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| Rock Grayling |
Day 4 was a bit of a butterfly bonanza. Most of the morning was spent around Route Presles. The view was breathtaking as always with alpine swifts flying over it, but we were soon distracted from it all by the butterflies here. There were so many species found at the two locations we stopped along this mountain road, it was unbelievable. The list includes; rock grayling, wood white, Lulworth skipper, great sooty satyr, Titania's fritillary, marbled white (hundreds of them!), large skipper, small skipper, Essex skipper, wall brown and pearly heath.
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| The view from Route Presles |
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| Marbled Whites |
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| Either a Small or a Lulworth Skipper |
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| Wood White |
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| Great Sooty Satyr |
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| Wall Brown |
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| Titania's Fritillary |
Away from butterflies, we also came across two new helleborines to add to our ever growing orchid list; a broad-leaved helleborine and
Epipactis muelleri. Other insects were here too, including a fire bug, a hummingbird hawk-moth and cicadas, which were creating such a racket somewhere in the trees.
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| Epipactis Muelleri |
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| Broad-leaved Helleborine |
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| Fire Bug |
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| Some sort of fly |
We then had lunch at Petrouz, which had meadows full with more butterflies feeding on the flowers. Highlights here include; Queen of Spain fritillary, heath fritillary, false heath fritillary, scarce copper, Mazarine blue, common blue (taunting me again!), and black-veined white.
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| Mazarine blue |
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| Heath Fritillary |
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| Black-veined White |
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| Scarce Copper |
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| Common Blue |
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| Longhorn Beetle |
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| Queen of Spain Fritillary |
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| Queen of Spain Fritillary |
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| False Heath Fritillary |
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| Scarce Swallowtail |
Finally, as it was a very hot day, we went to the beautiful town of Port-en-Rouan for an ice cream. While we were here, we searched the buddleia bushes for more butterflies. It proved successful as we found another hummingbird hawk-moth, Cleopatra butterflies (look similar to a brimstone but is more orange), brimstones, clouded yellows, a white admiral, great banded graylings, a Provencal short-tailed blue and, best of the lot, a scarce swallowtail! I also heard a serin and saw a black redstart.
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| Hummingbird Hawk-moth |
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| Great Banded Grayling |
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| Provencal Short-tailed Blue |
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| Black Redstart |
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| Port-en-Rouan |
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