This is a report on the second of two butterfly-watching weeks led by Graham and Theresa Thompson of Massif Nature Holidays in 2008, situated in the Auvergne region of central France (a large part of the Massif Central), and which took place between the 30 July and 05 August 2008.  We amassed a satisfying 78 species of butterfly.

On the first full day we undertook a walk in the vicinity of our base at Novacelles.  Following a rather wet spring season, some species that we would normally expect to see in profusion were conspicuous by their absence. However, a sunny trackside bank began to show promise, as the first emerging Gatekeeper butterflies danced back and forth, along with a few meadow Browns.  Then, in a sunny, sheltered woodland clearing, we were delighted to see a splendid wildflower meadow that was clearly “alive” with butterflies and other insects.  We found numerous Map, Pearly Heath, Scarce Copper, Purple-shot Copper, and Spotted Fritillary butterflies amongst them. And sat on a tree-leaf at the edge was a White-letter Hairstreak, a species never particularly easy to see. In the evening we again did the first section of our morning walk, and discovered a number of male Mazarine Blue butterflies to make a splendid finale to our first full day. 

The next day, we drove up to the pastures of the Col de Supeyres in the Forez Mountains (40 minutes away).  My favourite roadside ditches – sheltered and normally full of flowers and butterflies – had been dug out in the previous few days, much to my disappointment.  However, on a flowery slope just adjacent to the car park, which included the beautiful pink Dianthus superbus, we were treated to a tremendous display of butterflies that included Tufted Marbled Skipper, Essex Skipper, Large Skipper, Wood White, Meadow Fritillary, Heath Fritillary, Purple-edged Copper and Idas Blue.  A short roadside walk later and we had amassed more species for our list: Dark Green Fritillary, Niobe Fritillary, Marbled Fritillary, Lesser Marbled Fritillary, Titania’s Fritillary, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Large Ringlet, Arran Brown, Bright-eyed Ringlet, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Swallowtail ( egg-laying on Mountain Fennel ) and Small Heath.

Descending to a splendid peat bog, we had hoped to find Cranberry Fritillary but were to be disappointed ( there were, until recently, many sites where this splendid little butterfly was found, but sadly they have been overgrazed in the last few summers, resulting in the loss of the nectar-bearing plants that the adult butterflies have to visit frequently ). However, we did add to our list with Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Silver-spotted Skipper, both species frequenting the flowers of Marsh Thistle.

The following morning, continuous rainfall dictated that we should go searching for Salamanders in a splendid local Silver Fir woodland. A stroll that brought us lots of fungi, Creeping Ladies’ Tresses and both Common and Pool Frogs but not our main target was aborted due to the rain becoming a thunderstorm. In the evening, we glimpsed our two resident Eagle Owls as they flew from their cliff roost sites. 

The following morning we headed off to the banks of the River Allier, but en route we stopped off at a woodland pool I’d wanted to check for years. Situated on the edge of a Fir wood, it seemed an ideal spot for Salamander to breed in.  We were not surprised to find at least 4 half-grown larvae, and an abundance of other animal life.  Continuing on to the riverside, our first target was a bird – the European Bee-eater.  At a splendid location we counted at least 10 pairs visiting their nest-holes in a sandbank.  Suddenly, alarmed birds alerted us to something overhead – the spectacle of a pale-phase Booted Eagle circling with a Common Buzzard.  This was soon to become even better – a Honey Buzzard joined them, and for a few minutes we were totally mesmerised as they soared above us!   Butterflies were not in abundance here – the newly-cut meadow was virtually flowerless, and the Bee-eaters were also taking their toll- but nevertheless we saw Mallow Skipper, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Clouded Yellow, and Great Banded Grayling.  Then, a roadside bank with much Bramble in flower had us stopping rapidly – another White-letter Hairstreak, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood, Brimstone, Sooty Copper and Small Copper were present, amongst others. We finally got to our destination, but a cloudy sky did us no favours.  We were expecting to see Tree Grayling and Black Satyr, but it was not to be.  We did find Lulworth Skipper, Wall and Marbled White, which were great of course, but little else. We decided to retrace our steps and search for hotspots roadside. We travelled 200 metres before the sun reappeared, and a field full of Lucerne caught our eye. Wow! There were masses of butterflies including Provençal Short-tailed Blue, Violet Fritillary, Comma, Clouded Yellow, Pale/Berger’s Clouded Yellow and Mazarine Blue.  Large Cone-head Bush-cricket and a mating pair of Orange-spotted Emerald dragonfly were super bonuses !

