Bath White
Above the Bath White (Pontia daplidice) seemed quite common in the south of France in August. It has several broods with peak numbers in September apparently. It gets its English name from being sighted near Bath at some time in the past, a similar story to the Camberwell Beauty. Have either been seen in sarf London or the west country since?
Below is Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra) obviously very similar to our Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) which also flies in France. The male Cleopatra is easily distinguished in flight by the orange patches on the forewing.
Speckled Wood butterflies in the UK tend to be brown and cream (Pararge tircis). I noticed a couple of years ago that those in northern France were slightly more orange. The Speckled Woods in the south however are really orange, the form Pararge aegeria. At first you think you are seeing Heath Fritillaries they are so orange. The behaviour is the same as their northern browner cousins, constantly defending their sunny patches!
I will put a Wall in as well (Lasiommata megera), they also seemed more orange than our UK yellowy ones. I was hoping for Large Wall (Lasiommata maera) but had no luck.
I probably saw quite a lot of Wood White as they too are quite common. However, it is difficult to identify the whites unless they come to a stop and in the heat they are very active. This looks like a male of the "standard" form Leptidea sinapis. Second brood males have hardly any grey scales and white antennal spots. Females have brown antennal spots as does the Eastern Wood White (Leptidea duponcheli) which also has more grey scaling. Then there is Real's Wood White (Leptidea reali) if you fancy examining the genitalia!!
Now we come to the humble Gatekeeper. Again very common in the south of France whilst I was there July into August. Now I definitely didn't see the Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia Bathseba) which is significantly different, but I think I have underside shots of our regular Pyronia tithonus and also the Southern Gatekeeper (Pyronia cecilia). Both types were flying together in good numbers on my local scrubby patch of land in Céret.
Looks to me like our tithonus showing small white ocelli spots and no clear discal line...
...and cynthia here with no ocelli on the hind wing and a clear discal separation line
I'm going for cynthia again as there is no sign of any ocelli showing through and the colour is bright orange. Wish I had paid more attention to them now instead of thinking here we go more bloomin' Gatekeepers! Live and learn :) Maybe I should have paid some attention to the Meadow Browns as well? Hmmmm...
Finally Clouded Yellow. Quite a few around but not in great condition. The one directly below could be the "standard" Colias crocea, could be Berger's Clouded Yellow (Colias alfacariensis) or even Pale Clouded Yellow (Colias hyale) I can't say for certain. The photo at the bottom is a Clouded Yellow I saw at North Cave Wetlands on my return, in much better condition. Unfortunately I only had my phone to photograph it so the colours may be a bit off! If anyone reads this and knows what the pink flowers are that many of the French butterflies are nectaring on could you let me know? Looks like Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis) but there was often a strong scent of mint whenever I found a decent patch of wild flowers.
mobile phone pic
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