Vercors, May 2023

 

Provence Orchid

Tau Emperor

A short, but busy few days in the French Alps. The emphasis was on Butterflies, Wildflowers, and the Moth trap.

Vercors National Park is a fairly large, and spectacular range of mountains and forested valleys South West of Grenoble. Several operators run dedicated trips to the area, in particular Naturetrek and Greenwings, plus a couple of independent operators, so plenty of useful info is available on the internet. iNaturalist also continues to be a very useful source of information, particularly if you can interrogate the database and download species with waypoints.

The downside of this is that I set off with a whole list of waypoints for target species of flowers but never really got a grip on where the villages and hotspots actually were in relation to each other. Nevertheless, pretty much all of the time was spent in flower-rich meadows, and the overnight moth traps were successful. Butterflies were more of a struggle and I didn't see that many species despite some good weather throughout the 5 days. 

Birds weren't the target of the trip, however I did see some nice species, usually when drawing breath from climbing an ascent! Griffon Vulture, Ring Ouzel, Black Grouse and Scops Owl (both heard), a noisy flock of Alpine Chough, and close views of nesting Crag Martins were most memorable.

The Moth trap was pretty good in the Vercors area. With the advantage of being in the campervan, and very few overnight parking restrictions, I could run the trap close to the van on most nights. Giant Peacock Moth and Tau Emperor were the obvious, spectacular highlights, plus a few species localised to the Alps area. Other highlights were species rare or localised in the UK, but more numerous on the continent. Silver Cloud, Portland Ribbon Wave, Ringed Carpet, Mullein Wave, Sloe Carpet, Netted Pug, Light Feathered Rustic, and Square Spot, all fell into this category.

Two evenings moth trapping en route to the Alps, around Reims were quite disappointing, reflecting the current low numbers being observed throughout the UK. Eyed Hawkmoth about the only notable find.

Butterflies were probably the only disappointment, with only a few more quality species seen. Green Underside Blue, Dark Eyed Blue and Southenr Grizzled Skipper the only lifers for me this time. Scarce Swallowtail, Swallowtail, and Granvilles Fritillary also noted.

As for the flowers, there was a lot in bloom during the week, and many new alpine species for me including Meadow and Rue Leaved Saxifrages, Trumpet and Spring Gentians. Orchids were in good numbers dominated by Elder-flowered, but by the end of the trip I had seen Military, Lady, Man, Burnt Tip, Monkey, Violet Limodore, Provence, Three-Toothed, Early Purple, Early Spider and Late Spider. Spent quite a bit of time searching for Pale Flowered, Drome, and Globe without success. 

The trip was slightly disappointing for Mammals, very little seen apart from Foxes. A roadkill Beech Marten was a shame. I also spoke to a hiking family who had just experienced a very close encounter with a Wolf. A Beaver stakeout was on my itinerary, but I ran out of time to visit the area.

Sightings summarised here