2009 Retrospective I: Butterflies of the Ouisse Valley

Looking back over the summer it's major claim to fame was for the number of butterflies on the wing. The migration of Painted Lady butterflies in May was remarkable all over Europe, including Le Port - see blogspot for May. Equally remarkable in the vicinity of Le Port there were frequent sightings of Dryad butterflies (Minois dryas) a species rarely seen previously. So Retrospective I deals with a memorable walk down the valley of the River Ouisse on August 10th with Dormouse Droad when a diversity of species were seen and some photographed.

An intermediate form between the Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus and Southern Gatekeeper P.cecilia. The latter has no eyspots on the rear hindwing whilst in the former they are well developed. Click to enlarge.

The Grayling, Hipparchia semele

The False Grayling Arethusana arethusa. - a local species.

Trousering a Lesser Purple Emperor Apatura ilia.

Southern White Admiral Ladoga reducta feeding on hemp agrimony.

Knapweed fritillary Melitaea phoebe soliciting copulation - raised abdomen - and displaying pale basal band of hindwing.

The Valley of the River Ouisse runs into the Dordogne River just East of Souillac. It is a narrow valley of limestone with many cliffs but with a flood plain on the eastern side until it plunges into a narrow valley towards Rocamadour. There is rough pasture, some few fields of alfafa in the floods plain but mostly rough sheep grazed pasture. The cliffs and steeper parts of the valley support woodland, mostly oak with a diversity of shrubs, there is willow and alder by the river. The river is heavily managed by many old mills, all now in disuse, the oldest being a Mediaeval feature with fortifications now open to the public. So the river is divided by weirs into short sections of barely flowing water. Apart from the mills the valley is largely uninhabited and this may be the reason for the lack of cultivation. The lack of villages has been accounted for by high lead levels in the water. The result has been low pesticide levels and consequently wonderful butterflies and other insects. A brief visit in August identified some x species and photographs are set out below. A lesser Purple Emperor that had evaded photography by alighting on a rock face eventually relented and came and drank salt of my trousers, which resulted in a poor photograph because I could not see through the sun's glare on the viewfinder!

Other species seen were Scarce Swallowtail, Swallowtail, Silver Washed Fritillary, Dryad Minois dryas, Holy Blue (Celastriana argiolus), Chalk Hill Blue (Lysandra coridon)