A local day ( we’d decided to alternate travel days of about 1 hour’s drive each way with very short drives / local walks ) began with a 10-minute drive down to the River Dore.  Two Little Owls were perched on farm buildings as we descended.  At the river, Golden Orioles were singing, but not seen.   Despite the overcast conditions, numerous Dingy Skippers were found to add to our list, and a splendid male Moustached Darter posed for photographs.  Unfortunately a super Gentle Hawker Boyeria irene did not remain still for long, but we did obtain super views.  An immature Goshawk gave decent views too – a bird that is always great to see. Then the sun appeared. As if by magic, so did the butterflies – Mallow Skipper, Sooty Copper, Painted Lady and Peacock amongst them.  In the afternoon we headed off to a splendid ancient woodland, consisting mainly of Silver Fir trees, but with wide rides teeming with flowers… and butterflies of course.  A Purple Emperor took off from the ground at the car park as we arrived !  There were many Green-veined White butterflies, all beautifully-fresh whereas a single Black-veined White was rather worn, no surprise as the species had been coming to the end of its flight season for a few weeks. In similar condition were Piedmont Ringlets, the first of the local Erebia species to emerge locally.  We came across more species that we had already encountered on our few outings thus far – Map, Small Skipper, Marbled White etc, but soon started to find additions that we’d been hoping for, in the form of High Brown Fritillary, Southern White Admiral, White Admiral, and Lesser Purple Emperor.  A streamside clearing with masses of flowering Meadowsweet had many Lesser Marbled Fritillaries, clearly enjoying the abundance of the species’ larval foodplant.  A roadside walk brought us super views of a Swallowtail taking nectar from Purple Lettuce, plus a single, worn Titania’s Fritillary and a super male Scarce Copper. 

A free morning was followed by another local trip, this time to a deserted and now ruined village in the valley of the River Dolore, where we watched Purple Hairstreak butterflies at eye level, and found a Dewick’s Plusia moth.  At the riverside there was a Lesser Purple Emperor that posed for photographs.  The woodland rides had plenty of White Admiral butterflies, and upon emerging from the wood we had fleeting but satisfying views of a male Cleopatra butterfly and 4 Honey Buzzards soaring overhead.  We returned to base to find a female Spotted Fritillary in the garden.

For our penultimate day we headed down to the sun-drenched Limagne Plain, more specifically to an area of calcareous hills.  The south-facing slopes are wine-growing sites, but the meadows, scrub and woodland areas are havens for wildlife.  Here we strolled along tracks with sides adorned with wildflowers, and we found 39 species of butterfly, with the following additions to our list: Scarce Swallowtail, Berger’s Clouded Yellow, Glanville Fritillary, Lesser Woodland Grayling, Woodland Grayling, Long-tailed Blue, Chalkhill Blue, Adonis Blue, Chapman’s Blue. The Red-belted Burnet moth Zygaena ephialtes was another nice find.   

Finally we went to a spectacular basalt hill on the River Allier.  After crossing an upland plateau we began the decent from 1200 metres, with a spectacular view of the Allier Gorge below us.  A stop at a rocky roadside area brought us fine views of another spectacular Burnet Moth in the form of Zygaena carniolica, and butterflies again included Lesser Woodland Grayling, Woodland Grayling, Silver-spotted Skipper and Lulworth Skipper.  On the top of the basaltic rock, with the sun beating down, we saw plenty of butterflies, including Black Satyr, Cinquefoil Skipper and Baton Blue, new additions to our list.  But the heat quickly got the better of us, and so we dropped down to the riverbank ( where just three weeks previously we’d found a colony of the Large Chequered Skipper Heteropterus morpheus, a new species for the department ).  The shade afforded by the Poplar trees was welcome relief, and we admired numerous Sooty Copper, Queen of Spain Fritillary and Marbled Fritillary butterflies visiting the flowers of Hemp Agrimony, and chased around trying to photograph Cinquefoil Skipper (we did eventually succeed!).

Another satisfying week of butterfly-watching, a number of species freshly emerged that we didn’t see on our previous trip a few weeks before, but no new species for the region this time!