On the Bike in Avignon - Day by Day (Part 2)

Day 3

The day started at Avignon Station, where I had a bit of spare time before catching a train to Orange and noticed there was an interesting bee feeding on some lavender.

Digger Bee

I haven't managed to dig into digger bees much but a suggestion on iNaturalist 
of urbane digger bee seemed fairly definite at the time. One slight problem is that anthophora urbana occurs in North and Central America so I think digger bee is as near as I'll get.

At Orange the idea was to launch North to Uchaux but ultimately I didn't fancy the road and turned back.  Before I did, I discovered another flower meadow, this time quite a large one, where several butterflies could be seen.  I very quickly found some dingy skipper (yet again after a near blank last summer) but also a skipper that was different.  Past experience in the Camargue (and for a change my memory) came in handy and I soon realised it was a mallow skipper.

Dingy Skipper

Mallow Skipper

There were a good few spotted fritillaries around and one kindly posed to allow me to get a good shot of the upper wing

Spotted Fritillary

Also seen but not photographed at this sight were clouded yellow, ringlet and brimstone, plus an annoying hairstreak that I narrowly missed. I wondered about ilex hairstreak but didn't get a good enough view.

After turning back to the Arc de Triomphe in Orange (yes there is one!) I joined the Via Venaissia aiming to join the Via Rhôna North of Carpentras. About 10 km out of Orange I encountered a farm garden where there were a few marbled white (which always seemed to be a sign that others were present) and stopped to check out what looked like large fritillaries. In fact they all turned out to be wall browns, painted ladies or spotted fritillaries. In fact the spotted fritillary proved to be the only fritillary found. Anyway I did this time get a good shot of another scarce swallowtail that appeared.

Scarce Swallowtail - Upperwing

One interesting point here was that a lady exiting the farm by car stopped specially to tell me to lock the bike up (which was no more than five metres away) as the area was often patrolled by "bandits" who would escape with it high speed given the chance.

Unfortunately the remainder of the ride proved to be somewhat disappointing.  The rest of the Via Venaissia led mainly through farmland with little to note and a lively Mistral to face. At the Via Rhôna I encountered rather arid country, with the occasional outburst of painted ladies where there were a few flowers.  Otherwise the main butterfly sightings were individuals blown across my path at high speed in the wind, not to be seen again.

At one area I investigated as promising I thought that I had found an interesting moth, which actually proved to be a couple of short-horned grasshoppers caught "in flagrante delictu."  A good job I'm having an eye test shortly!

Short-horned Grasshoppers

I was beginning to reflect that the lack of moisture in most areas was having a clear effect on sightings. There was not a drop of rain the whole week as temperatures gradually rose.

A little way North of the Île de Barthelasse, I did actually find a nice looking neglected path with plenty of vegetation and a few marbled whites.  What I actually sighted was largely a repeat of those seen in the morning including, annoyingly, a repeat of mystery disappearing hairstreak.

In the end I had to settle for a cleopatra and a pretty banded demoiselle.

Cleopatra (underwing)

Banded demoiselle

Day 4

In temperatures up to 35C, Day 4 turned into more of a survival exercise.  Starting out from Tarascon, I took a run across the North of the Alpilles.  This was firmly the day of the cleopatra as both males and females turned up repeatedly especially in the morning.  They were also extremely reluctant to settle but in the end I managed to get a video capturing a bit of both and showing the colouring.

Cleopatra

Matters were made considerably worse when I realised I had an hour less than planned to catch a train at Cavaillon, and so was forced into cycling at as much pace as I could manage for the last 25+ km.

I did stop briefly for a rest and had a bit of a surprise when on a rare plant I found a stripey bee that appeared to have a bloated white abdomen. It clearly noticed me and took off towards me and started flying from right to left repeatedly in what appeared to be some sort of threatening behaviour before finally moving off.

Unfortunately the camera couldn't help with even video evidence but I was able to establish that it was  a wool carder bee.

Day 5 

Increasingly tired and interested in creature comforts I decided to roughly repeat the run from the first day as it passed through the best area for nature.  The result was perhaps inevitably that, having dispelled any notion of finding the hungarian glider, I saw pretty much the same species - white admiral, marbled white, spotted fritillary etc. but with one major difference.

