Striped Grayling (Hipparchia fidia)
2009 photos highlighted in yellow. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 13695_male_Vaucluse_22Aug08 | 13891_male_Vaucluse_24Aug08 | 19151_sex?_Herault_28Aug09 |
A very distinctive jagged “V” shape in the unh discal line, and a quite light underside generally, makes fidia easy to identify. Prior to 2009 I saw it only rarely, once in 1999, another singleton in 2003, and not again until 2008 when I saw several in two localities in the Vaucluse, and once in northern Var. It seems to be becoming increasingly uncommon even in its stronghold areas. However, in 2009 I travelled across the Cevennes in late August and it was encountered in several locations.
13695: a very lightly coloured male. Altitude 410m.
13891: a male, in a typical pose, unfortunately next to a discarded plastic bag in a car park. Altitude 280m.
19151: this may well be a female, because it was at the end of the flight period but also because it was rather browner in colouring, which may or may not be indicative. Altitude 360m.
