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

BUTTERFLY: Skippers: Large and Small, Lancashire and Cumbria

June 19-30, 2010:
Large Skippers and Small Skippers are superficially of similar appearance. Whilst the Large Skipper is found throughout most of the country almost as far north as central Scotland, the Small Skipper's northern limit (whilst quite similar) is further south, where it reaches south Cumbria on the west side and somewhat further north on the east. Both species occupy grassy areas, such as meadows, waste ground and roadside verges, and utilise various species of grass as their larval food plant. The males of both species possess a prominent dark line of scent scales on the upper side of the fore wing; this is absent in the females. The Large Skipper is best differentiated from its close relative in its possession of small, almost rectangular, contrasting pale markings, best seen on the upper surface of the wings. The Small Skipper is unmarked in this way and sometimes appears paler overall. It emerges about two weeks later than the Large Skipper. Personal observations suggest that the Small Skipper exhibits a lower, more fluttering type of flight, and appears slighty smaller and paler when seen on the wing compared to the Large Skipper.

Top four photos below: Small Skipper. Lowest two photos: Large Skipper. The dark line of the males' scent scales can be seen on the upper surfaces of the forewings. All shown are males except for the top photo and the right-hand butterfly in the second photo (which are both females).






[Small Skipper (four above), Large Skipper (two below)



[Variously photographed at Gait Barrows and Heysham (Lancashire) and Latterbarrow (Cumbria), June 19-30, 2010]

BUTTERFLY: Skippers at Wrexham

[Large Skipper]

June 3, 2010:
The continuing sunny weather is ideal for butterflies. One species which should be flying now and which reaches its northern British limit in Denbighshire is the Grizzled Skipper. Known to occur in that county only in small numbers, it nevertheless seemed worth taking the chance to try to find it in the present good conditions. Loggerheads Country Park near Mold is a known locality and was checked first but today none could be found although one had been reported 'last week'. So, a move to a second known locality near Wrexham (Wrecsam) was called for. This was a 'brown field' site on an industrial estate with suitable habitat covering only a very small area. Again, no Grizzled Skippers were found on what is a very flower-rich piece of grassland but Dingy Skippers and Large Skippers were present as well as Small Heaths and Common Blues.


[Dingy Skipper]


[Dingy Skipper]


[Common Blue]


[Small Heath]

This site at Wrexham is becoming rather overgrown and there was little evidence of the presence of the Grizzled Skipper's food plant (Wild Strawberry). A disused quarry nearby at Marford was also checked. Here there was abundant food plant but again no Grizzled Skippers could be found.