Having reached Bordeaux in sunny weather, I noticed that it was far bigger and the River Garonne far wider than I had anticipated.
My first cycle was to to the Réserve écologique des barails to the North of the city, where the bike proved its use in enabling me to find a large flower meadow relatively quickly. First sightings were of a number of clouded yellow, this one just about to fly off:
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| Clouded Yellow |
The clouded yellow was to prove one of the most sighted non-whites of the whole holiday and appeared again on my way back via the lake, this time providing a good view of the underwing:
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| Clouded Yellow (underwing) |
The Barails site also produced two first sightings of the year with painted lady (several) and small copper:
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Neither species re-occurred during my stay. Notably almost everything was landing with wings closed, possibly due to the ever-rising temperature which touched 30C as the day drew on.
Thee was a frustration in that I also spotted a number of much smaller blue butterflies and a hyperactive day-flying moth that refused to settle - a theme that was to recur throughout the week.
The day should also have included a trip to the Parc du Majolan which was mysteriously closed, though I did catch sight of a male brimstone and the only peacock I was to see all week in the nearby woddland.
Also closed was a park and woodland area on the Western side of the lake. And this is supposed to be the tourist season!
I ended up having a much-needed beer in the popular Darwin area of Bordeaux, which led to an interesting variation of thieving sparrow behaviour:
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| Thieving Sparrow |
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