Having happened upon a small alfalfa field, just 2 kilometres from the house, I made a couple of return visits, to have a better look at the bee activity and see if I could find my inner lepidopterist.
Large White or Cabbage White
(Pieris brassicae)
On both occasions, there was plenty going on, but it was breezy, making photography tricky.
I thought about estimating the relative presence of various creatures – without recoursing to a butterfly net, walking of transects, traps or even a clip board. Let’s call it semi-empirical, quasi-quantitative Observation.
Clouded Yellow Butterfly
(Colias croceus)
Here are the results of my in-depth study :
|
Creature |
Quantity |
| Honey Bee | Countless |
| Bumble Bee | One |
| Ladybird | One |
| Cricket | Many, at the edges of the field |
| Cabbage White Butterfly | Plentiful |
| Clouded Yellow Butterfly | A handful |
| Peacock Butterfly | One |
| Common Blue Butterfly | Quite alot |
| Queen of Spain Fritillary | One |
| Heath (?) Fritillary | Two – with more on their way |
and some pictorial proof…
Honey Bee
(Apis mellifera)
White Tailed Bumblebee
(Bombus lucorum)
I have invested in a reference book – Papillons (Larousse), as it has become apparent that my little guide is inadequate and too UK focussed. The new book is by no means exhaustive, but it is certainly handy to have something more oriented towards the butterflies of France.
It has only recently dawned on me how different the butterfly populations can be from one region to another.
Common Blue Butterfy (female)
(Polyommatis icarus)
I agree, she isn’t particularly blue – but the male below does have a violet nuance.
Common Blue Butterfy (male)
(Polyommatus icarus)
Get a Room!
pair of Fritillaries – could be Heath, Meadow or Provencal?
Another lesson learned is that it really helps to have a view of both the upper and the underside of these butterflies.
And that even with a book, and the internet, identification is something of a challenge. Its not all black and white.
Stick To Plan Bee 
Those are really beautiful photographs. I did not realise you were as interested in butterflies. I have been thinking of buying a guide specific to the Poitou Charente. A new one has come out this May, see http://www.papillon-poitou-charentes.org/. I am not sure where you are but it might interest you. It is also an excellent site for identifications.
The butterfly interest is all very recent, following on from the bee interest which began just over a year ago with the arrival of the hive. Spying on the bees has revealed a whole layer of biology right on my doorstep, that I hadn’t previously appreciated – so now I want to dig deeper, see what’s out there and try to put names to faces as it were.
Thanks for the link – its a very detailed work. I’m on the Haute Garonne / Gers border (just making it into the 31). I’ve had a quick look to see if a parallel website exists down here – but didn’t find anything.
So much to discover – haven’t even thought about birds, fungi, etc.