Regiscola Bidens

At the spot West of Les Angles where I first stopped on Day 1, I found up to twenty massive insects circling an area of broken bushes.  They were black, about as long as a dragon fly, thicker than most caterpillars, and had two bright yellow stripes.  They also had antennae suggesting they were bees or wasps

On the way back later in the day I encountered a French Natural Biologist who told me they were regiscola bidens, i.e. mammoth wasp, a species that predates on the rhinoceros beetle.  Whilst it looks highly dangerous, it is actually very placid and rarely stings. Apologies for the poor photo.

I got chatting to the French chap who, as well as complaining about the local authority's failure to protect the area, for example by cutting it as on Day 1, told me that it held over 500 distinct species, of which over half had special protection status.

There was something about that that made me feel I had made the right decision!

Slovenia - Day 2

On our second day the early risers in the group saw quite a few birds around the hotel and I did manage my first ever definite photo of a white wagtail while waiting for off.

White Wagtail

Generally though I couldn't see much of what the others saw in the way of birds during the whole trip and took a mental note to get an overdue eye test once back home again.

Eventually we set out to look for fresh meadows near the village of Hrastovalje, not far from the farm where the previous night's impromptu birdwatching session took place.

Obviously the main target was butterflies and on and after an upland walk, we found plenty to look at including clouded yellow, plenty of scarce swallowtail, holly blue, more skippers, wall brown, mallow skipper and grizzled skipper.  Particularly pleasing for me was my first encounters with Reverdin's Blue and Eastern Short-tailed Blue: 

Several grizzled skippers were seen near a puddle in the path we used, where there also there were a large number of wood whites puddling. The interesting thing here is that their black spots have shown up far larger than they appear to the naked eye:

Wood Whites puddling

I had mixed feelings when we came across the first small blue I've ever spotted but arrived on the scene late and only got very blurred and useless shots of it...

However the most spectacular photo opportunity, possibly of the whole trip, was presented by the newly-hatched European Swallowtail that flattered around the van when we got ready to move on and hung about for ages as if posing for the cameras.

European Swallowtail

While moving on to the afternoon venue, we saw a couple of white storks from the bus that even I couldn't fail to see.

White Stork

The next venue proved to be a disappointment.  The meadows looked promising and one or two butterflies briefly appeared but after twenty minutes the clouds moved in and, although it never properly rained and stayed warm, butterflies were scarcely to be seen at all.

I think the only one a I noted was a marbled white that remained stoically attached to the same bit of knapweed for ages with wings closed:

Marbled White

When in such circumstances others turn to birds I turn these days to insects but would be hard put to name any of the ones I saw apart from the nine-spot and red wave moths.

Various Bugs

I feel I should be able to identify the bee, which I first thought was a nomad but, having considered colletes and yellow-faced bees, I don't have a clue.

Amongst other animals we came across during the day were a pool frog, a green lizard and a wall lizard.   

Pool Frog

Green Lizard

Wall Lizard

After dinner we returned to the farm area to look for Scops Owls, which duly did not turn up, though we did see a kield skimmer (dragonfly), raven and dulbentan bat and, learning from past experiences, I decided video was the best media to catch the non-stop flight of the hummingbird hawk moth.

Humming Bird Hawk Moth

Altogether quite a productive day the talk at dinner was already about the relative shortage of butterflies compared to previous years due to poor weather throughout Europe..

Canal du Midi Part 3

On the way back from an early visit to the market at Narbonne with some local honey, I encountered a chap fishing in the Canal de la Robine for zander with a spinner.

Today's run to Beziers involved various detours, one of which was self-inflicted as I took a wrong turning. A planned one took me past an old abbey which I wasn't much impressed with but I did see a lesser kestrel (apparently they nest on the abbey) hovering nicely above some scrub on the way, before it moved off to become a silhouette on the horizon.  It's frankly astounding to think that this was the only bird of prey the whole week. I checked the abbey for ravens but only saw crows and jackdaws, just like home.  One or two other birds were seen briefly but, as on other days, were quick to take flight.

Finally rejoining the Canal du Midi at Capestang, the weather was windy and the scenery much of a muchness.  There were no butterflies I hadn't already seen though this clouded yellow (below) is pretty interesting in comparison to the paler version seen on the first day.  Stopping at one point to feed the tiddlers with breadcrumbs, a couple of dragonflies turned up and I was particularly impressed by one that turned out to be a violet dropwing.

Clouded Yellow

Violet Dropwing

The last stretch to Beziers was quite tiring and the excellent ice cream sundae I found at one of the canalside harbours held my attention more than any further wildlife events.

