French Jura: Butterflies

July 17-21, 2012:
Woodland and open sub-alpine grassland in the Foret du Risoux near Les Rousses was rich in butterflies. The Adonis Blue and Large Ringlet were frequent here especially in the more open areas whilst three different fritillaries nectared on the flowery species-rich grassland.

Adonis Blue (male) above and below



Adonis Blue aberration showing pale-coloured striations replacing the marginal lunules

Large Ringlet (female) with conspicuous silver band on the underside of the forewing

Amongst the fritillaries, the False Heath Fritillary was the scarcest with the Meadow and Lesser Marbled more frequent.

False Heath Fritillary (both above)

Meadow Fritillary (both above)

Lesser Marbled Fritillary (three above)

A solitary Purple-edged Copper made a brief appearance, the brightly coloured dark bordered upperside seen clearly when in flight. This is a scarce butterfly.

Purple-edged Copper

A sheltered woodland glade near Divonne-le-Bains had several species including Silver-washed Fritillary, Chalk-hill Blue, Wood White and Large Skipper. Ringlets were locally frequent in damp pasture elsewhere.

Silver-washed Fritillary (male) with very broad silver bandings on the hind-wing underside

Chalk-hill Blue male

Wood White, a delicate weak-flying butterfly

Common Ringlet

Large Skipper

A Small Heath frequenting rough grassland at Lac de Bellefontaine

Foret du Risoux, butterfly-rich flowery grassland

Chalk grassland butterflies at Aston Rowant

[Chalk-hill Blue male]

August 15, 2011:
It being almost one year to the day, another visit to the Chilterns to the butterfly-rich grassland at Aston Rowant was now due. Conditions were reasonable but still less than ideal with a very strong breeze and intermittent sunshine. Flying here were many Chalk-hill Blues which especially favoured patches of Marjoram for nectaring. At the same place there were also several Brown Argus similarly attracted to the flowers.




[Chalk-hill Blue male, both above]




[Brown Argus, both above]


[Chalk-hill Blue male and Brown Argus female]

Above the short turf, very fast-flying Silver-spotted Skippers would appear during bursts of sunshine but quickly settled to perch on the bare gravelly rabbit scrapes when the sun disappered. This enabled them to benefit from the heat radiated by the stony surface.




[Silver-spotted Skipper male, both above]

On one occasion a brief glipse was gained of a very bright light blue butterfly, very likely to be an Adonis Blue, but it disappeared before it could definitely be confirmed. Adonis's are known to occur at this site although in very low numbers. There were also many Meadow Browns and Small Heaths as well as a few Small Coppers.

BUTTERFLY: Chalk-hill Blues (Lysandra coridon) at Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire

[Chalk-hill Blue male]

August 11, 2010:
Other than the Silver-spotted Skippers mentioned earlier (see below) there were also many Chalk-hill Blues (Lysandra coridon) flying today. Again, they remained mostly hidden when the sun was obscured but once it returned they were soon in motion and nectaring, especially on the Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) which was in full flower. The males were bright silvery-blue on the upper surface of the wings which contrasted noticeably with the duller brown wings of the females. This butterfly, although restricted to southern Englnd, is much more common than the Silver-spotted Skipper and was very numerous at the site.



[Chalk-hill Blue female, above]


[Chalk-hill Blue male, above]


[Aston Rowant: the short grazed grassland habitat of the butterflies]

The Brown Argus (Aricia agestis), another of the 'blues', was also very frequent here. Both sexes are a rich brown on the upper side of the wings with prominent orange spots towards the outer margin. They also were attracted to the strongly scented Marjoram.

[Brown Argus, below]




Common Blues, Meadow Browns, Small Coppers and Small Heaths were also frequent.

For Silver-spotted Skippers at Aston Rowant today, please see below.