Interesting records of Lepidoptera in the taiga and tundra regions of Sweden 2003

This is the 10th report on interesting finds and events from the Swedish mountain range and adjacent areas, which are generally not reported in the national lists for Micro- and Macrolepidoptera. The spring came very early and was noticeably warmer than average in the northern part of Norrland. Thus some Lepidoptera species became active much earlier than usual and therefore a number of reports on sun basking butterflies came already in April. In May there were several influxes with arctic air bringing both temperatures and insect activities down, but the season remained earlier than ordinary. In June the weather became more "normal" in the entire Norrland until the last week when very warm air started to cover the northernmost part. During the coming weeks most of the odd year flying populations of butterflies and moths in the very north had great days and were flying actively, literally 24 hours a day until they had spent all their vigour. No extraordinary finds were made during these weeks but most of the more exclusive Lepidoptera species occurring here were found in high or fairly high numbers. Among the observed species in the mountains around Torne traesk were: Hepialus fuscoargenteus, Pyrgus andromedae, Colias nastes, C. hecla, C. palaeno, Boloria chariclea, B. polaris, B. freija, B. frigga, B. thore, B. improba, Euphydryas iduna, Oeneis norna, Agriades glandon and Entephria polata. In the bogs of the lowland areas east of the mountains species like: Pyrgus centaureae, Colias palaeno, Boloria frigga, Erebia embla, and E. disa were found. The warm weather remained until almost the end of august with the exception for some shorter spells of colder weather in between, producing, once again, a much warmer summer than average in the arctic parts of Sweden. In the southern part of Norrland and its mountain range the weather was less spectacular than further north. Spring was early and warm but not to the same high extent as further north. June was relatively wet and cool and the season developed itself in a characteristic way, making spring butterflies like Antocharis cardamines and Callophrys rubi flying well into July. In the last days of June and for the coming three weeks the weather was mainly warm and sunny, but thereafter it became unstable again and remained so during the rest of the summer, producing a fairly early autumn throughout southern Norrland. During the sunny period some of regional specialities like: Synanthedon polaris, Pyrgus centaur