!
The full list is as follows: Small White, Large White, Clouded Yellow, Berger’s Clouded Yellow, Brimstone and Cleopatra: Small Copper, Sooty Copper, Long Tailed Blue, Lang’s Short Tailed Blue, Geranium Bronze, Common Blue, Adonis Blue and Holly Blue: Red Admiral and Peacock: Speckled Wood, Wall Brown and Small Heath: Oberthurs Grizzled Skipper.
In December (as I said above a very cold month) there were just four species of butterfly seen, mostly at the beginning of the month, but on the 23rd I saw a Clouded Yellow flitting along taking advantage of a lovely sunny afternoon. The four species were: Clouded Yellow, Berger’s Clouded Yellow, Red Admiral and Wall Brown.
One species was notable by its absence, the Small Tortoiseshell which hibernates as an adult and is usually to be seen on warm days even in December and January (indeed as I write this report I have seen my first butterfly of 2006…….. a Small Tortoiseshell!)
FLOWERS
This is always a quiet time of year for the plants. The last late flowering things put on a final show in November: a few Knapweeds and Hawksbits, and occasionally some small herbs such as Birds Foot Trefoil, and the autumn specialists such as Autumn Crocus hanging on early in the month..
BIRDS
One pair of Lammergeiers are flying around their usual haunts accompanied by their successfully fledged youngster. All three are engaged in nest building activities, but before too long my birding friends inform me, the youngster will go his own way as the parents get down to mating and laying eggs which should happen in January and February.
We have been doing very well with our bird feeders in the garden, lots of Blue and Great Tits and a few Nuthatches, we have even had a Robin on the hollowed out coconuts filled with fat and nuts.