Summer 2011
Black-veined Whites and Cepes James Mann recalls the summer of 2009 in the south of France After our first sighting of a Painted Lady on the 14th April 2009 we soon became accustomed to them being the predominant species. By the end of April droves of them were flying in from the sea and moving north like leaves drifting off the trees in the autumn. They seemed never ending and we usually gave up before the influx of the day stopped. At night many of them roosted in the lime tree outside our bedroom window. As the first rays of the sun touched the top of the tree movement started and progressed downwards with the sun. Soon hundreds of Painted Ladies were nectaring on the flowers, turning the tree from green to orange, the number far too great to count. This spectacle was repeated each morning until the flowers had dropped. Not all were bound for northern climes, many stayed with us all the summer. My last sighting was a single scruffy example on the 26th November. We had seen vast numbers flying north, but not a single one returning south, so either they returned in clandestine groups or they relied on those remaining in Africa to supply next year’s stock. Starting out on our randonée on the 15th June we assumed that it would be more of the same. We decided on ‘the chemin de fer and Tour Batere’. We parked at Col de la Reducta, 889 metres altitude, above the village of Montbolo situated just up the valley from us, at night we can see their streetlights from our garden. We proceeded along a track which was bordered by various flowering plants including a lot of brambles. These flowers attracted several butterfly species with a fair number of Painted Ladies. As we climbed above the 1000 metres level the number of Whites
increased and to my delight most of these were Black-veined Whites, including many mating pairs. After a final steep climb to 1123 metres we arrived at Formentere, the now abandoned, first station of the railway built at the end of the 19th century to transport iron ore from the mines of Ménerats, Rapaloum and Pinosa. At Formentere a furnace reduced the ore before it was taken by cableway 5 kilometres to Amélie-les Bains for further smelting. The railway line extends for 12 kilometres, twisting and turning through the beech forest, in and out of the ravines, with a very slight incline, 100 metres in total, so that the weight of the ore in the waggons caused them to travel down the slope at a speed that could be controlled by the brakes on the engines. The engines were like miniatures from the Wild West. The only sign that the railway ever existed is the odd rotting sleeper. After having our coffee we proceeded along the route of the old railway. The first kilometre is an open track lined on the downslope side by brambles, thistles and other flowering plants. Yves and I were left far behind as we vied with each other to see which of us could take the best photograph of the masses of mating Black-veined Whites. To add variety we saw Marsh Fritillary, Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Cardinal, Large, Small and Marbled White, Gatekeeper and Spanish Gatekeeper, Sooty and Scarce Copper, Skippers, both Swallowtails, Tortoiseshells, Peacocks Clouded Yellows, Walls and of course more than a few Painted Ladies. Leaving the open area and entering the
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