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YEAR LIST, 2002

Click HERE for last year's list and HERE for 2000.
This year, 2002, has been so busy I have been out little and had even less time to keep this site up to date. The checklist is accurate - the commentary less full.
CHECKLIST FOR THE YEAR 2002 :
1 Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) 31st January - Villars-sur-Ollon, CH
2 Peacock (Inachis io) 10th March - Schanf (Engadine)
3 Comma (Polygonia c-album) 31st March - Chesières
4 Wood white (Leptidea sinapis) 31st March - Chesières
5 Small white (Artogeia rapae) 1st April - Villeneuve
6 Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) 1st April - Les Grangettes
7 Green-veined white (Artogeia napi) 2nd April - Barboleusaz
8 Painted lady (Vanessa cardui) 2nd April - Barboleusaz
9 Orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines) 5th April - Suffolk, UK
10 Large white (Pieris brassicae) 5th April - Suffolk, UK
11 Violet fritillary (Clossiana dia) 2nd May - Chesières
12 Pale clouded yellow (Colias hyale) 2nd May - Chesières
13 Small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) 9th May - Chesières
14 Green hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) 13th May - Chesières
15 Sooty copper (Heodes tityrus) 13th May - Chesières
16 Little blue (Cupido minimus) 16th May - Aiglon College
17 Berger's pale clouded yellow (Colias alfacariensis) mid-May ' roadside between Villars and Barboleusaz
18 Duke of Burgundy (Hamearis lucina) 30th May - Chesières
19 Chequered skipper (Carterocephalus palaemon) 30th May - Chesières
20 Common blue (Polyommatus icarus) 30th May - Chesières
21 Small pearl-bordered fritillary (Clossiana selene) 30th May - Chesières
22 Large wall (Lassiomata maera) 30th May - Chesières
23 Woodland ringlet (Erebia medusa) 1st June - Barboleusaz
24 Grizzled skipper (Pyrgus malvae) 1st June - Barboleusaz
25 Mazarine blue (Cyaniris semiargus) 1st June - Barboleusaz
26 Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) 1st June - Les Chaux

January
31st - A very warm day - the day of the Aiglon College Triathlon, which I could not run because of illness. Yesterday was also extraordinarily hot. A single small tortoiseshell flew near the New Sporting, at the start of the cross-country skiing section o the race. I searched for more but found none. I suspect it had been hibernating in a building.
February
No butterflies!
March
10th - Sunday - the day of the Engadine Skimarathon. Saw a peacock flying in the kit collection area at the end of the race and then a further three before I was in the train back home.
11th-14th - individual small tortoiseshells flying around school and at home. One at 8.30am on 11th. Very warm weather gave way to clouds on 14th.
16th - a few small tortoiseshells around, even though not very warm. We have reached the time of year when if the sun comes out, butterflies fly.
17th - warm and sunny - individual small tortoiseshells flying in many places.
25th - the 'bise' has been blowing and it is glacial. But it is also sunny and small tortoiseshells are flying in many places. So far nothing else around here. 28th - still sunny, radiantly warm but ambiently quite chilly. Small tortoiseshells flying.
30th - warm and sunny. Two commas flying in Chesières. A single, male wood white in lower Chesières, in a spring meadow.
April
1st - trip down to Villeneuve and Les Grangettes. Very few butterflies at all, despite being sunny. But one or two small whites flying over grass and fields and a single male brimstone in Les Grangettes itself. Lots of black kites calling and flying around. Chiff chaffs and blackcaps singing.
2nd - several small tortoiseshells around. Also a few wood whites below Barboleusaz and a single green-veined white also. On return home, a painted lady flew past.
4th - walk in Lower Chesières. Quite windy, so few butterflies. But in sheltered spots plenty of small tortoiseshells and wood whites. One fritillary flying. Very small and tatty - I presumed it to be a small Queen of Spain until a slightly closer view suggested violet fritillary. But I never got close and it disappeared before I could name it definitively.
5th - back in England. New butterflies for the year were orange tip and large white. For various reasons I haven't got a picture of large white on this site - so must procure one asap.
21st - Switzerland - nothing new, but orange tips, wood whites &c. on the wing again after a spell of cold weather
25th - fine weather again in morning - wood whites and work.
May
2nd - Fine weather. Trip to Chesières, where saw little in general, but one or two violet fritillaries and a pale clouded yellow. Plenty of wood whites and orange tips. No skippers on the wing yet.
9th - Mostly fine weather. A single small heath flying at school. Still far too much work to do to go out looking for butterflies.
13th - Quick trip to Chesières at end of afternoon. Little flying, and no skippers yet, but sooty copper (males only) quite common in sunny meadow and green hairstreak at top of meadow near woods.
16th - Warm sunny day - hottest of year so far. Little blue flying on grassy bank at Aiglon.
[mid-May] - found a dying Berger's pale clouded yellow, a male, by the side of a road. These butterflies are normally too difficult to identify but this was a gift, except to the butterfly.
30th - Quick dash to Chesières during afternoon produced Duke of Burgundy, chequered skipper and large wall, in addition to a very few other butterflies, already noted.
June
1st - Woodland ringlet, mazarine blue and chequered skippers in garden, as well as common blues. Large wall and a largish fritillary flying around. Swallowtail 'hilltopping' at Les Chaux, but very few other species apart from small tortoiseshell up there. Wood white still in garden.