Butterflies of the French Pyrenees

Tour leader Mark Galliot describes a memorable holiday enjoying and photographing a wide variety of special butterflies in the French Pyrenees this summer. This tour is run in conjunction with, and raises money for, the British charity Butterfly Conservation.

Purple-shot Copper by Mark Galliot

One memorable day in the Héas valley, which leads up to the magnificent cliffs of the Cirque de Troumouse, all three of the rarer species of Copper butterflies that inhabit the Pyrenees were seen and photographed. The Purple-edged and Purple-shot Coppers are attractive enough in their own right, but the stunning bright orange of the Scarce Copper was a joy to behold. The same day was also remarkable for good views of the three native Vultures here, namely the impressive Griffon, the Bearded (Lammergeier) and a pair of Egyptian Vultures, the last now being a very rare breeding bird in France.

Many other beautiful butterflies were also seen during the week, including Turquoise, Escher’s, Chapman’s & Large Blues, False Heath, Queen of Spain, Lesser Marbled and Niobe Fritillaries, Apollo, Peak White, various mountain Ringlets and many more, whilst other birds seen were Alpine Accentor, Snow Finch, Short-toed Eagle, Red-backed Shrike and both Alpine and Red-billed Chough.

The alpine meadows were particularly flowery this year with sheets of the lovely blue English Iris, while the magnificent large hanging spikes of the endemic Pyrenean Saxifrage seemed to adorn almost any cliff face. Over 600 species of plant were identified during our stay, many of them endemic to these beautiful and spectacular mountains.

To find out more about our 'France - Butterflies of the Pyrenees' holiday, click here.