Some butterflies from France

On a recent trip to the France patch, in lieu of many interesting birds I spent a lot of time looking at the many butterflies that could be seen along the lane from the house. For someone based in the north of the UK the 20+ species I found there is pretty bewildering but I really enjoyed the challenge of making correct ID's. Or at least trying to make correct ID's. There are a few too many fritillaries for me to be fully confident...

Until the last few days when autumn bird passage began to heat up then butterflies were the main focus of my jaunts outside. Even just heading out into the garden could produce an exciting or educational encounter.

Anyway, here's a few of my favourite photos from the trip.

Glanville fritillary

Clouded yellow

Long-tailed blue

Oburther's grizzled skipper (I think)

Spotted fritillary

Southern white admiral

Brown argus

Mallow skipper

Knapweed fritillary