Canal du Midi near Beziers

The last day of cycling was a tour almost to the canal estuary, and then through marshland areas near the western tip of the Camargue.  Flamingos and all kinds of birdlife were promised in the tour guide, but the extremely dry weather meant that results were massively disappointing.  After some lovely scenery along the canal (and a few mallards) the nearby marais de l'Estagnol was pretty much a misnomer as it had pretty much completely dried up and there was little to see beyond a couple of white horses.

Mallow Skipper

The area is a mixture of marshes and prosperous-looking seaside resorts.  Turning onto a cycle track near Portiragnes Plage, I did see something interesting - a mallow skipper, the only skipper I encountered on the whole trip, flying around some plants at the edge of a reed bed.

Grey Heron

The track eventually led up the side of the Lac de la Grande Maire, a massive inland lake which also proved to be totally dried out for a good part of its length. At the wider end there were a few gulls and I thought I might have spotted a couple of purple heron on the far side.  But they turned out to be (rather large) juvenile grey heron.

This was nothing like the experience I had cycling down the Navigation Channel during my holiday based in Arles in 2013. However that was in June rather than September.

In retrospect, I wish I hadn't spent time scouring the supposed marshes and headed straight for the conservation area at Les Orpellieres.  Here there was a good spread of vegetation and signs of butterflies and birds to add to the little egret I spotted in passing through.  It looked a great place to wander around on foot and the bottom end of the Orb river is also attractive.  There were several sizeable fish just beneath the surface and several fishermen trying their luck.

Unfortunately I was by then somewhat behind schedule and needed something to eat before heading back to Beziers to return the cycle I had hired.

Black Redstart

I spent an extra day in Beziers which turned out to be pretty rainy.  During a brief visit to the Parc des Poetes, I noticed a flock of sparrows working the trees that didn't seem quite the same as usual.  Wondering if they were spanish sparrows, I returned in the evening with camera but of course they were no longer around.  However there were some black redstarts messing around on the paths, and unlike the other small birds I encountered, they weren't particularly shy. They were also a good deal lighter in colour than examples I have seen in Germany

Bulgaria - Day 5

As it was our last morning in Tehsel, I decided to take an early morning walk down to the village where it was reported that eleonora's falcon was being sighted daily in pursuit of hirundines.  Typically it only appeared briefly and I didn't see it and also only heard the serin that was calling nearby.  Later in the day we were also to hear a cirl bunting calling.

Hirundines were around in plenty, as there were througout the trip.  Crag martin, pallid swift, barn swallow and red-rumped swallow were all seen often and the house martins were certainly not confined to residential areas.  In the mountains, alpine swifts were also to be seen.

 Transferring to a new location took us through the lowlands in splendid weather and resulted in a bonanza of sightings though I did miss the ilex hairstreak, which was quick to fly off and my great banded grayling was

seriously out of focus.  I was happier with the photographs I managed to get, though not with my recording skills which meant there were again some things I couldn't identify and others where identification may be inaccurate.

Of course there is a lot of variability between genders and amount of wear.  I got one shot of the map butterfly that looks nothing like as it should and this black-veined white is a good example - so worn that it has become semi-transparent.                   
The grizzled skipper is  a good example of an identification problem in another way.  In the Balkans there are something like twenty different varieties as opposed to our one, so at times you have to give up unless there is an expert to hand. 

It was a day of headlines and star acts.  There were numerous beautiful scarce coppers in the morning, and even when we settled down for a picnic lunch, there was a giant beetle almost the size of my brown rat scurrying around. Unfortunately I forgot the name but it only occurs within the Southern Balkans in Europe.

We caught up with both eastern festoon and in the afternoon swallowtail, the latter being first recorded on video before it finally came into land:

In one meadow, the elusive large blue was spotted.  It disappeared, hard to track because of its dark pattern, but I hung around and felt quite proud when it reappeared and I managed to follow it for thirty or forty yards before it landed. Just afterwards, we came across a male cardinal fritillary, the biggest fritillary in the Balkans.

This was quite exciting but I think that the best photograph I took at the riverside location was this shot of the beautiful demoiselle as the detail has come out so well:

The whole group was excited when, further upstream, we found a group of whites and blues 'puddling' i.e. absorbing salt from the muddy banks.  As you can see there was a whole mass of them, including some of the rarer species like escher's blue and chapman's blue, all in a great profusion:

Apparently only male butterflies do this.

Then further along, we found a couple of bushes that were swarming with silver-washed fritillaries, including the grey female form (valezina).

It was quite a day indeed: