For previous years' lists and commentaries, often incomplete, click 2022, 2021, 2020,
2019,
2018,
2017,
2016,
2015,
2014,
2013,
2012, 2011, 2010, 2009; 2008;
2007; 2006; 2005; 2004; 2003; 2002; 2001. I seem to have
lost the file for 2000.
Some of my friends also keep, or have kept, online
year-lists. Tim
Cowles,
living in the Monts du Lyonnais, publishes his list HERE
and Matthew Rowlings, who lives not far from me in Vevey, Switzerland,
has his HERE.
Another
friend, Robin Fox, in Italy, keeps a regularly updated sightings diary HERE.
SCROLL DOWN for the 2023 CHECKLIST or use the menu below to jump to the
COMMENTARY for each month.
CHECKLIST
FOR THE YEAR 2023
Red admiral (Vanessa
atalanta) - 1st January - Valais, Switzerland
Clouded yellow (Colias
crocea) - 1st January - Valais, Switzerland
Small tortoiseshell (Aglais
urticae) - 5th February - Valais - Switzerland
Queen of Spain fritillary (Issoria lathonia) -
5th February - Valais - Switzerland
Large tortoiseshell (Nymphalis
polychloros) - 16th February - Valais - Switzerland
Rock grayling (Hipparchia
hermione) - 13th August - Valais, Switzerland
Brown hairstreak (Thecla betulae) -
16th August - Valais, Switzerland
Dusky meadow brown (Hyponephele
lycaon) - 16th August - Valais, Switzerland
Baton blue (Scolitantides
baton) - 16th August - Valais, Switzerland
Escher's blue (Polyommatus
escheri) - 18th August - Valais, Switzerland
Purple hairstreak (Favonius
quercus) - 2nd September - Valais, Switzerland
Tree grayling (Hipparchia
statilinus) - 10th September - Valais, Switzerland
Commentary (Links in the
commentary are to pictures of the particular butterflies referred to)
January
1st: HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2023 has begun well. With forecasts of up to 13°C
in the Rhône Valley, and all-day sunshine, Minnie
and I headed down to our favourite winter butterfly spots first thing
in the morning. At about 11h00 a first butterfly flew - this rather
tatty but very welcome red admiral. Shortly afterwards,
another appeared, but didn't settle, and then as we stopped for a beer
at a sunny hotspot, a clouded yellow
drifted down the bank, stopping briefly. During the morning we saw a
total of four red admirals and four clouded yellows. This is a
different clouded yellow. Here
and here are some fruit on the
strawberry trees, and here is the brilliant January sunlight shining
through a kind of outdoor stained
glass window!
We hoped to return early, so I could pop into the kennels at Bex - they
had lent me a lead yesterday and I wanted to return it. But not far
away, tragedy was striking. The trains stopped running because
of
a presumed suicide on the tracks the Sion side of Martigny. Minnie
curled up and waited on her carry sack
while I pondered whether to cycle from Martigny to Bex instead of
catching the train. Fortunately, I didn't, as about forty minutes later
a train was laid on from Martigny to Aigle. I caught this, then cycled
back to Bex to return the lead. Both of us very tired by now, we
finally returned to Leysin.
2nd: Striking morning skies
gave way to cloud and ultimately rain. In the afternoon Minnie and I
walked from Leysin to Aigle, via Veyges and Drapel. Here is Minnie
coming into Fontanney near the end of our walk.
3rd: Cloudy and wet all day. Here is Leysin,
clothed in cloud, in the evening. And here is the moon,
with Mars, in a break in the cloud. Later, the moon had moved
and Mars was even closer - then cloud
came over again.
4th: Another mostly cloudy day. Here is a shot from our walk over
the fields north-east of Leysin in the afternoon, and here the view
from my balcony
later.
5th: Cloudy and wet in the morning, giving way to broken
cloud in the afternoon (and here).
6th: Mostly sunny and warm today. In the afternoon, I found a patch of
blackthorn just outside Leysin with brown
hairstreak eggs (and
here). Some had hatched,
implying they were last year's eggs, but most were intact and
presumably this year's. At one place, much of the blackthorn had been
hacked at and some was completely
cut down.
I checked some of the detached branches and found brown hairstreak eggs
on them. I took some home to put in the fridge and will return for
more. This is the cut branch I removed them from (by
breaking off smaller twigs).
7th: Again sunny, so I headed off to the Rhône Valley. Butterflies were
few: just four red admirals (and here).
But I bumped into a friend who had seen a clouded yellow and a single,
seemingly freshly emerged Queen of Spain. He showed me the spot but by
that time it was getting cold and the sun was hidden behind thin cloud
so nothing flew. Lizards were common throughout the
day. Here are some olives ripening by the track.
8th: It
snowed today,
but with warm, wet ground, nothing settled. In the afternoon I
collected some more brown hairstreak eggs from broken, cut branches,
and brought them home to put in the fridge. Here
and here are some eggs on healthy
branches.
9th: I woke to snow on the ground this morning and it continued to snow
for most of the day, with the snow now settling.
10th: After yesterday's snow, a beautiful day. Here is Minnie
in Villars (where I work) in the afternoon, and here is the Grand
Chamossaire viewed from this side.
11th: Morning
sky today.
12th: Morning
sky today. By the afternoon it was completely overcast. Here
is Minnie
making her way over crusty snow.
13th: Heavily
overcast,
with snow and some rain during the day. In the afternoon I had a chance
to pop into Les Grangettes, at Villeneuve, where this pair of great crested grebes were engaging
in a beautiful nuptial dance. Here are some sleeping
goosander, and here a heraldic
cormorant. The streams were thick with thousands
of fish - rich pickings for the herons and other water birds.
This goosander was swimming very low
and flat - and fast - and spent most of his time apparently scooping
the water for fish. I got back home as the last
light struck the Grand Chamossaire.
14th: Morning
sky. We spent much of the day in Gstaad, revisitng old haunts
and taking a walk along the Yehudi Menuhin Philosophenweg to
Saanen, returning on the other side of the river Saane.
15th: Minnie
waiting for the vicar to turn up at church.
16th: Morning
sky. It snowed most of the day. Here is Minnie
on her afternoon walk.
17th: It snowed all day. Here and here
are pictures from my balcony in the early evening.
18th: A pink
glow over the snow in the morning didn't
last. By late morning it was snowing, and was still snowing
when we went for our evening walk.
19th: A beautiful, clear but very cold day. The snow was deep on our
afternoon walk and though Minnie did her very best (and
enjoyed it), it took a lot out of her. This is the
view
ahead along what used to be a track. I picked her up and
carried her for some of the way!
20th: Cold
and sunny. Here is an evening shot.
21st: Very cold but sunny. I tried the local ski de fond piste in the morning,
then took Minnie to Montreux in the afternoon for a walk
by the lake (and here). There were lots of great
crested grebes (and here)
but no black-necked, and a few goosanders.
Before we returned, it had already started snowing gently and continued
for the evening.
22nd: Very
cold and overcast, with some snow.
23rd: The moon, Venus and Saturn just
after sunset (Saturn just visible, to the right and down from Venus). Leysin
later in the evening, on our dogwalk.
24th: Les
Dents du Midi just after sunset. The moon
and Venus. Orion rising above the church in
the evening.
25th: Cold
and mostly cloudy (and here).
26th: A very cold and colourless day. But Leysin
always looks colourful at night.
27th: Although it hasn't snowed heavily for about ten days, it's been
so cold the snow still hasn't fallen off the tree trunks.
Here is Leysin
in the evening, from my balcony.
28th: Still bitterly cold. We went to Villeneuve in the afternoon. Here
is the famous tree in the lake. I saw two
kingfishers in Les Grangettes, this
one stopping (a long way off) for a photo. Here is a very
smart goosander and here a snatched
photo of a grey wagtail before a walker
scared it off. There were amazing shoals
of fish in some of the channels (and here).
Here is Minnie on one of the frozen tracks.
29th: The sun rising behind trees
on the mountaintop. It was a beautiful day, so Minnie and I headed to
the vineyards, just in case a butterfly should fly. Even from the
train, though, we could see there was no hope of anything flying. The
valley floor was still thick with snow near Martigny.
This is a picture from later in the day looking
back down towards Martigny. Our top winter hotspot was mostly
clear of snow but it was still bitterly cold and
unsurprisingly nothing flew. Here is Orion
above the mountains in the evening, viewed from my balcony.
30th: Morning
and evening
today. The white light on the mountains is the snow machine grooming
the pistes.
31st: A brilliant
day. It clouded over by the time I got back from teaching in Villars
but magically, the Grand Chamossaire was caught
in a noose of light (and here).
February
1st: Another brilliant day. In
the afternoon we took a walk past the out-of-town brown hairstreak
site, pausing to check on the eggs.
Here is Minnie
trotting home
at the end of the trip. Sadly, it clouded over by the evening, so the
comet wasn't visible (and it wasn't worth getting up early for it
either, as cloud was forecast then too).
2nd: In the afternoon we
caught the train down to the vineyards at Drapel and Fontanney. It was
actually warm there and were it not for the wind we would have seen
butterflies. I am sure butterflies were flying somewhere ... This is
the view
across the valley and here is a shot of the Château
d'Aigle. Here is the view at sunset
from my balcony. In the evening, walking back from teaching, I pointed
my phone camera at where the comet should have been and took some
photos. The moon is much to bright for anything clear to be seen, but
on analysing the pictures afterwards with the star maps I found the
comet was there - just!
3rd: Chesières
at lunchtime. Sunset from Leysin in the evening.
4th: View
from Leysin in the early afternoon. The lake
at Montreux later on (and here,
and here).
Le Château de Chillon, with les Dents
de Midi in the background. And back home in Leysin.
It was warm in Montreux but I saw no butterflies, for from the train in
the vineyards.
5th: Cloud
brewing in the valley in early morning. It carried on rolling
in and up until it obscured all the distant mountains.
Despite this, the forecast was for sun on the south-facing slopes near
Martigny, so Minnie and I headed off for the vineyards to look for
small tortoiseshells and Queen of Spain fritillaries. A chill wind was
blowing in the vineyards and in the morning, heavy
cloud was constantly threatening to cover the sky (and here)
- but it never did. Within minutes of arriving at my first hotspot, I
had seen a small tortoiseshell and during the
walk I saw a total of 10 (here, here
and here
are more small tortoiseshells). At first, it seemed as if it was too
cold for Queens of Spain, but just before I left the first hotspot I
saw the familiar flash of silver and watched a Queen disappear into the
vineyards. They don't like the wind and this one clearly preferred to
settle in the lee of stepped vines. Walking on, I saw another, without
being able to get a photo, and then a third, which stopped
briefly on the track for a picture.
As we walked back, I saw a fourth Queen of Spain. Two red admirals put
in an appearance as well, bringing the species total for 5th Feb to 3.
As I left the site, in a now bitterly cold wind, this final small
tortoiseshell paused on the sedum-covered rocks. We then
returned to Leysin, where it was fully overcast and even lightly
snowing.
6th: Mixed cloud and sun - but always cold. Here
and here
are Minnie on our afternoon walk. Leysin in the evening, with les
Dents du Midi behind.
7th: Early
morning, as I left for school. Bright sun all day today,
though again cold.
8th: View walking back from school in the early
evening. A different shot from the same
place. Leo
rising over Leysin in the evening.
9th: A beautiful
day, though still very cold. Here is Minnie
keeping up on the icy tracks. This walk took us past our out-of-town
brown hairstreak stop, where I photographed several eggs
(and here, and here,
and here).
10th: Early
evening (and here).
11th: Another trip to the valley, where it was bitterly cold but sunny.
We saw at least half a dozen Queens
of Spain (and here, and here)
and a similar number of small tortoiseshells. Here are a
pair of firebugs - lots of these about at
the moment. The valley floor is now mostly free of
snow (and here).
12th: Again, cold but sunny. For our afternoon walk, we took the train
part-way down the hill, to walk near the vineyards above Aigle.
Here is the view across the valley. As we
reached Fontanney, a small tortoiseshell dashed out of the vineyards, settled
briefly on a wall
ahead of us, then flew off. Another small tortoiseshell appeared lower
down. When we reached the valley floor, we walked north a little
through the vineyards, seeing another two small tortoiseshells, before
going back to the station and catching the train home.
13th: Much warmer today. In and around Leysin, small
tortoiseshells
were flying over any sunny bank. I stopped counting after I'd seen
about 20 on my afternoon walk (from about 1260m to about 1400m). The
snow has melted on south-facing tracks and slopes but
is still present in the shade and where it has been pressed firm.
Coltsfoot
is already pushing through. Here is Minnie
at a seat where we waited about half an hour to see if anything other
than small tortoiseshells would fly by - nothing did - and here she is later
on in the walk. This is a view of the Dents
du Midi as the sun slipped behind the mountains, casting
shadows in the haze.
14th: Another warm, sunny day in the mountains, though the valley was bathed
in haze (here is the view from the top of
Leysin) Again, small tortoiseshells
flew over all sunny slopes, though nothing else did. I didn't teach
until 18h00, when the sky was still light - though the setting sun was
casting reddish
glints on the mountains.
15th: Another warm day in Leysin, with small tortoiseshells flying over
sunny slopes. Here is the Grand
Chamossaire, photographed on our afternoon walk.
16th:
My birthday. I couldn't get out in the morning but headed east along
the Rhône Valley in the afternoon, in search of large tortoiseshells. I
wasn't disappointed. When I reached my target spot - a sunny track with
sallows, by a stream - I found to my delight a beautiful large
tortoiseshell sunning itself on the ground, near
the water. I saw another large
tortoiseshell about 4km away, as we walked
back to the train. Small
tortoiseshells were very common throughout the afternoon -
generally closing their wings soon after
landing because of the warmth. A few Queen
of Spain fritillaries were on the wing. In the morning, alpine
choughs were enjoying grazing on the newly exposed (after the
snow) surfaces around Leysin (and here).
17th: Cloudy most of the day. Exceptionally, I didn't take any pictures
at all today!
18th:
I had a feeling brimstones would be out in the valley today, and I was
right. They were all males, and all roding without apparently stopping,
so by way of proof all I have is a few point-and-shoot
flight shots. I saw four individuals in total. This the kind
of habitat
where I saw three of them. As well as these welcome newcomers, I saw
four large tortoiseshells (and here),
half a dozen or more Queen of Spain fritillaries and
loads of small tortoiseshells (and here,
and here).
Many of the tortoiseshells had apparent bites taken out of their
hindwings - quite possibly as a result of attacks from the numerous lizards
lying in wait around every corner!
19th: A day of mixed weather, but the odd small
tortoiseshell was still on the wing around Leysin when the sun was
shining.
20th: Return of warm sunshine. Plenty of small
tortoiseshells were flying over sunny slopes and tracks
around Leysin. Here are the Dents du Midi at sunset, and here Leysin
after dark with Leo over the Grand Chamossaire.
21st: Les dents
du Midi in late afternoon. I was in Villars most of the day,
where plenty of small tortoiseshells were flying in the sun.
22nd: Still warm and sunny.
23rd: Beautiful cloud
formations in the evening.
24th: From the train down to Villars in the late morning, I saw a
brimstone flying at about 1000m. Heavy cloud had set in by the
evening.
25th: It rained lightly during the night and was cool
and cloudy
this morning. Nevertheless, I still saw a couple of small
tortoiseshells during the odd clear patch in the day. Here
are
the Dents
du Midi in the afternoon, bathed in cloud.
26th:
The cold has returned. Light snow fell today, with strong winds later,
and the temperature never rose above 0°C. I took the day off and
visited the Papiliorama. Although it was more crowded than I have ever
known it, I got plenty of good photos, including one species, Heliconius
atthis, that I hadn't seen before.
Unfortunately, I didn't get an upperside of this butterfly. Also new to
me was Morpho
achilles. Other species I photographed included males and females of Catonephele numilia
(underside of male, underside of female), Cethosia
biblis, Euploea core
(and here, for a male upperside,
showing the sex brand), Heliconius
hecale, Heliconius
hewitsoni, Papilio
thoas, Consul
fabius, Danaus
plexippus, Hamadryas
laodamia, Archeoprepona
amphimachus, Hebomoia
glacippe (that is a female in classic rejection
posture) and Papilio
nireus. There were many more species flying
around that
I didn't photograph (or didn't process the photos) as I already had so
many pictures of them. One Heliconius
charithonius was fluttering around a passion vine as if
she wanted to lay eggs, so I watched her closely - and she did. Here she is laying, and here is
the freshly laid egg. On examining the
vine, I found she or another had in fact laid lots of eggs over many tendrils
(and here, and here). This is a caterpillar of Papilio thoas
and this a brown caterpillar of Caligo eurylochus(with
two more green form caterpillars snuggled up to it!) and this is the green form of the same species.
Finally, here is Lyle's flying fox taking 40 winks
in the canopy.
27th: Bright
and sunny but bitterly cold (though the snow on
the trees there came from snow machines!). Here is a view in the afternoon.
28th: Bitterly cold again. This is the view
over the valley at about 17h45.
March 1st:
The month began very cold. Here is Minnie
waiting for the train in the morning - on my backpack, as the
ground was so cold.
2nd: Bright sunshine today, but still very cold. Beautiful,
hazy clouds hung over the valley (and here,
and here).
On our afternoon walk I looked for brown
hairstreak eggs again (and here,
and here). Lesser
periwinkles are showing through around the woodland edges.
3rd: Morning
view of Les Dents du Midi. Bubbling cloud
in the valley later in the day.
4th:
Sunshine was forecast for the Rhône Valley, so I thought the first
commas and peacocks might now beon the wing. When I got there, it
turned out to be very cold, but this didn’t stop small
tortoiseshells, Queen of Spain fritillaries and clouded
yellows
flying from the very beginning of our walk. During the day, small
tortoiseshells were by far the commonest species and I must have seen
many dozens of individuals. Here is a male
wooing (unsuccessfully) the female under the rock. Queens
were the next most common. I saw in total probably four clouded
yellows, as well as two large tortoiseshells (neither of which stopped
for a picture). Surprisingly, no peacocks, commas or even brimstones
took to the wing, but even more surprisingly, I did see two male walls
(here is the other one)
- much earlier than I normally see them. Finally, right at the end of
the walk, and despite a rather chilly wind, I saw at least one female small
white
(I’m not sure if this is the same individual - I saw it about 200m
away). That brings my Swiss list for the year up to 8 species. I have
never before seen this number in the country by 4th March. The Potentilla foodplant
for grizzled skippers is coming up thickly so this species shouldn't be
too far behind. To top a good day, this red
kite did a close fly-by (and here).
5th:
Sun forecast for Domodossola, so we caught the 07h04 train down the
mountain and headed off to Italy for the day, in the hope of nettle
tree butterflies and maybe even some early Lycaenids. We arrived at
Domodossola at 09h54, but it took about an hour to get to the nettle
tree site because the bottom gears on my bike failed and I had to walk
all the steep uphill bits! Nevertheless, we were in good time, as very
little was flying by 11h00. At first, indeed, it seemed we would only
see small tortoiseshells and even these were thin on the ground. But as
the day hotted up
plenty of other species appeared. Most importantly, the nettle tree
butterflies came out to play. At this site, the nettle trees themselves
are downhill (a very steep hill) on the sunny side of the track, so
it’s difficult to get a shot of the upperside of a basking butterfly.
Nevertheless, I did get some nice views of this
one and caught a bit of the upperside of this
one. Here is a rather poor underside
picture,
shot at great risk to personal safety! During the day I saw perhaps a
dozen individuals. I also saw probably half a dozen large
tortoiseshells - maybe more - but these were all swooping and gliding
along the track and around the trees and I never saw one stop. Parts of
the walk here are very crumbly and steep, and Minnie did
well to keep on the track! By about 13h00, brimstones were frequent,
though before this I saw none. I saw two commas
- new for the year - and a single male
orange tip,
which paused briefly at mud before continuing on his way. At my
Lycaenid patch (where early green hairstreaks, chequered blues and
small coppers fly) there were no blues or coppers but I did see my
first wall
of the day there. I saw a further two or three walls later in the walk.
At about 14h00 we cycled back down towards Domodossola, taking a detour
to the wasteland/park by the river.
Everything was very dry and the river itself was almost a trickle in a
desert but we did find three small
coppers (here is another individual) and a single
red admiral, bringing the species total for the day to 10 and for the
year so far to 12.
6th: In deep shade, there is still some snow
in Leysin.
7th: Another day when I didn't take a single picture (except this very distant,
fuzzy shot of a red kite
over Leysin: there were half a dozen flying together and I wanted to be
sure they weren't the first black kites coming in). I saw half a dozen
small tortoiseshells on my afternoon walk.
8th: Snow fell last night but quickly melted today. Small
tortoiseshells flew in Leysin..
9th: Despite the recent snow and low temperatures, small
tortoiseshells are still flying (and here).
A fox
in early evening. The moon rising behind trees and cloud
(and here,
and here).
10th: Evening
view over Leysin.
11th: More snow fell last night, but I think alternating with rain. We woke
to white, but it was slushy to walk in.
12th: Rather grey and dreary first thing in the morning and although it
cleared
up a bit
it didn't look like a butterfly Sunday. I decided to go to the eastern
end of the Rhône Valley and look for dippers at a site where they are
easy to photograph. By the time we got there, however, it was properly
sunny (and here) and despite a cold wind
butterflies were on the wing. Commonest were small
tortoiseshells and brimstones
(the latter never stopping any length of time for a decent photo) but
there were also Queens of Spain and this single large
tortoiseshell. The dippers didn't disappoint either. Here is one
by the edge of the stream and here one out
in the middle. This is the same individual as the last,
blinking and showing the white feathers on the eyelid.
13th:
Worked most of the day but had time for a short walk near Leysin in the
afternoon. It was sunny and I wondered if any new species would be on
the wing up here. Small tortoiseshells were still
common but were now joined by lots of male brimstones - all constantly
in flight. This single large
tortoiseshell is my first for the year at this altitude
(about 1300m). At one point a tiny pine
ladybird, Exochomus
quadripustulatus, landed on my hand (and here).
Here is a view
into the distance, showing the snow retreating up the
mountains. We had a violent thunderstorm in the evening.Here is Leysin
by night, lit by a wall of sheet lightning (off to
the right).
14th: A grim
and grey day after the storms (and here).
15th: A beautiful morning, remaining beautiful
all day. Small tortoiseshells flew.
16th: A beautiful day, but cold. Only small
tortoiseshells flew in Leysin (and here).
Here is a lizard in Leysin (at about 1300m).
17th: Clusters of firebugs on a tree in
Leysin (and here).
18th:
Warm and sunny in the Rhône Valley, with cloud rolling in by
mid-afternoon. I arrived at about 10h40 and immediately saw small
tortoiseshells, large tortoiseshells, Queens of
Spain, clouded yellows, brimstones, small whites, orange
tips
and a single Eastern Bath white. Large tortoiseshells were mostly
rather worn and everything was restless and active because of the heat.
Surprisingly, however, the brimstones stopped quite frequently. Here
and here
are two more, this time on flowers. Reaching my main site, I quickly
put up a skipper but it flew straight over a hedge and I didn't see it
again. It was probably a grizzled skipper. Large
tortoiseshells were common, so I often saw two or three
together, and Queens of Spain (and here)
were very common. On one hillside, scattered with their foodplant,
there were always half a dozen or so in view, drifting, occasionally
settling, probably laying eggs. Here is a speckled
wood. Clouded yellows were common here and I saw a single
swallowtail, though it didn't settle. Moving on, I found commas,
brimstones, Queens, small and large tortoiseshells, orange
tips and whites flying around sallow near a small stream.
Here is my first green-veined white
of the year. There were no Camberwell beauties on the wing yet, nor
holly blues, surprisingly. As I walked back again, my first green
hairstreak of the year motored past me without stopping. The bushes are
still bare and there were no obvious places for green hairstreaks to
set up territories. Shortly after this, I spotted an Eastern
Bath white briefly at rest. Continuing the walk back towards
the station, I next spotted a couple of walls and not long after that a
peacock,
my first of this species for the year. Here is a lizard,
looking well fed - perhaps on the many butterflies that have
been
flying this year (a lot of butterflies have chunks out of their wings
...). The full list for the day: Swallowtail, small white, green-veined
white, Eastern Bath white, orange tip, clouded yellow, brimstone, green
hairstreak, small tortoiseshell, peacock, large tortoiseshell, comma,
Queen of Spain, wall, speckled wood. 15 species - not bad for 18th
March! Finally, if you have a 3D viewer, here is a side-by-side 3D
shot of Minnie by the Rhône. If you haven't got a 3D viewer,
it's just two photos of her!
19th: A grey
day with some rain.
20th: Minnie studiously ignoring a curious
kitten.
21st: The many small tortoiseshells still flying
around Leysin were joined today by a peacock.
22nd: A warm,
sunny day in the mountains. Here is the first Queen
of Spain I've seen at altitude this year (in Leysin, at about
1300m).
23rd: Much cooler today, and overcast (and here).
24th: Overcast
again, with plenty of rain for most of the day.
25th: Rain
and snow sweeping along the valley. Here is Leysin
by night.
26th: High
winds and snow during the day, clearing to blue
skies by late afternoon.
27th: Back to winter in Leysin! Here is Minnie
on her afternoon
walk around the block.
28th: Red-crested pochards on the lake.
Here is a male and here a happy couple. Here is one with a goosander - both preening
on a rocky spit.
29th: Precipitation
sweeping along the valley.
MARCH 31ST - APRIL 7TH - MÁLAGA
(Initially, pictures will be the few I had time to process while in
Málaga. I might add more later)
31st: Flew to Málaga on an early flight, though arriving
later than scheduled. I checked in to my hostal at 14h00, then
headed out to see if the desert orange tips were flying. On the way, I
noted that there were no butterflies in Málaga! I didn’t see a single
butterfly on the flowers in town, where there are usually Lang’s
short-tailed blues in profusion, and on the way to the desert orange
tip site I saw only a couple of large whites. At the site, the old
caper plants were all dead but there was new growth. At first, I saw no
butterflies there, but just as I concluded the orange tips weren’t
flying I put one up. It landed shortly but my eye was distracted by a
small white and I lost it. Seeing no more in half an hour, I decided to
head out along the river. There, tragically, they have completely dug
up and resurfaced the track where I see African grass blues and
monarchs. All the old plants have gone and new ones have been put in.
It wasn’t possible to walk along the track itself, because they are
still working there, but I could see there are no butterflies. Most
sadly, perhaps, I saw no monarchs. The grass blues actually breed in
the river bed, and were probably still there, but monarchs are very
conspicuous and I saw none. Continuing beyond the town into rough land
in the foothills, I finally found a few butterflies: a single geranium
bronze, a single black-eyed blue, painted
ladies, several Spanish festoons, a single
Spanish marbled white and lots of Bath whites, as well as small whites.
I expect to see much more in the hills tomorrow… April
1st:
Out before 08h00 and up into the local hills. Because there is nothing
to see along the river any more, I got there early and almost nothing
was flying. I saw a few Spanish festoons and black-eyed
blues on the
way up, as well as western dappled whites, but really
very little.
There was nothing at my usual hilltopping sites either, so I kept going
and little by little things began to fly. At my furthest hilltopping
site, Spanish
marbled whites (and here, and here),
walls,
green-striped
whites (and here), swallowtails
and large whites all came out to play. As I walked back again, more and
more came onto the wing. There were Provence orange tips drifting along
dried river beds meeting Cleopatras going the other way. There were
lots of
black-eyed
blues now, and eventually a single Lang’s short-tailed blue.
Here is a small heath, subspecies lyllus - even now,
in first brood, looking clearly like lyllus. Returning
by my first hilltopping sites there were now Iberian
scarce
swallowtails (and here)
and swallowtails, as well as Spanish marbled whites,
western
dappled whites, green-striped whites and walls. At one point,
I saw a red admiral intent on feeding on something in a holm oak.
Finally, just
before I came down the hill, a single male two-tailed
pasha appeared. I
thought he would fly off as quickly as he had come, but he didn’t. He
posed on the ground for me, then on
my backpack (and here), then on a rock.
I left
him there, surveying his world, when I came
down the hill.
2nd:
Benalmádena. Began by going down a track where skippers and blues fly
in summer. Little flying yet, as it was still early, but I did see a
couple of Lang’s short-tailed blues, as well
as Spanish
festoon,
speckled
wood, Cleopatra, Provence
orange tip, large and small whites
and copper demoiselles (and here,
a male). Heading on to another skipper site, I found my
first African grass blue of the holiday
but nothing else as the site
itself was still in shade. In the hills, small
coppers, speckled woods,
Spanish festoons, black-eyed blues, painted ladies, red admirals and my
first green
hairstreak of the trip were all flying. Here is the beer
stop, where the green hairstreak was, and here a view
to the sea from the same place. I was able to
photograph this female Provence orange tip. Returning to
the first
track, I photographed another geranium
bronze before heading home.
3rd:
Went to Antequera for false baton
blues and Lorquin’s blues. Both were
flying, the former in very good numbers. I watched female
false baton
blues (and here, an underside)
make as if to lay on this plant, though I didn’t find
any eggs. I believe it is Cleonia
lusitanica.
They are really tiny blues and so restless they are very difficult to
photograph! Here is another male
and here a female. Lots of western
dappled whites and green
striped whites (and here)
around, as well as a few Provence orange tips and
Cleopatras. Spanish festoons were common. I
also saw my first Provence
hairstreaks of the year (and here),
at the same site as the false batons. Other
blues flying were southern brown argus, black-eyed
blue, Austaut’s blue
(Polyommatus celina)
and Adonis blue. I found my first
skippers of the
year - a single each of false mallow skipper and southern
grizzled
skipper. Plenty of clouded yellows and a few painted ladies
cruising
through. Locally, there were walls.
4th: Hazy cloud and very few
butterflies. I walked up and east of Málaga looking for places where
sooty orange tip might fly. I did indeed find plenty of
suitable-looking sites - flower hillside with plenty of crucifers - but
even so it will be a matter of luck if the butterfly actually flies on
them. Because of the haze, I saw no butterflies at all until a western
dappled white at 11h00, then no more until 12h00, when a painted
lady
put up. During the afternoon I saw a few more painted ladies, a single
Spanish festoon, another western dappled white, a green-striped
white,
a small
copper, several walls and half a dozen black-eyed
blues. A
soldier
bug landed on my solar charger and I spotted a booted
eagle in
the distance.
5th: Same walk as yesterday. No sooty orange tips
but quite a few butterflies, including my first long-tailed
blues of
the year (and here) - about half a dozen near
the top, hilltopping. Lots of
black-eyed blues and Spanish festoons, a single (possible) Adonis blue,
locally quite a few Spanish marbled whites and some small
heaths.
Green-striped
whites and western dappled whites were common, and I saw
a female of the latter laying eggs. Here
is one of them. Other species
were Provence orange tip, large and
small whites, wall, painted lady,
red admiral and small copper. I watched red-rumped
swallows skimming
for insects beside an old ruin where capers grew (but no desert orange
tips) and was visited by this hoopoe
(and here)
as I drank my beer there. Here is
a gecko
(and here)
and here a stripy wall lizard (to be
identified).
6th:
Got up early and headed to Gibraltar for the day. After spending a
little time in town, revisiting places from my youth, I then climbed
the Mediterranean steps. It was very sunny but also very windy and most
things were keeping low. Nevertheless, I watched this female
Cleopatra making as if to lay, before we were disturbed by a
walker descending the track. Here is the same
Cleopatra on the ground. Spanish
festoon were about in good numbers, as were Provence orange
tip and speckled wood. At the top, I photographed this Provence
orange tip, then almost immediately saw two Euchloe,
that I took to be Portuguese dappled whites. There were a lot of people
and I soon lost them. Later, though, I spotted a single one settle and
got a quick shot
before more people disturbed that. My first life tick of 2023! Back in
town, after failing to find monarchs in the botanic gardens, I saw a
single
in the Trafalgar cemetery. It flew past me before landing
in an
orange tree and staying there. That was it - I had to get
back to La Linea for the bus home to Málaga.
7th: Began in Benalmádena, where little was flying in the morning. I
did see swallowtails,
Spanish festoons and Provence orange tips, but no more African grass
blues. Then I took the cable car into the chalk hills above
Benalmádena, to see if I could find Portuguese dappled whites up there.
It is possible I did, but none of them stopped flying! I found some
very suitable slopes with spotty (not stripy) Euchloe flying up
and down them (rather sparsely - they certainly weren’t common) but was
only able to get one flight photo - not good enough for
ID. On my way back down the hill, through the scrub, I found and
photographed western dappled white - but there
the terrain was very different. Species of the day was green
hairstreak,
which was flying commonly near the top and by the dozen near the
bottom. I was putting up threes and fours at a time. Other species for
the day included Cleopatra, wall, lots more Provence orange tips, lots
more Spanish festoons and some small whites. This is an ocellated
lizard (and here)
and this is an Iberian wall lizard.
8th: Caught the 06h25 plane to Geneva, arriving home in time to go down
to the valley again and pick Minnie up.
9th:
Worked in morning then went along the Rhône Valley in the afternoon to
see if southern grizzled skippers and rosy grizzled skippers were
flying yet. Not really, is the answer. I saw just one southern
grizzled skipper (though this is not an early site) and no
rosies. There were a few dingy skippers, though. The first
wood whites and Glanville fritillaries were on the wing (just a few of
each) and I saw at least four Camberwell
beauties (and here)
on one of their regular patches. A few Berger’s clouded yellows were
drifting over the hills and I saw at least three large walls - my first
of both these species for the year. I also saw three large
tortoiseshells, lots of commas and a few speckled woods. I was
surprised not to see any green-underside blues or violet fritillaries,
but I actually had little time and didn’t visit their hotspots. About
three large tortoiseshells put up in familiar places and as I turned
home a single scarce swallowtail became my 52nd
species for the year.
Here is a distant golden eagle, which was being mobbed
by a buzzard, and here is a hoopoe,
set against the snowy mountains! Why go to Spain when you can see
hoopoes in your back yard? I saw one small lycaenid which I took at the
time to be a northern brown argus but which is clearly either a common
blue or a Chapman's blue. It was at a northern brown argus spot, but
the photo
shows it is clearly not that.
10th: Return of cloud and cold. Despite this, a
few brave small tortoiseshells were on the
wing during our afternoon walk near Leysin and I even saw a single
large tortoiseshell fly past.
11th: Heavy
cloud and quite a lot of rain today.
12th: Another day of rain and cloud. Here is an evening
view in Leysin.
13: Snow
overnight
- and snow continued to fall intermittently throughout the day. The
temperature never reached above 2°C and no butterflies flew, but at
least two hummingbird hawkmoths were on the
wing during our afternoon walk. Several kestrels were hovering
over the fields and sitting
on telegraph poles.
14th: Another cold and snowy day.
15th: Snow
and cloud all day.
16th: Another cold and cloudy day. Here is a red
kite quartering over Leysin (and here).
17th: I had to work in the afternoon but found time in the morning for
a quick trip to the Rhône Valley.
There, surprisingly little was flying - and most surprisingly, no there
were no chequered blues or grizzled skippers. What I did see, in order:
Orange tips were common - mostly males but some females; female
brimstones were also common, outnumbering males; next, there were a few
small tortoiseshells - maybe half a dozen in total; a single green-underside
blue
was my first of that species for the year - it stopped just long enough
for this shot; Berger’s clouded yellows were about but not yet
numerous; clouded yellows were the commonest species of the day - here
is an egg laid on Vicia tenuifolia (and here);
a single common blue was my only individual
of that species; walls were almost as common as
clouded yellows; although I saw no grizzlies, I did see three mallow
skippers (and here)
during the walk; a single red admiral flew by at one point; a single
wood white in flight was my only sighting of that species; two large
tortoiseshells - the second showing a great interest in may (hawthorn)
flowers, though without landing on them; during the walk I saw two
fresh Glanville fritillaries; my last
new species for the
year was southern small white
- this single male. When I arrived at the site it was early and I
wasn’t so surprised to see little. But by the time I left it was warm
and I am amazed there were no chequered blues. My earliest for the site
is 14th March and the normal big emergence is mid-April. Here
and here
are a couple of photos from our evening walk.
18th: A cold but sunny day. Here and here
are the morning sky. I worked in Villars all day: here is Minnie on her
lunchtime
walk in Chesières.
19th: Empty
streets on our evening walk around Leysin (and here).
20th: The Grand
Chamossaire floating through cloud. Dense
cloud covered the valley but it was sometimes clear up in the
mountains.
21st: Clear
in the morning, degrading later.
22nd: A cloudy
day with some rain and snow.
23rd:
It was partially clear in the morning, so Minnie and I headed up into
the hills above Leysin to see how some of the butterfly areas are
progressing. Here
is Minnie following in my footsteps across a patch of meadow where
Glanville, heath and marsh fritillaries were flying on 20th May last
year. Crocuses
were just coming through where grizzled skippers and Dukes of
Burgundy were flying on the same day. Minnie seemed full of beans, so
we headed
on up into the snow. Here is a nutcracker
(and here) and here a ring
ouzel singing from his perch on an island
of trees in the snow. When we reached the little village of Berneuse,
bad weather was looming so we headed back down by another route.
As we descended we lost the blue skies altogether, but to my surprise a
small
tortoiseshell was flying half way back down. This is the context.
I didn't approach any closer so as not to disturb it. Lower down, while
it was still 100% cloud, we saw another small tortoiseshell.
24th:
My camera got wet today (submerged by accident) and by the time I
noticed, it was no longer functioning. I am drying it thoroughly but I
think it won't work again and so have ordered a new one.
25th: The
camera turns on but malfunctions, so I think it good I ordered a new
one. Fortunately, no butterflies today! In fact, it was snowy
when I got up and continued snowing much of the day. This is the view
outside the window while I was teaching (in Chesières).
26th: I found a slightly crumply harlequin ladybird on the platform at
Aigle station today. I only had my iPhone so took a quick
shot for ID purposes (it is a form of spectabilis, with
intact red spots, I hadn't seen before) then moved it to safety. My
butterfly camera still doesn't function properly.
27th: A cool but quite sunny day in the mountains.
It almost looks springlike (and here)!
My camera is fully dried out but won't work, even after resetting, so I
went out with an old camera. The only species flying in the morning
were orange tip and brimstone, though
on our afternoon walk around the Suchet (one of the wooded, Leysin
hills) I also saw a comma.
28th:
It was bright in the morning - enough for me to see my first holly blue
fluttering around ivy in Aigle, on my way to Villars. But then back to
miserable weather in the afternoon - cloud
in the early evening becoming heavy rain by night.
29th:
Pouring with rain in the morning. There was no point in going anywhere
so I decided to attach my brown hairstreak eggs to the blackthorn on my
balcony, which is now coming into leaf (though it has had few flowers).
I have six eggs in total, which have been sitting in the fridge since
last year. Here and here
are two of them in their new situation.
30th: A wet day. Here is our evening walk in the rain.
May 1st: Still very
grim weather!
2nd: By the evening the clouds cleared and it looked set
for fine weather to come.
3rd: A beautiful
morning, leading to a beautiful day.
I was teaching all day so couldn't take advantage of it but the beans
on the balcony grew several centimetres and I think some of my brown
hairstreak eggs look nearer to hatching ... They are in the shade on my
balcony and photos are difficult, but this
one seems to show a black head inside.
4th:
Another beautiful day, and I didn't have to teach until the afternoon.
So I got down to the valley early to see what the Iolas blue site
looked like. I fear it won't be an Iolas blue site for many more years,
as it is increasingly overgrown with bushes and there are few suitable
bladder sennas left. But there are some, and I saw the species there
last year on a trip to Switzerland. They are not in flower yet, though,
so I suspect it will be a late year for the butterfly. In fact, I saw
very little altogether - almost nothing was flying. There were a few common
blues, a single probable Adonis blue, a single holly blue, a
number of dingy skippers (and here),
a few small, green-veined and wood whites, a brimstone or two, a few Berger's
clouded yellows
and a few walls. But it should be brimming with butterflies in early
May, especially on such a lovely day. We then moved back to a site
closer to Martigny, in the hope of seeing chequered blues. In the end,
we did see some - three in total - but they were conspicuously absent
from most of their normal places. I hope they are just very late, not
declining drastically. Here and here
are a couple of snatched photos of a female (from some distance and
with my new camera, which I haven't fully mastered yet!). There were
also quite a few Glanville fritillaries at this
site and a very few grizzled skippers (malvoides),
but altogether very little indeed. A few common blues were flying and I
saw a single green-underside blue too. There were Queens of Spain at
both sites and I had a tantalising glimpse into the sun of what looked
like a cardinal, but I can't rule out some other large butterfly like
large tortoiseshell. I have no doubt I'll see cardinals before long!
Here is the moon rising tonight. Tomorrow is
full moon, and a penumbral lunar eclipse, but it's not likely the
weather will be so good ...
5th:
Although it looked at times today as though it might clear for the
penumbral eclipse to be visible as the moon rose above the mountains,
it never happened. Here is the ridge where the moon was to rise,
earlier in the evening.
6th:
I had the morning free, so revisited my old haunts near Villars. I was
hoping to find purple emperor caterpillars, which are easiest to find
at this time of year. Sadly, I couldn't locate any. Many of the sallows
where I used to find them were overshadowed by other trees or even
dead, and I suspect eggs are now laid in different sites from where I
used to find them. There are still lots of sallows around and I have no
doubt the butterflies are still there. That said, butterflies were very
scarce today altogether, despite excellent weather. I had expected to
see plenty of skippers, including grizzled skipper (in the valley,
southern grizzled skipper, malvoides,
flies, but in the Vaud mountains it is malvae) but in the
event saw none. I was pleased to see a few pearl-bordered
fritillaries (and here)
and violet
fritillaries (and here),
but both these were much scarcer than I expected and I only saw one
fritillary over a meadow (at a distance - probably meadow fritillary).
I did see a single Camberwell beauty in the woods - probably a female
as there was no territorial behaviour. Other species included orange
tip, wood white, wall, comma
and large white. This is a very late year. As we left the woods I
spotted this male lizard biting a female lizard
(and here).
The two were absolutely stationary - no reaction from the female - but
when Minnie walked past they scuttled off together. I believe it is the
male's idea of seduction - holding onto the female until she gives in -
but I could be mistaken.
7th: We awoke to heavy rain but there were
periods of sun during the day. In the morning, while I was taking out
the recycling, a scarce swallowtail appeared on the drive near my
house. I didn't have my camera with me but took a quick proof
shot
with my iPhone. I was surprised to see this species so high, so early.
Our afternoon walk was mostly in cloud, with rain at the end, but I did
see this wall on the Suchet.
8th: Some brightness
in the morning, leading to heavy rain by the afternoon.
9th:
Mostly cloud today, leading to rain in the afternoon, but a few
butterflies managed to fly whenever a little hazy sun got through. On
our late-morning walk I saw several orange tips and found this
egg
on the first garlic mustard I checked. Small whites and one or two wood
whites were flying over the meadows and I came across this single dingy
skipper flying bravely despite the fact there was no sun at
the time. This meadow brown caterpillar (and here)
was crossing the path incredibly slowly, so I moved it to the other
side. A couple of green hairstreaks were flying close to the ground.
This one at least was a female, laying eggs on bird's
foot trefoil. Finally, here is a perky bullfinch,
who was with a female apparently collecting stuff for their nest. The
bought blackthorn on my balcony is in full leaf but the brown
hairstreak eggs (and here)
are not hatching yet. The wild blackthorns are only just in flower and
the eggs there are also unhatched. Here is the view
over the valley in the evening.
10th: Cloudy
and wet all day. Here's the little funicular
from Aigle heading up to Feydey.
11th: Another wet day. Here's Minnie
in the pub in the evening, doing her rounds. There were
others in the pub, but they were all at the bar or playing pool in the
other room!
12th:
Yet another wet day. It did seem to clear up in the early afternoon, so
Minnie and I set off to check out the meadows, but it soon turned to rain
again and we headed home. Before turning back, we checked the
wild brown hairstreak eggs. This
one
was hatched, but there were no leaves on its twig and I suspect it was
one of last year's eggs. None of the other eggs were hatched and the
blackthorn was in bloom but not leaf. Checking where the green
hairstreak had been laying the other day, I found this unidentified moth
caterpillar (and here).
13th: Cloud
and rain
... As I was passing through Aigle station in late morning, it did
clear and even felt warm - and a small white flew by the verge. But by
the time I reached Leysin again in the early afternoon it was pouring.
14th:: Rain
and cloud.
15th: Rain
and cloud again ... As I nipped to the Co-Op between lessons,
the cows
arrived in town ...
16th: Another cloudy and wet day, even though a
few clearings in the cloud occasionally let the sun through.
17th:
I had free time today, and for the first day in a long time no rain was
forecast. I intended to go up to my violet copper sites at 1700m-1800m
but half way through the journey learnt that the trains up the mountain
were not running today because of works. So instead I looked for purple
emperor and white admiral caterpillars near Villars. Although there is
masses and masses of sallow still, I couldn't find a single purple
emperor caterpillar. I can only think that with the slow but inevitable
shift in conditions in the woods, the females are laying on different
trees from before. I might have to look for eggs in July - the easiest
stage to find. Nor, at first, did I find any white admiral
caterpillars. But I might have been looking for the wrong thing, as I
was expecting 4th instar caterpillars - green and reasonably big.
Instead, I found a single 3rd instar caterpillar - tiny (about 5mm) and
brown. Despite the very overcast weather it didn't rain
and I saw a single painted lady, as well as a single
male orange tip, both desperately trying to make the most of a bad job.
Here is a black-and-red shieldbug, Cercopis vulnerata,
and here a very distant buzzard hovering into the wind, as
they sometimes do here.
18th: It was partly bright today (and here),
though mostly cloudy. On a walk round le Suchet and in
the woods below, I saw no butterflies at all until suddenly the sun
came out and a male brimstone flew. I then saw a
further two different individuals (here
and here).
A single small tortoiseshell put in an appearance nearer to home but
that was it. Quite extraordinary for late May!
19th: Heavy
cloud again ...
20th: There was some sun in the morning, when I visited Chesières for
work, but it clouded over again
by the afternoon. Recently I have been watching some of the local elms
come into leaf and decided to visit a nearby one after dark tonight to
look for white-letter hairstreak caterpillars. I hadn't seen any leaf
damage in the daytime but the tree looked perfect and I felt sure they
must be there. At first, I found none, though most of the branches are
very high and it was only dusk, not really night. Then I spotted the
characteristic UV glow on a lower twig. It was a third instar
white-letter hairstreak caterpillar moving between flowers - it hadn't
yet eaten any of the leaves around. This is a contextual
shot, while this photo shows the little person
from closer up. It can be seen he still has a small amount of pink.
21st:
The forecast was for partial sun, especially in the morning, so Minnie
and I headed up the hill to see how things were progressing. I did
exactly the same walk on 22nd May last year when I flew out to Leysin
for some presentations. My report for that day is here
for comparison. At about 10h30 I arrived at the site where I saw Duke
of Burgundy, various fritillaries and grizzled and alpine grizzled
skipper last year. Very little indeed was flying: a single grizzled
skipper (my first malvae,
rather than malvoides,
of the year) and a single green hairstreak, which I put up as I left.
On the way to the site I saw a single small
heath and a single small tortoiseshell. At this stage it was
still mostly
cloudy, so we headed on up, intending to come back the same
way if the weather improved. Here, here
and here
are some piccies from higher up the mountain. At altitude, there were a
few small tortoiseshells and as the
day heated up a little, quite a few green
hairstreaks.
I photographed that one at about 1770m. Nothing else was flying.
Returning to the lower site (c. 1600m) I found conditions had improved
and now lots of green hairstreaks (and here)
were flying there. This was the commonest butterfly of the day - they
were actually so numerous that twice I heard the sound of their wings
clapping as clusters of 3 and 4 flew past my ears. I also saw a few
small tortoiseshells, a single orange tip, a single Queen
of Spain
and a single Berger's clouded yellow. I waited about half an hour there
but nothing else flew. Returning down the mountain I found a patch of
meadow where at least half a dozen (probably more) violet
fritillaries
were flying and saw a couple more small heaths and a single
swalllowtail. Finally, as I re-entered Leysin, I spotted first a single
common blue, then a single large
white.
For a warmish day in late May, this was all a very poor showing,
especially considering what was flying here this time last year! I hope
spring proper can now begin!
22nd: Finally, a beautifully sunny day!
I had business in Aigle first thing in the morning, then took Minnie
for a short walk before teaching in the afternoon. Little was flying by
the roadside on our walk but I did see this first sooty
copper
of the year. After teaching I took Minnie for another short walk then
headed up for the Leysin American School graduation. It was a beautiful
day for this, though admittedly, by the time I left it had started
raining again!
23rd: The day began sunny and on a longish morning walk around Leysin I
found a few butterflies: fresh small tortoiseshells (the
offspring of the hibernators), orange tips, small
heaths and sooty coppers. Things are still
very subdued, though. In the afternoon it clouded over and began
raining before 15h30.
24th: Cloudy
all day (and here).
25th: A much better day weatherwise (and here),
with the promise of still better to come!
26th: A beautiful
day
forecast, so I headed up to the violet copper sites that I had missed
recently because the train wasn't running. It turned out the train
wasn't running again today, but we decided to walk
it instead (and here),
expecting to see lots of butterflies on the way up (from 1250m to
1800m). Amazingly, although it was sunny and hot, we saw almost nothing
on the way up: two or three small
tortoiseshells,
a couple of whites and a Queen of Spain. Heading across and down to our
main, wetland, violet copper sites, we continued to see very little. Green
hairstreaks (and here)
were the only common butterfly apart from small tortoiseshells. I was
amazed to see what looked at first glance like a largish Erebia, but which
turned out to be a northern wall.
I saw probably three of these in total. There were also a couple of
clouded yellows. At what is usually my best copper site, a single dingy
skipper and three violet coppers
were all there was (apart from green hairstreaks and small
tortoiseshells). This was quite remarkable: in late May there
should
be butterflies everywhere up here! Climbing back up through what are
normally good violet copper sites we saw no more, until we reached a
much more accessible site at about 1800m where there were a few more.
This awful
shot
shows the highest I saw, at just over 1800mUp here I also saw my first
little blue of the year and possibly a clouded Apollo, though this was
at a distance and I can't rule out either large white or black-veined
white. Here is a marmot, shot from a very long
distance! This is the view without zoom, showing where
the marmot is.
27th:
Began at what has alway been my top Iolas blue site. though it is
greatly degraded from when I discovered it in 2004. Soon after
arriving, a single male bounced through without stopping, but that was
the only one I saw. There is hardly any bladder senna there now. In
fact, there were very few butterflies at all here, even at a
neighbouring, flowery site where there are normally loads of cardinals.
I saw a single female cardinal rather briefly as she flew through. Also
red-underwing
skipper, Adonis blue, common blue, holly blue, green-underside
blue and Provençal short-tailed blue. Quite
a few walls and the odd Berger’s, as well as a single female spotted
fritillary.
I left before 13h00 to get to the other end of the Rhône Valley and
look for de Prunner’s ringlet and Provençal fritillary. I found none of
the former, but eventually four or five of the latter - all fresh
males. Here is one,
in a rare moment when it settled. Again, there was very little flying,
but as the afternoon wore on I picked more things up. Lots of Camberwell
beauties - if not the commonest then certainly the most
conspicuous butterfly. And at least 4 southern
white admirals (and here,
a different individual), vigorously defending
their territories. At one point I watched a southern white
admiral and a Camberwell beauty in heated battle. Here
and here
are cropped frames from an iPhone video I took of them as they zoomed
around. The admiral always won but the beauty kept coming back and they
would set off again. Strangely, it was always the admiral who left his
post to deal with the beauty, but it was always the beauty chasing the
admiral when I looked at the film. Other species at this site included wood
white,
common blue, green hairstreak, southern grizzled skipper, Apollo (two
or three seen in flight only), scarce swallowtail, clouded yellow,
Berger’s clouded yellow, black-veined white and speckled
wood. A single brimstone flew past while I was photographing southern
white admirals.
28th:
We set off this morning for dappled whites in Valais. This is a low,
early site, so we weren't looking for other mountain species. The
foodplant (Erucastrum
nasturtiifolium)
grows commonly by the road here and the butterflies are usually quite
accessible at the roadside, but today there was so much mountain
traffic, including hundreds of motorbikes, it was difficult to manage
Minnie and approach the few males roding the area. I got a first, proof
shot
on some foodplant comfortably off the road, where a male stopped
briefly, but later (after a trip to some nearby meadows) headed up a
bouldered gulley where I didn't have to worry about Minnie getting run
over. It was tough going for her and there was no shade at all, so I
positioned my bags to cast a shadow and stood
over her at a suitable vantage point where I could survey the
Erucastrum.
This is the general scene here, with lots of
fresh landslip and newly exposed earth. The foodplant
grows sparsely all over the surfaces, seemingly out of the rock, and
today one or two mountain dappled whites were constantly drifting up
and down the gulley, checking the plants for females. They very rarely
stopped, and never stopped on the plant I had positioned myself by! But
thanks to the superzoom, I was able to get very distant shots of
recognisable butterflies. Here
and here
are two of them, and here the view up the slope to where they were
nectaring, some 30m away. Also drifting up and down the gulley were wood
whites - easily distinguised in flight by their slower
wingbeats and gentler flight. Our meadow stop between the simplonia episodes
was gentler, though it was a long walk uphill for Minnie. Here she is resting
in the shade
while I look for butterflies. There were no Dukes, unfortunately, nor
Osiris blue, which normally flies there. As ever this year, there were
in fact very few butterflies and I think it is just too early. I did
see a couple of Mazarine blues and there were plenty of Glanville
fritillaries around, as well as small heaths. Other butterflies seen
during the day were: southern white admiral (a single, at the lower end
of the simplonia
road), wall
(common), red admiral, small tortoiseshell, Queen of Spain, a single
larger fritillary seen once in flight - probably niobe
- small white, large white, orange tip, clouded yellow, Berger's
clouded yellow, Adonis blue, common blue and green hairstreak.
29th: A mostly sunny day but with some rain. I worked much of the day
and didn't get out butterflying.
30th: Visited three sites near Geneva, with main targets black
hairstreak, large copper and Reverdin’s blue. At the first site, black
hairstreaks were out in good numbers (and here),
but only males so far as I could see. They were sparring and searching
for females and occasionally stopping on blackthorn leaves (or
occasionally leaves of other trees, like hazel) to sun or take
honeydew. At this site, the privet wasn’t out yet so there wasn’t any
nectaring. Amazingly for this site, no marbled whites or meadow browns
were on the wing yet. The only other butterflies I saw were brimstones,
small
heaths,
Adonis and common blues, and some speckled woods in the shady spots.
Normally here there are heath, glanville and knapweed fritillaries, but
there were none. Nevertheless, I was very happy with the black
hairstreaks and soon moved on to the next site - normally the most
reliable for large coppers. Despite spending plenty of time at the
normal male playground, and a little at the female laying site (I
couldn’t spend long there because of the horses in the field, which
kept following Minnie!), I found no large coppers. I did find a single small
copper, a few meadow browns and lots of Glanville
and knapweed
fritillaries.
I think there were also heath fritillaries, but none stopped for
confirmation. At this site there were a few common blues and this female
blue,
which I think is probably green-underside but really don’t know. Other
species here included Berger’s clouded yellow, speckled wood and black-veined
white. Moving on to my third site, still no large copper. I
was rewarded with a single Reverdin’s
blue and two Oberthür’s
grizzled skippers, my first for the year. There were also a
few rather tatty brown arguses - another first for
the year. Lots of dragonflies were on the wing, including brown
hawkers, black-tailed skimmers (and here),
four-spotted chasers, golden
ringed (never stopped - bidentatus
also flies here), emperors, western
clubtails (Gomphus
pulchellus), and for the damsels, beautiful demoiselle, azure
damselfly and white-legged damselfly.
31st: On an afternoon walk in Leysin I found this 4th instar white-letter
hairstreak caterpillar. Returning after dark, I relocated
that one and found a second, on a different tree.
Little else was flying. Here is a green
hairstreak and here a mazarine
blue.
June
1st:
I had various administrative things to do early in the day and didn't
get a chance to give Minnie a proper butterfly walk until the
afternoon. We decided to go up the local mountain, for Dukes of
Burgundy, marsh fritillaries and alpine grizzled skippers, but almost
exactly when we reached the site the sun went in and never returned.
There were a fair few little blues still on the wing,
despite the cloud, and a single grizzled
skipper.
A couple of Berger's clouded yellows and a single orange tip flew
through, and I saw violet fritillaries and small heaths on the way up,
when there was still some sun. This northern
brown argus
was the first of that species for the year, and a few common blues and
Adonis blues were struggling to fly as well. But on the whole it was
grey and butterfly-free. This little blue, diving
for deep cover, sums it up ...
2nd:
A friend drove up from Grenoble this morning in the hope of seeing
Iolas blues. I knew they were on the wing, as I saw one on 27th May,
but the site is now so overgrown I couldn't be sure we would have
success. He picked me up from Martigny at 08h09 and we reached the site
before 08h30. For a long while it seemed we would be disappointed. Very
little was flying at all: the odd cardinal
and spotted fritillary, a few Adonis blues, turquoise
blues,
green-underside blues, holly blues and red-underwing skippers. Then
shortly after 10h00 the first male Iolas blue bounced in. Most of the
good bladder senna is now rather inaccessible but I got this record
shot
through the foliage, confirming it was indeed an Iolas blue. Over the
next hour we saw either several more or the same one coming round again
several times, and although there were no good photo opportunities it
was very good to see the butterfly. This
is the only other shot I took, on the wrong site of a bladder senna
bush. Mission accomplished, we then moved farther up the Rhône Valley
to look for Provençal fritillary and Swiss
Zephyr blue. The latter wasn't flying, but the former was out in good
numbers. Here is a mating pair, and here my
friend photographing them. This shot shows the context.
New for the year at this site were (southern) heath
fritillary (Melitaea
nevadensis), marbled white, de
Prunner's ringlet and large
skipper.
Southern white admirals were out in good numbers, and although I didn't
photograph any, my friend took a lot of shots of one that landed on my
shoulder, which I will post when he sends them to me! EDIT: Here it is! We saw two Camberwell
beauties,
both in rather poor repair - unsurprising at the beginning of June.
Other species at this site included safflower skipper,
southern
grizzled skipper, red admiral, glanville fritillary, Queen of Spain
fritillary, (probable) southern small white, black-veined white, scarce
swallowtail, Apollo, small copper, common blue, Adonis blue, green-underside
blue,
holly blue, Provençal short-tailed blue, wall and speckled wood. We
then moved on to a final site before my friend headed back to Grenoble.
Here, I had hoped to see rosy grizzled skippers, which I haven't yet
seen this year. There were none, though safflower
skippers
were flying. There were a fair few southern white admirals gliding
around and generally more butterflies, though still pitifully few
compared with normal years. Mazarine blues were flying - something we
hadn't seen elsewhere today. Here is a white-legged
damselfly, and here a female common
blue damselfly munching a fly (and here,
in close-up). Clouds were building up as we drove back to Martigny and
it began raining before I got back home, building up to thunder storms
in the evening.
3rd: A beautiful morning. When we set out on our afternoon walk it was fine
weather too, but clouds were brewing. Here is Minnie
waiting at La Roulaz station for the train back up the hill
(and here):
by the time we reached Leysin again the storm had begun.
4th:
Again, a day of two halves. In the morning, we headed to my old
hunting-grounds near Gryon, hoping for woodland ringlet, Duke of
Burgundy, meadow fritillary and Osiris blue. The meadows were lush
and beautiful, with abundant flowers (including Paradisea liliastrum),
yet hardly any butterflies were on the wing. Adonis blues were perhaps
the commonest, with meadow fritillary (and here)
a close second, as well as the odd small heath, red-underwing skipper,
grizzled skipper and green-veined whites appearing off and on as
singles. Initially, I found no Dukes at all, though I went to what used
to be my top spot. Then, returning, I stumbled across a single
male in long grass and flowers. Shortly after, I spotted what
I thought
was a second,
but I think is probably the first one again, which had disappeared from
where I first saw it. There were no woodland ringlets. I took a short
walk in the woods, in case I should encounter a poplar admiral (which I
have twice seen here) but instead saw only speckled
woods.
Finally, I headed back up to Barboleuse to check the Osiris blue sites.
There, the sainfoin was not quite yet in flower, and no butterflies
were flying. In the past, at the end of May, the patch has been host to
silver-studded blues and Osiris blues, but the sainfoin has been in
full flower. I will return! We headed home after this, arriving in
Leysing just as the storms broke (again)!
5th:
I had to be in Lausanne in the morning, so continued to a site near
Yverdon-les-Bains, arriving there in the early afternoon. This is a
site where black, ilex and sloe hairstreak all fly, though I only
really expected to see black today. In fact, I think the first
hairstreak I saw was probably purple, but it was silhouetted against
the sky in flight. It flew out of blackthorn and around oak, briefly
landing on the oak. It looked too big for black hairstreak. Shortly
afterwards, a real black hairstreak - a female - flew
out of the same blackthorn and landed on the same oak! This was the
first of probably three females I saw. Here
and here
are two more. New for the year was pearly
heath, which was common all over the site. This
one took a taste to my sweat. Other species on the wing were
Adonis blue, small tortoiseshell, small
heath, meadow brown and marbled white.
6th:
Up early, and on the 07h00 to Geneva, from where I cycled to one of my
favourite poplar admiral sites, arriving at about 10h00. For the first
hour, I saw almost no butterflies: to be exact, I saw a single white
admiral and a single wood white. But from 11h00, as the day warmed up,
a little more came onto the wing. White
admirals
were the commonest butterfly, though they were only in ones and twos at
a time, not the twenties and thirties I am used to at this site. These
two seem to be feeding on a dead frog. More commonly, they
were taking minerals at horse dung, damp ground, moss
or concrete
(and here). This
one (and here) seemed to be finding
nutrients in bark. Here is one of the few who seemed
to be thinking territorially! Speckled
woods and woodland browns were reasonably
common, and as the day really heated up, black-veined
whites, meadow browns, small heaths, small tortoiseshells,
common blues and brimstones all came out to play. I
saw a single black hairstreak
along a Prunus ride with lots of aspen (I was looking for poplar
admiral) and a single red admiral. This site is exceptional for both
purple emperor and lesser purple emperor. Neither was on the wing
today. I didn’t see any poplar admiral either. Weather permitting, I’ll
come back in a week and see how things have changed.
7th:
Visited a local site for cranberry fritillaries, not to see them,
because they obviously won't be on the wing, but to see what the site
was like now. I was very happy to find it was in perfect nick,
abounding in myrtle and seemingly undisturbed. Even though the weather
was most often cloudy (and rained before I left), I quickly spotted
this female
violet copper (and here) and in the region as a whole
saw several Dukes of Burgundy. This is most
probably a mountain green-veined white (and here)
but until I see a female I can't say for certain. I also saw a probably
moorland clouded yellow in the distance (I know they fly there), but
not so well as to rule out Berger's clouded yellow. Other species
flying when the weather permitted were dingy
skipper, little blue, common blue, small
tortoiseshell, painted lady, red admiral, small
heath, meadow brown, small white, wood
white and grizzled skipper.
Out of interest, I used AI to remove the grass from that last grizzled
skipper shot. It took under a minute and the result - not perfect but
good - is this.
8th:
Stayed in Leysin today. It was sunny but beginning to cloud over when
we took our afternoon walk and little was on the wing: speckled wood,
common blue, small heath, comma and I think possibly my first
silver-studded blues of the year, but both were in a hay field where I
couldn't venture. Here is a lizard, caught in a sunny moment. In the
evening I went to look for brown hairstreak caterpillars. I found three
- all very small. This one, I think, is second
instar, ready to change to third. This one - again, I think -
is freshly moulted third instar, with
its second instar skin at its feet. This
one I'm not sure about. It seemed bigger than the others, so
probably third instar. None were more than 5 mm long. Finally, this
caterpillar
glowed in the UV and had the right slug-shaped form, but is clearly
something different - I don't know what. As well as these caterpillars,
there were lots of geometrid caterpillars on the blackthorn, all
glowing in the UV.
9th:
Visited a site in Valais for Nickerl's fritillary. When I arrived, at
about 09h40, very little was flying, but little by little it picked up
and although numbers of everything were low, I found a good number of
species in the end. The Nickerl's fritillaries were very thin on the
ground. Meadows where they are normally numerous had none, and at my
best spot just two males were trekking endlessly up and down, never
stopping. Along a nearby track I found a couple more, and then finally,
just before I headed home and as the clouds were coming over, one
decided to stop briefly on the track itself. It was very restless, but
when I let my shadow fall on it it flicked its wings open and I was
able to get a few shots. Here and here
are two of them. Also new for the year were purple-shot
copper, grayling (at least three seen) and
large
blue (and here). Other species flying were peacock
(lots of rather ragged individuals - they always fly late here), Camberwell
beauty (at least two individuals), comma, knapweed
fritillary, pearl-bordered fritillary, marbled
fritillary,
Queen of Spain fritillary, probably silver-washed fritillary, though
this was very distant and I didn't cound it as certain, small
tortoiseshell, wall, large wall, speckled wood, small
heath, common blue, Adonis blue, safflower
skipper, dingy skipper, large
skipper, swallowtail, scarce swallowtail, Apollo,
black-veined
white, small white, orange tip, brimstone,
clouded yellow, Berger's clouded yellow and wood white. Here is a wall
lizard and here a great
spotted woodpecker.
As has happened every day for some while, sunshine in the morning gave
way to clouds in the afternoon and rain in the early evening.
10th: It rained most of today, with cloud
between downpours.
11th: We took the télécabine up the mountain in late morning, arriving
at the top to heavy cloud.
In fact, it did clear up a little as we walked down, but we didn't see
any butterflies until we were at about 1750m, when the first small
tortoiseshell and a little blue appeared. Lower down still - at about
1600m - it was more often clear, though still mostly cloudy, and at a
favourite spot we found a lot of butterflies. New for the year were alpine
grizzled skipper (and here)
and marsh
fritillary (and here). I'm unclear about the
status of these marsh fritillaries. I think they should be Euphydryas merope,
and the first picture I posted looks strongly like this. But the other
looks more like aurinia.
Both these individuals were flying at the same site. There were also
pearl-bordered fritillaries, Glanville
fritillaries (and here),
grizzled
skippers, dingy skippers, green hairstreaks,
common
blues, Adonis blues, mazarine
blues, little blues (and here
- they were all over my backpack), northern
brown argus, orange tips, Berger's clouded yellows,
black-veined whites, swallowtails, small
heaths and northern
walls flying at the same site. The weather continued mixed as
we walked
home (by a long route, not straight down) but we found our
first geranium arguses of the year (and here,
and here), and red-underwing
skippers, as well as wood
whites, pearl-bordered fritillaries, Adonis
blues, common blues and little
blues (that last one in Leysin itself, not far from my house).
12th: A bright,
sunny morning, turning to cloud by late morning and rain
later, with some storms.
13th: I found this grizzled skipper, form taras
on our morning walk today. A few other butterflies were about - common
blues, red admirals, sooty coppers - but cloud was looming and soon
arrived. Here is Minnie, proudly showing off a green
hairstreak she found.
14th:
A beautiful day. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take advantage of it,
but did get a walk near Huémoz in the afternoon. Little was flying in
the woods, though it was good to see the first woodland browns in this
region on the wing. And I got my 100th species for the year too - ringlet.
15th:
Minnie had a vet's appointment in the morning so we didn't go anywhere
today. I took a short walk without her in late afternoon (she had had
all her vaccinations today and was a little drowsy). By this time it
was a little cloudy, but here is a very long-distance shot of a sooty
copper in local meadows. I only took the picture to confirm
the identity.
16th: Up and out by 04h00 this morning,
so Minnie could have a little walk before we got a taxi at 04h30 down
to Aigle. Caught the 05h02 to Genève, then the express to Grenoble
(here is an animated view from the window, approaching
Aix-les-Bains), arriving at Grenoble at 09h02. There, we were
picked up by a friend and driven to nearby marshes where false ringlet,
Coenonympha oedippus
flies. My friend looked after Minnie while I walked the boardwalks
around the marsh. I saw no false ringlets, despite patience and several
revisits during the day. I bumped into the warden of the site at one
point, who said the butterfly had not yet been seen this year, and that
things were probably 3 weeks behind a normal year. This means we will
have to have another early morning, in July!! During my first walks
around the marsh, very little was flying apart from a few meadow
browns, speckled woods, green-veined whites and small heaths. Other
things slowly emerged: large skippers, small whites, holly blues and
small coppers - but the marshes themselves were generally quiet. My
friend then took me around nearby fields and tracks, mostly in search
of large coppers, which he has seen flying here for some weeks now. We
were lucky to see a single female large copper - it is
evidently the very end of the flight season. She was skulking around deep
in the vegetation,
doubtless looking for foodplants to lay on. That was a success. Another
year tick was lesser purple emperor. My friend had seen a couple while
I was in the marsh, and two more put in an appearance while we walked
around the area together. All were form clytie.
The first of the two I saw appeared in the trees, glinting bright
orange, soI took it at first for a large fritillary! The
second
did briefly put down on a car mechanic's solvents but didn't hang
around for a photo. Other species seen on these walks were heath
fritillary (just one, snatched, ID
photo),
Queen of Spain fritillary, brimstone, red admiral, meadow brown, small
heath, common blue, holly blue, small copper, large skipper and a
single female Oberthür's grizzled skipper. It
was very restless and that was the best photo I got. Dragonflies and
damselflies were abundant, with beautiful
damoiselles, azure damselflies, white-legged
damselflies, scarce chasers, migrant hawkers
and emperor dragonflies amongst others. Here is a pair of scarce
chasers in cop,
the male's abdomen curled around the female's head (though it is the
female who is clasping the male here). Finally, here is a rather poor
shot of an eyed hawk moth.
It was deep in shadow and rather inaccessible. It was a good day - but
one we will have to repeat in July, as we missed our main target!
Minnie and I caught the 14h58 from Grenoble, arriving back in Leysin
before 19h00.
17th: We stayed local today, catching the télécabine
up to Berneuse in the morning to do a mountain walk while it was still
cool. From there we walked down and up to La Riondaz, at 1981m, then
back down to Leysin by a long and winding route. Minnie suffers in the
heat (she is 11½ years old) but is still fine with long,
cool walks, I am happy to say. This is the view
from La Riondaz, looking towards Lac Léman, and this a panoramic
shot
from the same place, showing the Rhône Valley from the Massif du
Muveran to the lake. Near the télécabine, little was flying apart from
small tortoiseshells (everwhere), little blues and a single alpine
grizzled skipper. On the walk to Riondaz, a few marsh fritillaries put
in an appearance, as well as the odd green
haristreak, and when we reached it we found swallowtails
hilltopping. There were also a few northern
walls along the way. Descending to a favourite site at about
1650m we passed lots of little blues and pearl-bordered
fritillaries as well as increasing numbers of green
hairstreaks. There were a number of large walls too in this
section. This one
has a rather dusky underside but from what I saw of the upperside as it
flicked its wings I believe it is large wall, not northern wall. The
first year-tick of the day came in the form of this very fresh alpine
heath.
I had wondered whether this species even flew on my local mountains, as
I hadn't seen it yet, but evidently it is just late. At the 1650m site,
butterflies were buzzing everywhere, including lots of Adonis, common, mazarine
and little blues, green hairstreaks, pearl-bordered, marsh
and glanville fritillaries, grizzled skippers and - another year tick -
a beautifully fresh tufted marbled skipper.
Berger's clouded yellows and various whites were drifting through -
though no confirmed mountain green-veined whites yet. After a very slow
start, the mountain is coming to life!
18th: A cloudy
day.
19th: Bright
in the morning, leading to cloud later.
20th:
Again, nice weather, becoming very hot. I stayed local, taking a walk
into woods near Leysin. There, I saw my first Arran brown of the year -
but in flight only - as well as my first silver-washed fritillary -
again only in flight. It was too hot for Minnie so we didn’t go
terribly far. Other things flying were marbled whites, meadow browns,
large walls, green hairstreaks, Adonis blues, various whites (but I
still haven’t confirmed mountain green-veined white) and orange
tips (and here).
21st:
I had bank business in Villars in the morning, so after this headed up
to Bretaye to look for clouded Apollos, amongst other things. Sadly, as
I arrived, the clouds moved over and it was overcast
the whole time
we were there. No clouded Apollos. I did see blind ringlets from the
train on the way up, near Bretaye, but they didn’t fly while I was
there. Little blues were flying, as were
a couple of Adonis blues, the odd small
heath and a few damselflies. This is a common
blue damselfly - an immature male, I think.
22nd: There is a Turner exhibition
in Martigny, finishing on Sunday, so today I took advantage of the bad
weather and a kind friend (who looked after Minnie) to go and visit it.
It was a truly sublime experience (and here,
and here,
and here)
confirming to me that Turner is the greatest artist of all time. I’m
sure he would have appreciated the stormy,
mountainous setting, though probably not the Swiss beer.
23rd:
Mixed weather, but by the time I was able to take a walk in the
afternoon, clouds were gathering and storms approaching. It was a local
walk, during which I saw a few heath
fritillaries, pearl-bordered fritillaries, ringlets,
meadow browns and marbled whites, but little else because of the
weather.
24th:
Up to Bretaye in the morning, arriving 11h08, hoping for clouded
Apollo. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but the only Apollos I saw were normal
Apollos.
I had a long walk, taking in all the hotspots of clouded Apollo, but
saw none at all. The normally fly throughout June and into July, so I
don’t know what has happened this year. I photographed a bright-eyed
ringlet, just to confirm the ones I saw from the train on
21st, and also photographed my first dewy
ringlet
of the year - a spanking fresh specimen, in some expanses of myrtle
where I always see them. Other species flying at altitude were green
hairstreak
(right up to the top, at over 2000m), pearl-bordered fritillary, marsh
fritillary, small heath (maybe some alpine heath, but none that stopped
were this), small and large whites, Adonis blue, little blue, large
blue
and grizzled skipper. A single painted lady appeared at the beginning
of the walk, and as ever there were lots and lots of small
tortoiseshells around. I had to come down relatively early to prepare
for my sister to arrive in Switzerland tomorrow.
25th:
Not a butterfly day. I was up early and off to the Swiss border at
Vallorbe to meet my sister, who has driven the last of my belongings
out here.
26th: After we had unloaded the van - which took all
morning - my sister and her son rested from their journey while Minnie
and I took
the télécabine
up above Leysin. New species for the year, when we reached our
favourite spot at about 1650m, were false heath fritillary (only seen
in flight) and purple-edged copper. I got my
first local bright-eyed ringlet too, and more
alpine heaths were on the wing.
27th: We went up to Bretaye to scatter my father's ashes where we
scattered my mother's four years ago. While we did so, a marmot
watched on from a distance. I wasn't primarily looking for butterflies,
but I did spot this first olive
skipper of the year. Right at the top, by the Grand
Chamossaire, swallowtails were hilltopping - as
they always are. Here is Minnie
with one. The weather was very mixed, but bright-eyed
ringlets were on the wing (and here) most of the time, as well as
Apollos, Adonis blues, little blues, green
hairstreaks and most of the usual Bretaye bunch!
28th: Just a gentle walk in the afternoon with my sister, not
particularly looking for butterflies.
29th:
Saw my sister and her son off this morning, then took trains and buses
to a high site towards the eastern end of Valais, where Cynthia’s
fritillary flies. When I arrived (or, where I got off the bus) it was
sunny but very windy. By the time I reached the cynthia
site it was mostly overcast and rather cool - maximum 12°C - but a
number of butterflies flew in the few moments of weak sun and I am
fairly confident I would have seen cynthia
if they had been on the wing. Mountain
fritillaries (and here
- a different individual) were braving the chill, flying even when the
sun was in, as were dusky grizzled skippers, dewy
ringlets, little blues and even a couple of
brave idas
blues. The occasional peak white zoomed through without
stopping and there were small numbers of alpine
heath. I am not sure yet of the identity of this Erebia
(and here), seen at about 2400m, but
another, at 2300m, is clearly mnestra.
I suspect I saw sooty ringlet but none stopped. I also suspect I saw
small Apollo, but again, none stopped - and I wasn’t carrying my net.
At lower altitudes - about 2250m - lots of blues were flying, even
after the weather turned. These included more little blues and idas
blues, as well as common blues, Adonis
blues, Eros blues, mazarine blues and alpine
arguses (and here). I think this is a shepherd’s
fritillary but didn't get a look at the underside. A small
number of Grisons fritillaries (and here)
were conspicuous at lower altitudes, as well as a smaller number of false
heath fritillaries.
Other species flying were small white, clouded yellow, Berger’s clouded
yellow, mountain clouded yellow and small tortoiseshell. Marmots
were everywhere (here is a different individual),
so Minnie was on the lead a lot of the time! This is a cheeky wheatear
looking over a rock at us and this is a water
pipit. This moth is Setina ramosa
(and here,
in my hand), an alpine species in the footman family. When I got back
as far as Visp the storm struck. The train home seemed to outpace it
but by the evening there was a great
storm over Leysin.
30th: Day spent sorting through belongs brought out from England. I
think it was cloudy but I can't remember ...
July 1st: Another day spent sorting through belongs brought out
from England! 2nd: Cloudy all day.
3rd:
Cool but sunny today. In the afternoon I walked Minnie to a local field
where I have expected to find lesser marbled fritillary but have had no
success up till now. Finally, today, I spotted a single individual in
the middle of the field and took a proof
photo. I'll be back, to see how strong the population is.
4th:
We had a long day on the trains today, setting off for Grenoble first
thing in the morning and getting back home at 22h30. Between the
journeys, thanks to a friend, we had about 2 and a half hours at the
marsh where false ringlets fly. They should have been on the wing
today, but sadly it is not allowed to leave the boardwalk running
through the marsh, and this does not pass by the parts where the
butterfly is most common. It is also a notoriously sedentary species.
Despite scanning the marsh intently for the whole time, I saw not a
single false ringlet - nor indeed very many butterflies at all. The day
list amounted to: meadow brown, ringlet, speckled wood, small skipper,
holly blue and the odd white. It was good to see scarce chasers again,
but I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to take my eyes off
the marsh!
5th: A cloudy
day, spent mostly at home.
6th:
It was a beautiful morning, with cloud and possibly storms forecast for
the afternoon, so I stayed relatively local and visited a cranberry
fritillary site not far away. We arrived shortly after 10h30, when the
butterflies were still sunning, and immediately found literally dozens
of cranberry fritillaries.
At one point, on our return through the site at about 13h00, I counted
15 of them in one field of vision. They were rarely close enough to
each other to make good group photos but there are two in this
picture and three in this. Males
and females
alike were nectaring on marsh cinquefoil - indeed, that was the only
thing they were nectaring on. I saw both sexes on the foodplant too
(here is a male, and here a male
showing the underside, on the foodplant), and occasionally
just resting on cotton grass (here is
the same female from the side) or
other stems when the sun was in. This is a typical
female underside. This female underside shows particularly
strong white banding. I have posted a short video of a female
nectaring here. I didn't spend the whole
time in the cranberry bog but went for a hillside walk too. Other
species new for the year were large
ringlet, silver-studded blue and high brown
fritillary (no photos, sadly!). There were lots of bright-eyed
ringlets around and a few Arran
browns in the wooded regions, as well as plenty of meadow
browns, ringlets, small heaths and large
walls. Other blues flying were mazarine,
little and northern brown argus (and here).
False
heath fritillaries were common (and here),
as well (more locally) as lesser marbled fritillaries. I saw
the odd pearl-bordered and Queen
of Spain fritillary too. Here is a typical habitat
of lesser marbled - extensive, damp fields of meadowsweet.
7th:
Got up at 05h45 and checked the weather forecast for various places. It
looked good for Domodossola, so I decided to take what might be my last
chance this year to find Hungarian gliders. I got the 07h00
train
from Leysin, arriving at Domodossola at about 10h00. Normally, I would
go earlier, but that would have meant deciding earlier! From
Domodossola to my usual site is about 11km, of which 6km are
9%
uphill. Carrying 10kg of dog, water, beer and camera up that hill on a
bike was heavy going in the heat of the morning. As we neared the site,
I spotted two Hungarian gliders flying near the road but didn’t stop,
just because we we so near. Then, just as we arrived, I spotted a
female large chequered skipper bouncing over the grass. She stayed low
in the vegetation - she was obviously gravid - and good shots were
impossible but I got this snatched record shot. I was to see
another three of this species altogether, including one later, at a
site lower down. Here and here
are some shots of the second one I saw. Moving towards the river, where
the Hungarian gliders breed, I soon spotted one gliding up and down
over vegetation near the foodplant, goatsbeard. It never stopped - not
at all, even for a second - so I pointed my camera at it and took some
shots in flight. This picture
must serve as my record of it! It didn’t matter. It was just lovely to
see this elegant creature flying so effortlessly. We watched it for
about 10 minutes. Also flying there were silver-washed fritillaries
(this valesina
female stopped briefly in the shade, so I had to use flash to
photograph it) and hundreds of marbled
whites. Carrying on our walk, we found this male
purple emperor taking minerals on a little bridge (and here,
and here),
and saw at least one dark-green fritillary fly close by. There were
other large fritillaries around but none stopped. In fact, in the heat
of the day, almost nothing stopped. We headed down through the woods to
the river
itself,
where normally we see Hungarian gliders. At our favourite spot we did
indeed see one - in incessant flight - but everything was overgrown and
I think we were too late for the main flurry. Other species there were
heath fritillary, spotted fritillary, small skipper, silver-washed
fritillary, mazarine blue, clouded yellow and various whites. Leaving
the river and returning to the main path, we saw great sooty satyrs, purple
shot coppers,
green-veined and small whites and brimstones. I was pretty sure I saw a
small pearl-bordered fritillary, but it never stopped long enough to
confirm. Eventually, we headed back down the hill towards Domodossola,
stopping three times on the way. The first stop was at a place where I
have seen Hungarian gliders in the past. The foodplant was abundant but
none were flying. I did see a large, floppy Satyrid in the woods there,
but the only time it stopped - in a tree - it was impossible to get a
view of it. This is the one shot I got … I can only think it is a
woodland brown. The next stop was a site near the bottom that used to
be fantastic for a whole range of butterflies but was then completely
dug up to build a water station. Since then it has grown over again and
the butterflies have returned. I saw a single large chequered skipper
there, as well as this chequered blue, a few purple-shot
coppers, small coppers,
idas or silver-studded blues, lots of middle and large fritillaries,
including Queen of Spain and silver-washed but also many intermediate
species. Not a single one stopped! They were flying incessantly around
Buddleia, chasing each other regardless of species. At the smaller end
of the scale, I could identify spotted fritillary and heath fritillary.
A single map butterfly flew overhead. Other species flying there were
small skipper, green-veined white, brimstone, swallowtail (there were
also swallowtails at the higher site), meadow browns, ringlets and
great sooty satyrs. It was very hot, so Minnie
sheltered in the vegetation. Finally, as the weather began to
break, back to Domodossola, to give Minnie a drink
at the river before heading home.
8th:
Heavy rain overnight and in the morning gave way to hot sun in the
afternoon. Minnie and I visited local woods to see if the white-letter
hairstreaks were flying yet. They were. This seems to be their master
elm,
where about a dozen hairstreaks were dancing and settling, all within
the area in the red circle. I was shooting up into the light but got a
few proof
shots
to confirm - if confirmation were needed - that they were indeed
white-letter hairstreaks. While I was craning my neck, I noticed there
were at least two great banded graylings up there
with them, (and here), though these were settling
on the bare branches, not the leaves. Down on the path below, meadow
browns, ringlets, heath fritillaries, large
walls, Arran browns, brimstones
(there are two in that picture) and Provençal
short-tailed blues
were taking advantage of the warm sun. A couple of silver-washed
fritillaries flew through. I was on the bike, so headed to another site
before taking Minnie back home. By now it was late afternoon and part
of the site was in shade. Nevertheless, a few mazarine
blues and small skippers were taking
moisture and I presume this is a northern
brown argus. It never showed its upperside, but I think there
are no brown arguses here.
9th:
Set off this morning to Kandersteg, to see Thor’s fritillary. I first
found this site in 2013, on 8th July, and have since visited between
5th and 10th in different years. Every time I’ve been I’ve seen thore
in good numbers - except for today. For the first time, I saw no
confirmed individuals at all. It is possible I saw two males, both in
flight at some distance, but none were flying in the usual places where
they are easy to see and photograph. Other species in the area were
much as normal, except that numbers of most things were down. Titania’s
fritillaries (and here,
and here)
looked rather fresh, and there were lots of pearl-bordered
fritillaries. Some of these were melanic
to various extents, casting doubt on the identity of the distant,
possible thore.
Other fritillaries flying were silver-washed, dark
green (and here, a different individual), false
heath (here is a male wooing a female, and here)
and lesser marbled. Arran browns were common and there
were a fair few large ringlets around. Here
are a large ringlet (on the left) and an Arran brown on my backpack.
Other Satyrids were speckled wood and large wall. At several places,
blues were taking minerals in the heat, though there were so many
people around today it was difficult to photograph them. Several glandon
blues (and here) were supping alongside Idas,
Damon,
chalkhill
(that was the only photo I got, as a dog ran up and scared it off!) and
mazarine. In this otherwise awful picture, an eros blue is caught in flight,
showing the amazing colour when it catches the light. This is a large
grizzled skipper (and here)
- my first of the year. Both large and small skippers were common
today. Orange tips were more numerous than usual - I always see some
here but they were constant companions today. I also saw a single
Camberwell beauty. I think it was the hibernating brood but I couldn’t
get a picture because of all the people passing. I have never witnessed
so many people - and especially, so many large people - at this site.
Many were going up and down on electric bikes while a much smaller
number were on ordinary pedal bikes; but even more were just walking,
eating, drinking and barbecuing pretty much everywhere. Almost all were
sort of barrel-shaped: Homo
sapiens has changed shape a lot in my lifetime! Other
species seen included brinstone, clouded yellow, small
white, large white and what I think were green-veined,
not mountain green-veined whites - I saw no females.
10th:
Took the train then the bus up the Val D’Anniviers this morning to look
for Asian fritillaries - as well as the many other species that fly in
the same places. The bus was crammed full, mostly of elderly folk but
also a big group of children from Lausanne. Fortunately, when we
arrived everyone dispersed and went his own way and Minnie and I soon
found ourselves alone. Normally I visit this site on about 18th-24th
June so I wasn’t sure what I would find. Things were noticeably
different: fewer (but still some) northern
walls,
and no alpine grizzled skippers, for example. But broadly speaking, I
found the same range of species. I saw just four Asian fritillaries. This
male
was the first. Unfortunately, after snapping that quick underside I
couldn’t take any more photos as a runner came stomping down the hill
just then and scared him off. It was a shame because I saw his
upperside and it was exquisite: almost completely black, with deep, red
markings - a melanic version of Asian fritillary. After him, two more
males flew through, chasing one another without stopping, and then a
little later this rather worn female stopped for
upperside photos. The commonest fritillary at the site was false heath,
but there were also plenty of Titania’s,
pearl-bordered
(and here), heath
and lesser
marbled. This heath
fritillary took a liking to Minnie (and here)!
I had hoped to see my first chequered
skippers of the year (and here)
and wasn’t disappointed. The only surprise is that I hadn’t seen any
before now. This couple
were very interested in each other but I didn’t see how the encounter
ended. They flew off together. Erebia species flying were almond-eyed
ringlet (my first of the year), Arran brown, large ringlet
and Mnestra’s ringlet. As the
afternoon hotted up, damp patches of ground became blue
magnets, attracting hundreds of little
blues, mazarine blues (the lower one is a
female mazarine, the upper one a male little blue), cranberry
blues (and here,
and here,
with a little blue), silver-studded blues and the odd geranium argus. I
also saw large blues but they didn’t stop. This is my first alpine
grayling of the year. This is the same
picture
but with the bit of straw removed by AI. I saw but didn’t photograph a
female mountain green-veined white, so can finally count that species
on my year list! When we got back down to where I had left the bike (a
hundred metres or so lower altitude than the Asian fritillary site) I
looked for silvery argus, which I have (just once) seen here before.
There were none, but I did see several Amanda’s blues, ranging from quite
fresh to rather tatty.
They were all very active - it was very hot by this time, even at
altitude - and pictures were hard to get. There were several scarce
coppers flying at the same place, as well as a couple of moorland
clouded yellows - my first of the year - and a chalkhill
blue. Other species seen during the day were dingy skipper,
large skipper, alpine heath and black-veined
white. I photographed this skipper
thinking it was an Essex skipper but on seeing the photo wonder about
male Lulworth. I've never seen Lulworth at this site and wish I had
spent some more time looking at it!
11th:
It was forecast to be very hot today, with potentially dangerous storms
in Valais, so I didn't take Minnie anywhere. It was indeed very hot, so
in the afternoon I cycled Minnie to the woods, where she could be in
shade while I watched the white-letter hairstreaks. Again, none came
down, but at least a dozen were dancing and sparring in the canopy and
it was a pleasure to see them. Here
and here
are two different individuals. This
one
is near a leaf showing typical white-letter hairstreak feeding patterns
- so maybe even the leaf he was brought up on ... Cycling home again, I
stopped briefly at a tree where I found caterpillars in the spring.
Sure enough, I quickly spotted this
adult.
Although it appears a sex-brand is visible, everything else about the
butterfly, including the behaviour (disappearing deep into the foliage)
suggested she was in fact a female. I think the sex brand is an
illusion. Here is a small skipper and here a large.
This pair of large skippers did not, in
the end, hit it off.
12th: A cloudy day, leading to storms
in the evening.
13th:
Minnie had to be at the vet's at 08h00 to have two wobbly teeth removed
under anaesthetic (and she had a détartrage and two warts taken out at
the same time). That meant we didn't go anywhere today! When she came
out she was still very woozy and though she could
manage a short walk in the afternoon we kept it all very close to home.
14th:
We got up late, so I could see how Minnie was. She was absolutely fine,
it seemed, and raring to go, but because of the time factor we stayed relatively
local.
Our target for the day was mountain alcon blue, but I hoped we might
see Osiris blue too, as the site is good for that. As it turned out,
there were no Osiris but there were still a few mountain alcon on the
wing. Here is a female showing her upperside, and here
and here
are shots of the same female laying in the shoots of cross gentian.
This is a close-up of the same female. Here
and here
are shots of eggs laid previously. They are always laid right in the
tip of the plant, but as the leaves grow out the eggs spread out. There
were also a few males around but these very rarely stopped in the heat
of the day. This shot just shows a glimpse of a male
upperside - before he was up and off over the hillside. Other
blues on the wing were eros blue, little blue, mazarine
blue (many were much fresher than that one!), silver-studded
blue, chalkhill blue, turquoise blue and damon blue. Here is
a purple-edged copper and here a
distant shot of a sooty copper - the only coppers I
saw today. New for the year, apart from the mountain alcon blues, were Niobe
fritillary (unusually, this individual has slightly concave
wing margins, but it is definitely niobe) and lesser
mountain ringlet. I photographed this lovely mountain
clouded yellow.
It wasn't actually my first of the year but I can't remember when I saw
my first, so am including it in the list as a year tick for today.
Minnie was suffering a little from the heat and also had a little bare
patch on her head where they shaved her (to cut out a wart) and I
didn't want her skin to burn in the sun. So we cut short our walk and
headed back to the nearest bar before catching the bus home.
15th:
Storms were forecast for today but never really materialised, though it
rained heavily in the early afternoon. After this it was sunny again,
so I took Minnie up the local mountain to see what might be flying. We
took the télécabine up at about 16h00 and then walked slowly back down
again. There was little flying at the very top - just a few little
blues, mazarine blues and maybe silver-studded blues. But not far below
this I found a good patch for Erebia
species. First I spotted a cople of bright-eyed ringlets but then saw
some larger ones. It was windy and warm and they were very restless but
I got record shots of both Piedmont
ringlet (and here) and marbled
ringlet.
I was particularly pleased to find Piedmont ringlet on my local patch
and will be back for better pictures. While I was there, I heard what
sounded like a landfall in the distance. It turned out to have been
caused by a young chamois, which I saw coming down the mountain. Here,
here
and here are some pictures. When it
reached the point shown here
it became aware of Minnie and me and stopped in its tracks. It didn't
go any further for about ten minutes, so I decided to take Minnie on
down the mountain and not cause it more stress. We came back a new
route, through some woods. It was late by now and often cloudy but we
saw plenty of meadow browns, a few large
walls, a few small skippers and a number of
false heath and heath fritillaries.
16th:
A short afternoon walk before heading off to Villars (where I was
playing the piano in church) produced a couple of surprises. The first
was this carline skipper (and here,
and here) in lower Leysin. More
surprising, however, was this griffon
vulture!
I only got that one shot of it as I was in the town at the time and
houses got in the way. I didn't know there were griffons in
Switzerland. Earlier, I had seen a few other species of butterfly,
including another couple of lesser marbled
fritillaries
at the meadowsweet site. I then saw another lesser marbled fritillary
in the evening, flying around the Villars English Church, having just
noted a new patch of meadowsweet there.
17th: In the afternoon, I
took Minnie back up the mountain to the site where I had seen Piedmont
and marbled ringlets a couple of days ago. Before we got there, we saw
a few large ringlets
(near the télécabine). At the site itself, I quickly noticed there were
bright-eyed ringlets (that is a female) and then spotted a Piedmont
ringlet, which first settled on a bird
dropping and then on some thyme.
I didn't confirm any more marbled ringlets but did see several common
brassy ringlets - mostly flying and dropping far out of
sight. Another chamois
was hanging about in the vicinity, but he didn't seem too bothered by
us. It was a different individual from two days ago (or, he's put on a
lot of weight since then!). Having seen my first Swiss griffon vulture
yesterday, I proceeded to see another
today! It was very distant, flying high over the crags above Berneuse,
but unmistakable. Climbing quickly down the mountain to escape the
predicted storm (which never arrived), I saw my first Scotch
argus of the year and then photographed this pair of large
grizzled skippers (and here).
The male is on the left in the first picture. Lower down, I saw that
the second brood of violet fritillaries is well on the
wing here. Great banded graylings are now numerous at lower altitudes
too.
18th: I got up early and headed for an Erebia christi site
today. From the bus up to the Simplon Pass, the forest
fires above Bitsch were all too visible - and still
more visible
on the way down again later. The fires began on Monday and have spread
over a wide area since then. Helicopters could be seen dropping water
on the centres of the fire but it will be a long process to put them
out completely - at least many days, if not several weeks. The forecast
was for no rain, making matters worse. Ironically, my day not far away,
just over the Simplon Pass, was cut short by hail, heavy rain and
thunder - Minnie and I waited for the bus back to Brig in a torrential
downpour with very close thunderclaps. But I think it didn’t rain above
Bitsch. By the time we got near Brig and could observe
the fires again it was warm and dry. Here is a helicopter
carrying a full load of water, and here the moment
of release. Dark, reddish smoke coloured the sky. At the site
itself, Erebia
species were out in number until the weather turned - principally alberganus
and montana
(and here), but also tyndarus, epiphron(my
first of the year - I caught it in case it was christi), melampus, aethiops, and euryale. Early on I
thought I saw a male christi
but I was separated from my net at the time and just took this single, very
distant shot before it disappeared. From the picture it seems
it is more likely to be melampus,
even though I really did think it was christi in flight.
There were lots of Apollos flying up and down the
slopes, as well as swallowtails and a few clouded yellows. Darwin’s
heath (and here) was also very common -
probably the single most numerous butterfly. For the fritillaries,
there were many Titania’s,
a few pearl-bordered and I think small pearl-bordered, though I didn’t
get an opportunity to confirm. There were quite a few shepherd’s
fritillaries too - no mountain so far as I could see. Heath and false
heath were also flying. Great sooty satyrs
drifted through often and I saw a single grayling. There were plenty of
large walls. I didn’t chase all the blues as I wanted to keep my eyes
peeled for christi,
but the chalkhills caught my eye. I saw a
few grizzled skippers (malvoides),
as well as small and large skippers, but generally there weren’t many
skippers around. We spent a lot of time waiting in cloud and
experienced hail and rain too, even before the downpours. Back home,
evening storms lit up the skies over the Chamossaire
(and here)
and overnight it poured with rain. I just home the fires at Bitsch got
some watering ...
19th: I spent most of the day working inside on stuff and realise I
haven't got a single photo from today!
20th:
Headed to the Bernese Oberland today to see if scarce and dusky large
blues would still be on the wing. On arrival, I soon spotted a single dusky
large blue
perched on a distant head of greater burnet; but for a while that
proved the only one and I wondered if I had left it too late. Soon
after, I saw two purple emperors (followed later in
the day by another two), something I’ve never seen here before - also
suggesting I was late. This is the second
purple emperor.
Eventually, though they weren’t numerous, both my target species turned
out to be present, and some were even relatively fresh. Here is a
mating pair of scarce large blues, and here
another shot with the male showing a glimpse of his upperside.
This female scarce large blue was in
less good nick. Here is a shot showing
her upperside. This female was evidently laying,
and I watched while she pressed her abdomen into several different
heads of greater burnet - here
she is on another.. But I couldn’t find a single egg when I examined
the flowers. Either she presses them deep inside or she wasn’t really
laying, but just going through the motions. Here,
here
and here
are some dusky large blues. On the whole, these were slightly less
numerous than the scarce large blues, but perhaps in better nick on
average. Little groups of blues
(not including either of the large blue species) were gathering at
minerals, including mazarine, little, eros, damon and chalkhill. This
picture shows a mazarine blue, a chalkhill blue and an eros
blue, while this one shows the upperside
of a damon blue (with mazarine in front). Lesser
marbled fritillaries were common - as they seem to be
everywhere this year - and there were also lots of false heath
fritillaries. Three Erebia
species were flying: Scotch argus, large
ringlet and Arran brown, as well as meadow
browns and ringlets. The only skippers I saw were small
and large and the only coppers sooty.
21st:
A cloudy, wet day - so I could get on with things! Despite the weather,
we took a walk in the afternoon (armed with a brolly) and found that a
few butterflies were still on the wing. They included this silver-washed
fritillary, as well as dozens of great
banded graylings (and here).
Sadly, I found this flattened high
brown fritillary (and here)
on a woodland track - probably killed inadvertently by a bike or a boot.
22nd:
I got on with necessary stuff in the morning, then headed up the local
mountain in the afternoon with Minnie. From the cable car, I spotted a
griffon vulture flying over - but we were just approaching the stop and
I couldn't get the camera out and photograph it. When we arrived, I saw
more griffons, all flying away and over the open country. I snatched
this one proof shot
and then thought to count how many there were. I counted nine - and I
suspect I didn't see them all. After the vultures had disappeared into
the distance, I started looking for butterflies. There were quite a few
common
brassy ringlets around (and here,
and here, and here).
The variation within this species is amazing. We then headed on to a
favourite spot, photographing this pair of common
blue damselflies and this lesser
mountain ringlet
on the way. At the spot, my attention was suddenly taken by a couple of
chamois chasing each other down a steep slope on the other side of the
valley. For about 45 minutes Minnie and I just watched the chamois -
six of them in total - running around sometimes on almost vertical
cliff faces. Here, here,
and here are some shots - and here the
context
of the last one. I took a little bit of rather poor video. We then walked home
via more favourite spots. Here is a female
sooty copper, of the upland form subalpinus, and
here a manto ringlet. Interestingly, this
male
northern brown argus, with lots of orange on the wings, was
high - at about 1900m - while this much more
typical specimen, with little orange, was lower down. Here
are the undersides of two northern brown
arguses. This is a black-veined white and this an Apollo.
Sadly, I couldn't get an underside view of this Pyrgus skipper.
There are lots of large grizzled skippers around
here, and this is probably one, but it was smaller and I wondered about
olive skipper. Here is an Arran brown and here a red
admiral - these are now quite common. Other species seen
while we walked down included chalkhill
blue (and here, and here),
marbled
white, Scotch argus, large
wall, false heath fritillary and
grizzled skipper. At one point there were many heath
fritillaries (as well as false heath). That was a male - this
is a female. There was at least one aberrant
individual - I think more. Here is another
shot of the same butterfly, and here
he is with a small skipper. There were plenty of large
skippers and small skippers but I still haven't
been able to confirm an Essex skipper here.
23rd:
I set off this morning for a site where I thought I friend had seen
good numbers of silvery argus. By pure chance, I met the same friend on
the train, so we carried on together. It turned out I had got the wrong
site: I was thinking of a high spot, at about 2500m, where Cynthia's
fritillary flies, while his site was much lower down, at under 2000m.
We decided we could do both, and that we should go up to the high site
first, while the day was still cool. On the way, we saw plenty of
butterflies, including Essex skipper (the hint of orange
under the far antenna is an illusion!), small skipper, large skipper, silver-spotted
skipper, carline skipper
[EDIT: Despite the 'c' mark, this individual has been confirmed as
female dusky grizzled skipper by Vincent Baudraz - I was too hasty with
my ID!] Grisons fritillary (very common - this is a caterpillar),
Niobe
fritillary, Titania's fritillary, mountain
fritillary, shepherd's fritillary, Alpine heath, mazarine
blue, little blue, idas blue, chalkhill blue, Amanda's blue (a single female), scarce
copper, purple-edged copper (subspecies eurydame), eros
blue, geranium argus, mountain clouded
yellow, moorland clouded yellow, small
Apollo (a male - my first of the year, but sadly no photos), Mnestra's
ringlet, lesser mountain ringlet, small mountain ringlet,
large ringlet, Swiss brassy ringlet, large wall
and more - but no silvery arguses here. I am not sure about this
skipper. The underside seems to rule out dusky
grizzled, which the upperside suggests. Here is another,
nearby skipper
I was unsure about. I checked a few gullies for Cynthia's fritillary -
a life tick for my friend - but found none. Finally, we reached the
little pond at the top - one I have in the past nicknamed 'le lac de la
mort' because it mysteriously drowns so many butterflies. On arrival, I
scanned the water's surface, and among the many butterflies floating
there, quickly spotted a Cynthia's fritillary. In case it
might still be alive, I waded into the lake and retrieved
it
- and it was indeed alive! When it closed its wet wings, it became
apparent it couldn't reopen them, so I prised them apart with a blade
of grass and placed it on an arnica flower
to dry out. I thought at the time it had lost an antenna, but in fact
the two antenna had just got stuck together with the surface tension of
the water. I am sure he will have been able to separate them later. I
left my friend with him to photograph while he (and I) dried out.
Other species I was able to save from the water included
shepherd's fritillary, Essex
skipper and Grisons fritillary, as well as several moths.
Around the edges of the pond, on the mud, were many
species, including eros blue, alpine argus, mazarine blue,
little blue, glandon blue (and here,
at mud), idas blue and lots of Grisons
fritillaries. One alpine argus took a particular
shine to my friend, so he was able to enjoy a life tick feeding
contentedly on his arm!
While we were there, we saw a further two male Cynthia's fritillaries,
at one stage chasing each other, but both were too mobile to
photograph. It is just possible one of them was the one I originally
saved ... Returning down the mountain we found more groups of
butterflies had gathered here and there. We saw most of the same
species as on the way up, though many more of most, as well as marsh
fritillary and knapweed fritillary. Here is a gleaming
upperside of a Swiss brassy ringlet, and here a pair
of Grisons fritillaries.
It was getting late - about 16h30 - by the time we reached the silvery
argus site, and though we didn't see any, at least I know where to go
now. A few butterflies were still around there, including silver-spotted
skipper, carline skipper, turquoise
blue, scarce copper and Niobe
fritillary.
24th: Wet and cloudy.
25th: Another wet and cloudy day. This is the evening
(spot the little cluster of umbrellas).
26th: Cloudy
but often dry, clearing up as the day drew on.
27th:
Another trip up the Val d’Hérens to the site where my friend sees
silvery argus. I arrived early, while there was still cloud and nothing
was flying. The only butterfly I manage to find for the first half hour
was this dormant female turquoise blue, still moist with
dew. The sun did come out though, and little by little things started
flying. First was carline skipper, followed by Swiss
brassy ringlet - by far the commonest butterfly of the day.
Then more turquoise blues, mazarine
blues, little blues, lots of carline
skippers (and here), Essex
skippers (no confirmed small skippers today), lesser
mountain ringlets and a few rather worn alpine
heaths.
I had intended to head home at 12h00, as I had a lesson booked in the
afternoon, but the student e-mailed to cancel that, so I stayed longer
and explored a little more widely at this site, going as far as this
this glacial
moraine (it was possible to go further, but a little
dangerous for Minnie!). A single peak
white (and here)
made this little excursion into barren rocks worthwhile. These are the
only photos I have of this species this year. Returning to the silvery
argus site, I found many more species: Niobe
fritillary, mnestra ringlet, small
mountain ringlet (and here),
blind
ringlet, still more carline
skippers (this female might have been dusky
grizzled skipper from the upperside, but the underside
says carline), moorland clouded yellow, lots of idas
blues (all the Plebejus
females
I saw had no blue visible, like silver-studded blues; I did confirm a
single silver-studded blue male, so think both species fly here), sooty
copper, scarce copper (here is a female)
and northern brown argus. There were a few small whites around and
rather more mountain green-veined whites - all
males - and I saw a single, female
alpine argus.
I am certain I saw a male silvery argus in a flowery area near where my
friend sees them (it flew very close to me) but it didn’t stop and it
wasn’t beyond all reasonable doubt! As if in compensation, though, I
watched a male Amanda’s blue spending a lot of energy wooing
a female (and here, and here,
and here). In the time I watched -
about 15 minutes - she didn’t accept him, but nor did he give up, and
they were still together when
I left them for the bus. She seemed either gravid or previously gravid
- I don’t know if Amanda’s blues mate more than once.
28th: Mostly
cloudy. On our local, afternoon walk, a few satyrids flew
(lots of great banded graylings), as well as this beautifully fresh painted
lady.
29th: Mostly cloudy, and at times very
cloudy, with some rain.
30th: The day began rainy but quickly cleared up. Minnie and I headed
for Montreux
in the morning, to go to church at St John's Territet. By the afternoon
it was quite sunny and at about 16h00 we headed up the local mountain
for a brisk walk before teaching. Here is a view
of Lac Léman (towards Montreux) from the top. As usual, the chamois
(and here)
were grazing on their patch (though now in the shade, because of the
time of day), and even though it was late and rather cool, quite a few Erebia were on the
wing. They includedcommon
brassy ringlet, manto ringlet (and here),
lesser
mountain ringlet, Piedmont ringlet, and this
ringlet,
of which I only saw the upperside. It was much larger than the other
manto ringlets and really didn't look like one, but I think I have to
call it that (a female). The forewing suggests almond-eyed but the
hindwing doesn't. Little was flying as we walked down, as it was too
cool, but we did see a few small
skippers and mazarine blues. When I got back to Leysin, this
male high brown fritillary flew past
and briefly settled on some flowers before zooming on.
31st: Got up very early this morning
to catch the earliest train and get to Grindelwald by 09h00. I wanted
to see if I could climb high enough to find a colony de Lesse's brassy
ringlet, which I know flies somewhere in that mountain range, and be
back home for a lesson at 19h00! I had fun, but there just wasn't time
to explore properly! In fact, I only found one patch where there were
brassy ringlets, at about 2400m, and although it actually looked quite
suitable for de Lesse's, I think the two individuals I photographed are
in fact Swiss brassy. This is the first one. It's quite
a good match for de Lesse's, but a couple of details niggled. I caught this
next one,
and it is more clearly Swiss brassy. A problem on the route I chose was
that there was a continuous stream of people - many hundreds - moving
slowly along the main track I had chosen, and only when I got off this
could I look for butterflies. The scenery
was stunning - this is the roof of Europe - and this is
doubtless why it is so popular. Here
is the view across to the north face of the Eiger. Here is Minnie
trotting along beside the Bachsee, at the end where the people weren't!
And here she is in the télécabine on the way down, looking out at the
Wetterhorn. Other species flying were mountain clouded yellow, shepherd's
fritillary (and here), blind
ringlet,
Eros blue, mazarine blue and various other alpine species, though not
in the profusion of so many places, and impossible to photograph much
of the way because of the masses of people! August 1st:
La Fête Nationale! It wasn't a brilliant day, but the rain held off and
I heard fireworks late into the evening. This was the view
across Leysin for Minnie's last walk, and this later
in the evening, looking across the valley to Monthey.
2nd:
I was teaching morning and afternoon/evening, so stayed local today. As
I came back from Minnie's morning walk, I spotted this marbled
ringlet
a few metres from my house and snatched that one photo. It was
surprising to see it in town, though the altitude is appropriate. In
the afternoon we went to see if any brown hairstreaks were on the wing
yet. We didn't find any, though it was rather windy and perhaps too
late in the day for nectaring males. Great
banded graylings were the commonest butterfly, closely
followed by marbled whites, but silver
washed fritillaries were competing for the title (here is a female).
Along a stretch
of track near meadows and woods, common
blues
(that individual had just a hint of a cell spot, but was nectaring
exclusively on bird's foot trefoil and shows other characteristics of
common blue), Chapman's blues and geranium
arguses
(with Chapman's blue in that picture) were nectaring on the bird's foot
trefoil and sainfoin. I was very pleased and surprised to see two white
admirals
- surprised because I had failed to find any caterpillars and concluded
they didn't fly in Leysin. The summer caterpillars are easier to find
than the spring ones, so I will intensify my search! The white admirals
were still active at the top of their elm, though there were only
perhaps half a dozen there today. Other species flying included
speckled wood, wall, Arran brown, Scotch
argus
and, in meadows in Leysin itself, several dryads. By the time I got
there it was both windy and warm and they didn't settle anywhere near
me, but I will go back for photos soon. Here is a female
large white resting in the shade and indicating she is not
interested in intimacy. Here is the persistent
male who refused to take the hint (and here,
and here).
3rd: A cloudy day, with some bright breaks. Here is an evening
shot.
4th: A very wet day (that's my umbrella at the
top of the picture - it was pouring). Cloud and rain persisted into the
evening.
5th:
A grey day, and in part a working day. I took a local afternoon walk,
and while no butterflies were flying I did see this young male black
redstart (and here)
and nearby this female (and here),
who I at first through was his watchful mother but wondered later if
she might be a sibling. Here is another
shot of the male - or perhaps a different one (I took it as I
came back past the same spot).
6th: A cloudy,
wet day (and here) leading to torrential rain
overnight.
7th: It wasn't just torrential rain overnight but also snow, down to
below 2000m. Here and here
are two morning shots from Leysin. I took this shot of the Grand
Muveran and Dent Favre
in the afternoon. After teaching in the morning, I headed in the
afternoon for Huémoz, to look for purple emperor and white admiral
eggs/pupae. Again, I found no emperors, but I did quickly find two
white admiral caterpillars (and then focused on the emperors). This
picture shows the caterpillar on its faecal extension as well
as the base of its egg on the leaf. Here is the other
caterpillar. It was often sunny and even quite warm during
the afternoon and silver-washed fritillaries were
out in good numbers in the woods. Also flying were large and small
skippers, meadow browns, speckled woods,
marbled whites, walls and Scotch arguses. That was a female
- there were males about too.
8th:
On our cloudy, morning walk around Leysin, I heard a distantly familiar
call from the top of a larch. It turned out to be a crossbill
- familiar from Rendlesham Forest in my childhood! Later in the day,
returning from our afternoon walk up the mountain, I came across
another little band of crossbills feeding in the larch
and spruce.
I think this little troop has just arrived and is passing through. Up
the mountain, despite the 100% cloud cover, I saw my first water
ringlet of the year (form vergy). Erebia species
(including lesser mountain ringlet, manto
ringlet, large ringlet and Scotch
argus)
were for the most part the only things flying at altitude, apart from
the odd small tortoiseshell, but lower down - and still despite the
weather - I saw a dark green fritillary, several heath
fritillaries, a few ageing small
skippers, a large skipper, walls, large walls and marbled
whites.
9th:
Another day spent locally, as I had to work morning and evening. I went
to look for brown hairstreaks in the afternoon, finding none at either
of my two sites (where there were eggs over winter). It was strangely
hot and Minnie was feeling it, so I visited the second site alone, when
one of the many dryads in the meadow came close
enough to photograph (and here).
10th:
I had to work in the early evening, but had just enough time in the
afternoon to nip to the Rhône Valley and look for rosy grizzled
skippers. Sadly, my bike appeared to spring a puncture (it was actually
a faulty pump!) so I left it at Aigle and had to walk the part I would
have cycled. This meant we had even less time, but I did see a couple
of rosy grizzlies - so I know they
are still there (I didn't see any last autumn or in the spring brood
this year)! Spotted fritillaries were common
everywhere on the walk (and here,
and here a female) and there were a few
Queens of Spain around. This pair
of wood whites
was not properly engaged in proboscis touching : the male wanted it but
the female just wanted to take minerals! Throughout the walk, southern
white admirals looked down on us (and here),
very occasionally posing nearer to the ground. This
is a Provençal short-tailed blue,
showing I hint of orange. I took the photo with flash as it was
shady-side towards me and I wanted to confirm the identity. There were
a few great sooty satyrs flying, but dryads
are beginning to dominate now. I completely failed to get a photo of a southern
small white
laying eggs - and even failed to get an egg in focus - because was
moving endlessly and the wind was blowing. But it seemed she was laying
on ordinary yellow rocket. It was certainly some species of rocket -
the smell was very powerful! Other species flying included clouded
yellow, Berger's clouded yellow, eastern Bath white, small white,
green-veined white, brimstone, speckled wood, wall, small heath (lots),
probably a grayling, red admiral, small copper, common blue, Adonis
blue, probably Chapman's blue and dingy skipper. I had to keep on the
move because Minnie can't go so fast any more and we needed at least to
reach the chosen site!
11th: It was a warm day but I spent the
morning sorting my bicycle out. By the time that was done, it was too
late to go far, so we stayed local and looked for brown hairstreaks.
Again, none, but I was pleased to see several white-letter hairstreaks
still flying at the top of their tree. None posed for
proper photos, but this angle
on one suggests she is a female - so probably up there laying eggs.
There were also a few commas in the tree, as usual. On the way, I
spotted this rather world-weary Niobe
fritillary and this female
Chapman's blue. She was tiny and I took her at first for a
northern brown argus, but the underside
confirms she is Chapman's. It was very warm again and this silver-washed
fritillary would only nectar in the shade, even though there
were plenty of flower heads in the sun.
12th: A sunny
morning but storms and clouds later - so our afternoon walk
got aborted before we got half way!
13th: I had to be home to teach at 18h00, so decided on a trip to a site
in the Rhône Valley,
not climbing into the mountains. I hoped there might still be some rock
graylings about - and there were. I saw the first while cycling to the
site, and the second soon after arriving. This
is it - looking rather worn but none the less active for
that! Here is another
from later in the day, showing better the characteristic orange around
the eye spot. The most conspicuous species flying today were whites,
with wood white, eastern
Bath white, small white, southern
small white (that individual has very scant scaling on the
hindwing but I saw the upperside and there is also no fork in vein 7)
and green-veined
white all common. Clusters of small
white, southern small white and green-veined white all
together were frequent. The other conspicuous species was southern
white admiral. There always seemed to be at least one in the
vicinity, watching from a favoured vantage point.
This
one preferred the wire fence around the vineyards, while this
one adopted a clematis-draped
elder as his castle. For the blues, I had hoped to see
Meleager's here, but it was not to be. I did see turquoise blue, Provençal
short-tailed blue, holly blue, Adonis
blue and chalkhill blue. There were a few
small coppers and small heaths
around too, as well as walls and speckled woods. I saw a couple of
great sooty satyrs and both species of swallowtail at various points,
though neither was common. Skippers were fewer and futher between. Here
is a mallow skipper
and here a southern grizzled. Here is Minnie
waiting patiently by the bike for me to pop her in her carrybag and
take her back to the station.
14th:
A day of mixed weather. In the afternoon Minnie and I took the
télécabine up the local mountain and walked down by a familiar route.
Right at the top a few lesser mountain ringlets and common brassy
ringlets were flying, as well as this water
ringlet. It has a rather conspicuous acarian attached to its
thorax but this is very common and apparently harmless. This rather
worn shepherd's
fritillary
- which I first took for a very late pearl-bordered fritillary - was
flying there too. By far the commonest ringlet, from almost the top of
the mountain right down to Leysin village, was Scotch
argus. Here and here
are two individuals that took a shine to my backpack, and here a short (and very poor) video
of a group of Scotch arguses. There are still plenty of manto
ringlets around. This is a female
lesser mountain ringlet skulking in the grass, probably
looking to lay her eggs, and this is a common
brassy ringlet, taking advantage of the almost empty dogs'
water bowl at the Temeley refuge. Here is a mazarine
blue female laying in a clover head and here
one of the eggs she laid (and here).
There are still plenty of heath
fritillaries around, as well as a few false
heath fritillaries. Apart from plenty of mazarine blues, I
also saw common, little and Adonis blues, and dozens of chalkhill
blues (and here) - now by far the commonest
blue on the mountain. Here is a fluffy young black
redstart among the rocks, and here a frog
in the woods.
15th: A fine
day, with some cloud, but I didn't go anywhere special as I
was teaching most of the afternoon.
16th:
Visited a site in the Val d'Hérens. It was a very hot day and many
butterflies were seeking the shade, but much was on show too. Most
interestingly, I saw at least a dozen - probably more - brown
hairstreaks, all in the proximity of and showing an interest in the
copious birch trees there. I didn't see any blackthorn, apart from a
single, small bush. They mostly looked like male hairstreaks, though
some might have been females, and they were very restless. Only this
one
actually stopped long enough for me to train the zoom on him and get a
shot. It really did look as if the butterfly were associated with birch
here. Another new species for the year was dusky
meadow brown,
of which I saw just one as we climbed back up to the main road from the
river site. There were very many ordinary meadow browns. I was hoping
for Meleager's blue, which I haven't seen yet this year, but found
none. Instead, I did come across a single baton blue, which settled
briefly but flew off before I got a photo. Unusually, all three
admirals fly at this site. Today I saw just two: plenty of rather worn white
admirals and a few much smarter southern
white admirals, presumably a second brood. Here is a female
silver-washed fritillary nectaring in the shade and
studiously ignoring the male attempting to seduce her. Chalkhill
blues were the commonest blue, with Adonis and mazarine also
present. That little group was nectaring dangerously close to this watching
lizard.
I don't like to interfere, but I suspect it was my presence that saved
them, as the lizard seemed wary of me. Dryads were quite numerous. For
the whites and yellows, wood whites were common, as were small
(possibly southern small) and green-veined. Here is an eastern Bath
white. There are plenty of fresh brimstones around at the moment. I
believe this is a large grizzled skipper, and this
is most certainly a silver-spotted skipper. There were
large skippers still on the wing too.
17th: A red-backed shrike in Leysin
village.
18th:
A day trip to the Simplon region with a friend from England. We began
the hike at 2000m and climbed to about 4000m. On the way up, little was
flying at the lower altitudes. There were a fair few Erebias about -
lesser mountain ringlet, Swiss brassy ringlet, Scotch argus and marbled
ringlet - but many other Erebias
I normally associate with this site were apparently already over. The
only blues were chalkhill and idas. There were a few Essex
skippers and silver-spotted skippers, but no other skippers
low down. Climbing higher, the alpine meadows became more productive. Water
ringlets became increasingly numerous and carline
skippers flew locally in good numbers. Here is a female.
Swiss brassy ringlets were everywhere. We saw amazingly few
fritillariesMost of those we did see were Queens of Spain, with a very
few shepherd's
fritillaries
too but no mountain fritillaries.Occasionally, larger fritillaries flew
through, which were probably all dark green, though there might have
been Niobe too. A single Melitaea
motored through, which I suspect was Grisons fritillary, though it
never stopped. Other notable absentees were Colias
species. We saw a very few mountain clouded yellows, a possible male
moorland clouded yellow and a very few clouded and Berger’s clouded
yellows. We were on the lookout for end-of-season cranberry blues but
all the potential suspects turned out to be very
old and dark idas blues. Here is a fresher idas
blue.
Towards the upper end of our hike friend spotted a rock thrush - and
then another - high on the rocks on the mountainside. There were lots
of wheatears and black redstarts around, and at
least one winchat, and it took me a long
time to find what he was looking at, but eventually I did. Here
and here are shots of one of them (a
juvenile male, I think), and here
another. Also on the way up we saw at least two alpine
graylings -
one at the very top. Coming back down the mountain, more and more
butterflies were gathering at minerals, though the species were still
limited: mostly chalkhhill (there are carline
skippers and an Essex skipper in that picture too) and idas blues,
Swiss brassy ringlets, carline skippers, and in the
higher parts, water ringlets (there is a Swiss
brassy ringlet in the middle of that group). At the very bottom,
surprisingly, I saw I took to be my first and only small mountain
ringlet of the day, though I'm not now so sure as to what it
was. There was also a grayling (semele)
resting flying around the path, which I first took for an alpine
grayling. In a grassy, flowery patch at about 2000m, our first scarce
coppers
of the day were flying around busily and very occasionally pausing for
photos. There were also small heaths here. Strangely, we saw no alpine
or Darwin's heaths all day. After a quick beer, we caught the bus to a
little further down the mountain, to look for dusky meadow browns and
Escher’s blues, amongst others. Here, great
sooty satyr females - no males - were still flying, and
looking rather fresh. Here is one of several female dusky
meadow browns we saw, and here a female
Escher’s blue, showing some silver scaling (on both sides of
the hindwing). Other species here were swallowtail, common
blue and chalkhill blue (both gathering in good numbers on
lucern), as well as a single damon
blue.
19th:
I've got bike problems, and there's a heatwave, so options are limited
(Minnie can't do long walks in the heat of the valley, so we have to go
high, and I didn't have time to go high today)
20th: As yesterday,
heatwave and bike problems ... I played the piano for the Villars
church in the evening so we made that our main excursion!
21st: A day of admin, teaching and heatwave!
22nd: Another hot, sunny morning. Even here at
1300m, temperatures are in the 30s in the heat of the day. Business,
admin and teaching to attend to ...
23rd: Still
hot. In the afternoon, before teaching, I took Minnie
up the local mountain
to see what was still flying. Everything is rather dry and there are
fewer nectar flowers, but a few shepherd's fritillaries and Queens of
Spain were still flying, as well as much reduced numbers of Erebia compared
with a few weeks ago. Water ringlet, manto ringlet, Scotch argus and marbled
ringlet
were still all on the wing. I also saw what I think is my first damon
blue for this site. Most extraordinary, however, was this melanic
female high brown fritillary (the underside
was necessary for the identification). She didn't hang around for
better photos, but zoomed over a hillock, never to be seen again! Great
banded graylings are still abundant lower down the mountain,
though they were sticking to the shade today.
24th:
Yet another very hot day. The mechanics were still finalising my bike
but I risked taking Minnie for a short walk in the valley as I had to
go down for admin reasons anyway. I soaked her at every drinking
fountain and she survived the trip! It was to a site where normally I
see short-tailed and long-tailed blues in August. The site had recently
been scythed and there were none there today. Only a few common and
Adonis blues were flying over the cut grass. The walk took us past
fields of lucerne, where more blues were flying, but it was too hot
(for Minnie) to hang around and I took her straight back to the train
into the mountains again.
24th: A mostly cloudy day, but the cold has not
really struck yet. I am largely back to work... On our evening
walk we found this fox
moth caterpillar (photographed with the iPhone) crossing the
road. I moved it to a safer place as there were cars around.
25th: It's beginning to feel cooler now. This was the view
in the morning towards les Dents de Midi.
26th: It got distinctly cooler during the night of 25th-26th. I got up
at about 04h00 to close the window and saw that Orion
was rising over the Grand Chamossaire - my first view of
Orion since he set in the spring. There was some afternoon
sun, leading to beautiful cloudy skies (and here)
in the evening.
27th: Cold
and cloudy - not more than 9°C in the afternoon.
28th: Still cold and cloudy, with plenty of
rain at times.
29th: Fog,
rain and cloud.
This is our evening walk.
30th: Bright
but chilly in the morning. The blue moon
rose behind clouds in the evening. Here is Minnie
watching it (actually, listening to a distant dog or wolf
howling at the moon ...).
31st:
The last day of August was mostly cloudy but a little warmer than
recently (15°C in the afternoon) and for the first time in days,
butterflies flew. I took Minnie to local woods at lunchtime, as I had
to work in the afternoon. There, great banded graylings and a speckled
wood were on the wing. Then, we went to a nearby meadow where I found
brown hairstreak eggs in the winter. It was still cloudy, and we saw no
hairstreaks, but we did find this fresh
egg. Despite the weather a few Adonis
blues were about (here is a female),
as well as common blues, Chapman's
blues and northern brown arguses. There was
also a wall, a fair few great banded
graylings and a single dryad. No whites or yellows, and
no
skippers - nor any fritillaries - but a lot more butterflies than I've
seen recently! A big-eared roe
deer (and here) was munching in the meadow
before we got there but sloped quietly off as we
approached.
September
1st:
A year ago today I picked up the keys to my new flat in Leysin (then
immediately flew back to the UK to pack all the rest of my belongings
and move back to Switzerland). The weather picked up today. We took a
lunchtime/early afternoon walk to one of the local brown hairstreak
sites but again failed to find any adults. Many more butterflies were
on the wing than yesterday, though of the same species. Here are a chalkhill
blue, a Chapman's blue, a common
blue and a northern brown argus. Later, I
left Minnie at home and popped up to another brown hairstreak site.
Again, I saw no adults, but I did find these two
hatched eggs
on some mature blackthorn, showing that not all the egg-bearing
blackthorn had been destroyed when they cut it back in the spring.
2nd:
I visited the cardinal site today - specifically, the summer site,
where the males defend territories around Buddleia (as opposed to the
spring sites, where both sexes just nectar together in innocent
harmony). As I had hoped, there were lots of cardinals - certainly
several dozen in total. At one point I saw six males in flight
together. Here is one of the first I saw,
before I reached the Buddleia. Here,
here,
here
and here
are some more males - I photographed a lot more, though they were so
active it was actually quite difficult. This
cardinal is being mobbed by a Niobe fritillary. Often, as here
and here,
they used the Buddleia as a perch, without nectaring. They would lift
off and zoom after anything that came near. They also perched on trees
by the roadside. Plenty of other fritillaries were around
too, also enjoying the Buddleia. Silver-washed
were conspicuous (and here, with the head of a mobbing
cardinal in the picture), as were Niobe
(and here).
There were a few Queens of Spain (and here)
and a number of spotted fritillaries as well. Also
on the Buddleia were a few swallowtails and mallow
skippers (and a single large skipper), as well as blues and
whites, though these were largely on the ground at minerals. Here is a swallowtail
on the ground, and here a group of chalkhill blues (with a
northern brown argus in the foreground). Chalkhill
blue
was by far the commonest blue, though there were a few common and
Adonis blues and I think I saw a female long-tailed near bladder senna.
Here are a couple of green-veined whites taking
minerals and here a male southern small white with
them. This is a southern small white. There were
still quite a few southern white admirals on the
wing, sometimes landing on the Buddleia but using
plenty of other plants as perches too. My surprise year-tick for the
day was this purple hairstreak
(I probably saw two or three other individuals as well) - it is
extraordinary this is the first one I've seen all year! Other species
flying were small white, clouded yellow, Berger's clouded yellow,
speckled wood, wall, small tortoiseshell and red
admiral.
3rd:
A local walk this afternoon to one of my local brown hairstreak sites.
No hairstreaks appeared but I was pleased to see the sainfoin covered
in many species, including this male Damon
blue (and here). With him were Adonis blues,
chalkhill blues, common blues, Chapman's blues and northern brown
arguses. Small heaths and great-banded
graylings were common and a few Scotch
argus were still on the wing here. Not far away, oregano was
also attracting good numbers of butterflies, including sooty
coppers and violet fritillaries
as well as various blues. On the way back home I saw lots of
butterflies flying around a distant Buddleia. I couldn't pin down the
large fritillary that was there - probably high brown - but was able to
add painted
lady and peacock to the day list.
4th: Today was a work day, but between lessons in the afternoon I took
a little walk up the hill above school. Here is a female
sooty copper with a friend and here a female
pied flycatcher (and here,
and here). A lunchtime walk around
Leysin produced little, but I did see this male
sooty copper.
5th: A beautiful, warm day from morning to evening
- but a work day too.
6th: Another beautiful day.
7th:
Ever hopeful, I visited the local brown hairstreak site early this
afternoon, before teaching. This time, I was lucky. I soon spotted a female
fly up into some wild rose (and here),
after which she began exploring the blackthorn
for suitable places to lay eggs. I kept my distance and left her still
there. Again, the site was alive with other Lycaenids, including northern
brown argus, common blue, Chapman's blue, Adonis
blue and chalkhill blue. And again, there
were a few violet fritillaries on the wing. I
didn't see any walls, but great-banded graylings were conspicuous.
8th: A red kite over Leysin (and here).
Another work day! On our lunchtime walk we saw few butterflies but
there are still clouded and Berger's clouded yellows around in town.
The weather has been very hot for the last few days.
9th: Just to try something new, I caught the télécabine at Haute Nendaz
today and took a walk near Tracouet. On arrival at the top
of the télécabine,
I quickly saw this terrain was not going to be productive for
butterflies at this time of year. It was very dry and looked as if
there would be few rich nectar sources. A small tortoiseshell greeted
us (Minnie and me, that is) as we left the télécabine and we saw the
first of many silver-spotted skippers almost
immediately afterwards. This was the commonest butterfly of the day.
Next to appear was a wall, followed by a
grayling - a surprisingly common species here, at over 2000m.
Here
and here
are further graylings from later in the walk. Few blues were around.
The commonest was chalkhill, and very locally I saw a few common
blues and northern brown arguses. I saw just
one small
copper. Both clouded yellow and Berger’s
clouded yellow were on the wing, but no whites, and no
moorland clouded yellows, despite large banks of Vaccinium. For the
fritillaries, there were several very worn dark
green fritillaries (this
one is in slightly better nick) at our rest
spot (Minnie sat in the shade while I drank beer and
meditated on the mountains) and a few Queens
of Spain along the tracks we walked. I saw an unidentified Erebia at the
beginning of the walk and a female Erebia montana
(marbled ringlet) towards the end - the earlier one might have been
this. By coincidence, I had chosen Haut Nendaz's 'Pop in the City' day
(whatever that means), and the paths were swarming with happy people in
orange shirts. I'll try the site earlier in the year next year!
10th:
I taught in the morning and evening, so in between visited an easily
accessible site in the Rhône Valley. New for the year was tree
grayling, which was out in very good numbers. Many were dining
at dung, of horse or camel (these
two are at camel dung). I saw a fair few graylings (semele)
as well, though the tree graylings were much commoner. There were no
skippers at all on the wing (I often see mallow, grizzled and rosy
grizzled skippers here late in the year) nor any swallowtails but blues
and yellows (clouded and Berger's clouded) were conspicous. There were Adonis
(here
and here are females), chalkhill, common
and Chapman's blues, as well as northern
brown arguses. I also saw a couple of small
coppers. Other Satyrids were wall, speckled wood and small
heath - all to be expected. This southern
white admiral was stilll defending his territory. For the
whites, southern small white, small white
and eastern
Bath white
(crumply wings, but able to fly and obviously enjoying himself) were
all common, and I saw a few large whites. Spotted fritillaries and
Queen of Spain fritillaries were both numerous. It was a beautiful, hot
day and red kites were flying in bands of
half a dozen or more, circling overhead or floating
on the cliff edges (and here).
At one point several black kites were circling
with herons. They seemed to be chasing each other off, but I
couldn't reall tell who was chasing who.
11th: A beautiful
morning.
I didn't mention it then, but on 9th September, my train back up the
hill was cancelled because a chalet right by the railway in Leysin was
ablaze and the train couldn't pass. A replacement bus was laid on
instead. Today I walked past the chalet and it is indeed a sad
sight.
12th: A cloudy
morning, leading to a still cloudier
day. Autumn is here. Despite this, a few butterflies flew in
sunny spells on our lunchtime walk, including this speckled
wood and this holly blue.
13th: Another cloudy day.
14th: A bright
day up the mountain, though hazy
over the valley. We did the local brown hairstreak spot in
the afternoon, seeing one female in flight. Other species on the wing
were Adonis blue, Chapman's blue,
common blue, northern brown argus, small white,
wall, speckled wood and great-banded
grayling.
15th: Another one of those rare days when I didn't even take a phone
picture on my morning walk!
16th: A beautiful
morning, leading to a cloudier day. I had a little time
in the afternoon to take Minnie to Villeneuve, where for the first time
I noticed the quarry workings (and here)
on the cliff opposite the reserve. I wondered how on earth those
vehicles and structures got up there! From a different angle, a little
later, I saw there was a tunnel in the rock (and here).
I have no idea where it leads or comes from.
17th: A mild
day (but a work day).
18th: Cloud
and torrential
rain in the morning, leading to a generally grim and
non-butterfly day.
19th: Cloudy
morning but plenty of sun during the day (and here,
and here).
Here is a team
of snow machines
ready for the winter ... The blackthorn in Leysin itself has rapidly
grown back where it was cut in the spring and I quickly found brown
hairstreak eggs when I searched some of it (and here).
This particular pair had had a narrow
escape in the autumn cutting, though!
20th: A beautiful
day. I had just enough time in the afternoon to catch the
train down to Pont de Drapel, walk to Aigle (and here)
and catch the train up. The grapes are hanging
very full on the vine. A very few butterflies were on the
wing - the odd Lycaenid (none stopped), a few Queens of Spain and a few
whites.
21st: A cool, early autumn day.
22nd: A bright
morning but with sometimes quite dense
clouds moving through. This is the view of the Grand
Chamossaire from our afternoon walk
around the Suchet.
23rd: Snow fell to below 2000m last night. Here is the Grand
Chamossaire viewed from my balcony this morning, and here a
more highly zoomed shot of the top of the Roc
d'Orsay télécabine. In the afternoon we took a quick trip to
Montreux for a walk by the lake. Here is a multitasking
cormorant, drying his wings while balancing on a highly
mobile buoy!
24th:
A beautiful, sunny day beckoned, and I didn’t have to work until the
evening, so we set off this morning for the Rhône Valley. The
particular target was rosy grizzled skipper, but more generally I just
wanted to enjoy a walk
and see how the season was evolving. We got off the train and began the
walk at about 10h40, while the day was still heating up. Very quickly,
we saw chalkhill blue, Adonis
blue, common blue, clouded
yellow, small
white, green-veined white, wall
and Queen of Spain. A little further
along the walk the tree graylings started appearing
(lots of them - easily the commonest butterfly today), with a few graylings
among them and some small heaths.
I didn’t consciously identify a Chapman’s blue, though it is probable I
saw some today, as they are generally common. At the meadow site where
rosy grizzleds fly, I quickly spotted this freshish
individual (and here).
It was the only one, though - perhaps the vanguard of the third brood.
There were plenty of Berger’s
clouded yellows at the same site and a few small coppers.
Queens of Spain are still common. I took this shot of two
of them moments before the male decided to jump the female. I
took a few shots of the attempt
but then backed off so as not to interrupt what was going on. I suspect
he failed, as Queens usually mate very quickly. Here is a buzzard
circling overhead and here one of the many red
kites
quartering near the cliffs. As the day got warmer still, more of all
the same species flew. I was surprised not to see any eastern Bath
whites, until I saw a single individual as I walked home, proving that
their season is not quite over. I also noted that there were no spotted
fritillaries, despite this being very common the last time I visited,
on 10th September. Then eventually I found this
female (and here)
- evidently rather old and weary but enjoying her life all the same. A
few red admirals were flying near the vineyards and along a woody
track, and I came across this single speckled
wood too, as we walked back for the train. By the time we
left, it was really warm and lots of whites (this is a green-veined
white), blues (this is a common
blue), coppers
and yellows were adorning the many sunspots and very few remaining
nectar plants. A feature of my trips to this end of the Rhône Valley in
recent years has been the Bactrian camels we have come across. At one
point today, this large adult
was blocking our path. He or she took no notice of us as we walked
around his (or her) front end. Then, as we came back past the spot,
there were three of them waiting for us. They
watched languidly as we walked past, but didn't
bother to turn around!
25th: Towards
evening today. Looking in the other direction, the waxing
moon is over the horizon.
26th: A beautiful day (and here).
Also a working day, so our afternoon walk was local. Clouded and Berger's
clouded yellows are still on the wing, as are Adonis,
common and chalkhill blues, and northern
brown arguses. I saw one brown hairstreak in flight. Here is Minnie
on her evening walkies around Leysin.
27th: Another beautiful day. I was surprised to
find a female meadow brown, in quite good
condition, on our afternoon walk around Leysin. Here is a comma
in the woods on the same walk. And finally, Leysin
church and Minnie on our evening walk.
28th: Cloud
in the morning, leading to a bright,
autumn day.
29th: A heat wave is descending on Switzerland. Here is a view of the Dents
du Midi
in the afternoon. We did our usual working day walk, but this time saw
two female brown hairstreaks, in different places. The first appeared
near the cemetery, where it spent a little time crawling
around in a cherry tree (and here)
before heading off over the meadows. I found the second one in a cherry
tree too, where she seemed to be pushing
around with her abdomen, but she quickly headed
off to a blackthorn, where I left her. Other species flying
were common blue, Adonis blue, lots of northern
brown arguses, large, small and green-veined
whites, red admirals (mostly in the woody
parts of the walk) and clouded and Berger's clouded yellows.
30th: A cloudy
morning,
but sun and heat were forecast for the day, so I headed back to the
site where I saw brown hairstreaks around birch on 16th August. By the
time we arrived, at about 11h00, it was warm and sunny as promised. I
saw a single brown hairstreak - flying past birch - near the beginning
of the walk, and then rather later spotted a female apparently fly into
a birch tree. I waited and saw nothing, so presumed she had flown on,
but as the trees were very accessible I started looking for eggs. A few
minutes later, the same (I presume) brown hairstreak flew out of the
same tree, apparently from somewhere near where I was looking. I had
put her up. She flew off, but I got a shot of her when she briefly
posed nearby.
Later on, by the river, surrounded by birch, I saw a third female, and
on the way back up to the bus a fourth - also by birch. There is no
doubt, the species has an affinity with birch at this site, whether or
not the females are laying on the tree. Other species still on the wing
were grayling (very numerous) tree
grayling (common), wall
(common), common blue, Adonis blue, chalkhill
blue, small white, small copper, green-veined
white, eastern Bath white (and here),
clouded yellow, Berger’s clouded yellow, red
admiral, peacock, high brown fritillary
(locally quite a few), Queen of Spain and probably dark green
fritillary (one seen in flight, but I can’t say for certain it wasn’t a
high brown. Here is Minnie on her evening walk, by Leysin
church.
October 1st: Wall to wall sunshine all day
today, so Minnie and I took a stroll up the local mountain as far as
one of our favourite
meadows.
On the way we saw little - a red admiral or two, a couple of whites and
a few Queens of Spain. But when we arrived, it became clear the Adonis
blues were still going strong. Here is a couple
thinking ahead, and here a female.
Strangely, I didn't confirm any common blues. I thought this worn
individual
was one as it looked dull on the wing - it was also very small - but on
seeing the photo I think it is Adonis. The other Lycaenid flying was
northern brown argus. Here is an aberrant
individual - an aberration I have seen twice recently around
Leysin, so obviously a local thing. Here is a more
normal female (and here).
Berger's clouded yellows were flying through regularly and a single
wall appeared at one point. But the butterfly season is closing down.
Here is a strikingly black-and-white rattle
grasshopper (Psophus
stridulus).
2nd:
The moon over the trees on our morning walk. In the afternoon we
wandered round the deer park and neighbouring woods in Leysin. Speckled
woods
are still jealously guarding territories, and a few Adonis and common
blues are flying, but little else is about apart from the now
ubiquitous red admirals. Here is a moth
caterpillar dangling from a tree, photographed against the
light.
3rd: On a sainfoin track near the brown hairstreak meadows and woods, northern
brown arguses, Adonis blues and common blues are still all
flying. There are plenty of Queens
of Spain
about now, especially in the cemetery, where females look for violets
to lay on. Both clouded and pale clouded yellows are on the wing. Here
is an egg, laid by a clouded yellow on a
vetch species. I saw a single brown hairstreak in flight from across
the meadow.
4th: The same walk as on 2nd. Here is a large
white, and here a red
admiral. No speckled woods were defending their usual spots
today ... This is a ruddy darter, basking on a track.
5th: Back to the brown hairstreak walk, though no brown hairstreaks
about. I did find this egg on an isolated blackthorn
where I haven't seen any before. The usual northern brown arguses, Adonis
blues (and here)
and common blues were about, with red admirals, Queens of Spain, the
odd wall, and clouded and Berger's clouded yellows. Here is a golden
eagle against the backdrop of the mountains (and here,
and here). There were two of them, flying
away across the valley. Black woodpeckers were very noisy
today, and occasionally I saw one nip between trees - but never saw
where they landed!
6th: Here is the same male Adonis blue as yesterday, and
in almost exactly the same place. Plenty of Queens
of Spain still about here in the mountains, as well as common
blues and northern brown arguses, small
whites,
clouded and Berger's clouded yellows, and red admirals. Again, the
black woodpeckers were very vocal, and today I did catch an awful shot
of a couple chasing each other over the trees.
7th:
After a busy week, I was able to get away today. It was another
beautiful day too, though it clouded over a little in the afternoon. So
we headed to sites near Leuk, where plenty of butterflies were on the
wing and where, we discovered, the year still held a few surprises. Not
surprising were the large numbers of tree
graylings (and here,
and here, and here on discarded
grapes), nor the many graylings
with them (and here). Both species were a
constant presence throughout our walk. Adonis
(and here) and common
blues
were numerous too, though I had just one glimpse of a chalkhill blue,
and that in flight. There are also plenty of small coppers on the wing,
though more locally. Berger’s and clouded
yellows were out in force, and walls
were common - as were speckled woods very locally, in
their favourite shady spots. There were plenty of small
whites about and a smaller number of eastern
Bath whites - and of course, lots of Queens
of Spain. Here is one of the few small
heaths
flying. The first surprise was a fly-past by a cardinal - my first ever
at this end of the valley. It didn’t stop - unsurprisingly, as there
were no suitable nectar plants near where we saw it - but I had a good
enough view to say 100% it was a cardinal. The next surprises were a
small tortoiseshell (normally, these are all fast asleep by this time
of year) and a single large tortoiseshell, also in flight only. This
last was at a site where large tortoiseshells are common in spring but
again, just shouldn’t be flying now. Finally, the last surprise was a
fresh wood white. I caught this quick
shot
of it before it flew over the blackthorn and out of sight. Is it the
beginning of a 3rd generation? Another strange sight was numbers of red
kites wandering around in a field (and here)
- a way of hunting I’ve not seen with this species before! Here are a
couple of ravens courting above the cliffs,
and here
what I thought at the time was a honey buzzard, but now think was just
a buzzard, with a strange way of sticking its neck out (all my photos
of it showed the same, necky shape)!
8th: Today, we went a little
further along the Rhône Valley than yesterday. Again it was a warm
sunny day, and again there were plenty of butterflies on the wing. As
well as Adonis and common
blues, there were at least tworather worn turquoise
blues (and here)
flying at one part of the our walk (where we sat for an hour and just
watched the butterflies). At the same spot were two or three Queens
of Spain (here is a courting
couple), several graylings, one resident tree grayling and a small
copper.
No fewer than 5 wood whites crossed our path during the day. All were
seemingly fresh and probably males, restlessly in search of females.
None stopped at all, but I got this single flight
shot as proof! It seems to me there is a third brood of this
species this year. Other species flying were wall - very common - small
and green-veined
white (I didn’t confirm any southern small whites), eastern
Bath white, brimstone,
clouded yellow, Berger’s clouded yellow and a few speckled woods. I saw
a single, male small fritillary at the beginning of the walk, never
settling, obviously looking for females. It looked like Melitaea,
though it was rather small and orange (and not spotted fritillary) and
I actually think it was most likely to be violet fritillary. I will
never know. I also saw a single small tortoiseshell. The last species
of the day was a single southern white admiral - another
surprise! It wasn’t fresh, so must be the last of the second
generation.
9th: A single female holly blue
joining the Adonis blues on the lucerne today. Many of the blues are so
tatty now it's difficult to see if they are Adonis or common. I think these
are Adonis. This egg was laid by a female Adonis
blue. Red admirals are ever-present, floating around, perhaps planning
to fly south ...
10th: A high brown fritillary
on knapweed in Leysin. I was in an important phone call at the time and
couldn't take better photos (I took that with one hand, holding the
phone in the other), but saw the underside to confirm the identity.
Here are two female Adonis blues stocking up on sugars
nearby.
11th: A Berger's clouded yellow (and here)
on lucerne in Leysin, a rather worse-for-wear Queen
of Spain and a small copper - all on our
afternoon walk (this is a working week, so we can't go far).
12th: Morning
and evening
today.
13th: Yet another hot, sunny day. Our usual, workday walk
along the betulae
track produced several clouded and Berger's
clouded yellows,
more ageing Adonis blues, lots of red admirals and one northern brown
argus. There are small whites around too, but generally things are
winding down up here. I often check casually for brown hairstreak eggs.
Here
is one on a rather large-leaved, still very lush Prunus - rather
like what I would have called bullace back in the UK - and here another
on the same bush that seems to have been predated.
14th: A cloudy
day (and here), leading to a cloudy
night.
15th: Cloud
on the mountain this morning. During the afternoon
(and here),
it cleared up a lot.
16th: We took a trip to Villeneuve in the afternoon, walking first
along the lake and then inland a little. Here
and here are a male and female
goosander (they were an item) on the lake. This is a large
cone-head (Ruspolia
nitidula) near agricultural land, and this is a grey
wagtail (and here)
scurrying along the lakeside on our return.
17th: One of the many red admirals still flying around
Leysin, on a partly cloudy, partly sunny day.
18th:
It was not very lovely weather, so we took a trip to the Papiliorama.
The species composition is different every time I go there. Today the
dominant species was Euploea core.
This was so common - hanging
from every tree
- it was really like being back in India. For some reason, many species
were only to be seen clinging to the sides today, or clustering around
the roof of the Papiliorama. Here
is a typical group (from left to right: Hypolimnas bolina, Siproeta epaphus, Vindula dejone, Cethosia cyane, Dryas iulia, and
another Cethosia cyane),
and here another (from left to right: Danaus plexippus, Euploea core, Hypolimnas bolina, Junonia atlites and
another Danaus plexippus).
There were lots of Hypolimnas bolina
in the trees, just like the Euploea core, the
species they mimic. A few other pictures from the trip: Caligo
eurylochus, Dryadula
phaetusa, Vindula dejone,
Idea
leuconoe, two subspecies of Heliconius ismenius(the
upper is H. i.
metaphorus and the lower H. i. ismenius),
another courting couple of H.
ismenius ismenius, Heliconius hecale,
Heliconius
charithonius, Hamadryas
feronia, Catonephele
numidia (and here, a female), Papilio
dardanus, Lexias
pardalis, and finally an atlas moth, Attacus atlas.
19th: A bright
morning, leading to a very changeable
day. Here is a flat cloud
hanging over la Vallée Blanche in the distance. Despite the weather, it
was sunny as I passed our hairstreak spot in the afternoon and a few Adonis
blues and red admirals, as well as a clouded yellow or two,
were flying.
20th: A cloudy
morning followed by another changeable
but generally cool
day. Despite the temperatures, there were still a few red admirals
flying around Leysin, and the odd clouded yellow too. Here is a view of
the Grand
Chamossaire in the afternoon and here a view towards
Les Diablerets.
21st: A day of endlessly changing cloudscapes
(and here,
and here,
and here).
22nd:
After so much cloud, rain and cold, it was forecast to be a lovely day
in the Rhône Valley today. Despite replacement buses (yes, it happens
in Switzerland too!), I managed to reach the Leuk region in good time
and soon started seeing butterflies. Along the stony
tracks and in the meadows, small whites, Adonis
blues, common blues, Queens
of Spain, graylings, tree
graylings, walls, clouded
yellows (and here) and Berger's
clouded yellows were flying, though not in great numbers.
There were a few small coppers about still (and here),
but no Bath whites. Nor did I see any more signs of the third brood of
wood white. This was commoner further along the valley on 8th October,
so if there is a sunny window next week (not forecast!) I'll try there.
Here is a female Berger's clouded yellow
being courted by a male small white, with a green-veined white keen to
get in on the action. This
is supposed to be a northern brown argus, by locality, but it looks so
much like a brown argus I suspect both species in fact fly here. Migrant
hawkers and southern hawkers were still on the wing, and I
think this is a female southern
darter - a species I'm not very familiar with yet. As I set
off back to the train, I came across this chalkhill
blue. It is not really a surprise - they often fly into
November - but I haven't seen one recently.
23rd: Heavy
cloud, and cold. It is low season : here is Minnie wandering
through the empty streets of Leysin.
24th: The day began so dark and cloudy that visibility on our morning
walk was down
to a few metres. Later, blue sky could be seen, but clouds
still predominated. Not a butterfly day! Here are the Dents
de Morcles.
25th: Another grim day, with rain
and cloud.
Bizarrely, Minnie insisted on going for a long, high walk! Every time I
offered her the chance to go back down, whe dug her heels in and said,
'No - up!' Here she is near the beginning of
the walk and here she is up at Berneuse, in bitter winds and cold
rain! No butterflies today, obviously, but here is a little group of crossbills,
photographed at a great distance, into the light.
26th: Heavy
cloud and rain much of the day. By Minnie's evening walk it
was pouring, and it continued to pour all night.
27th:
After the early rain had stopped, the clouds gradually cleared and by
the afternoon there was even some sun. On a local walk we saw two red
admirals, flying rather weakly (at temperatures of about 8°C) and this
lovely clouded yellow. No sooner had we
got back than it started raining again.
28th: Sunrise (over the mountains, anyway) today. The forecast was
good, so I headed along the Rhône Valley to where
I had seen wood whites
on 8th October, just in case any of this third generation should be on
the wing. It turned out almost nothing was flying at all: at this end
of the year, tracks that are in full sun all day in summer are still
shaded in the mornings. I arrived at the site at about 11h00
and saw no butterflies until this Lycaenid
flew by and settled briefly (and here)
at about 12h15. I am really not sure if it is a common or Adonis blue,
so worn are the fringes, though I tend towards common. Here is Minnie
relaxing
during a brief period when the sun was shielded by hazy clouds. At
about 13h30 we decided to head home along the lucerne and clover
meadows, expecting to see butterflies there. In the event, all we saw
were a single Queen of Spain
chasing a single clouded yellow. The clouded yellow got fed up and flew
off but the Queen of Spain settled, alone in the meadow, to sup at
dandelion. There will be a partial lunar eclipse later tonight. I took
a few shots of the full moon
in a partly cloudy sky shortly after moonrise, and must hope the clouds
clear properly for shots of the eclipse when it happens (between about
21h35 and 22h50). LATER: Clouds came and went, but the moon shone clear
in the sky before and during the eclipse. Here she is before,
and here she is at maximum shadow, at about 22h14.
29th: A grey
day and cloudy night.
30th: Unsettled
and cloudy all day.
31st: Afternoon
walk; early evening; late
evening, with clear skies and stars.
November
1st: A goosander and his mate
on the lake, and a dabchick with his reflection on a
calmer, inland mere. Beautiful cloudscapes in the
evening.
2nd: The Leysin
funicular coming down to Leysin Village station. Leysin
by night, with Jupiter shining through the clouds above the
church.
3rd: Snow
fell overnight, as low as Leysin but not
much lower towards the valley. By the evening, it was raining.
Here is a group of fieldfares passing through during
a bright spell in the aftenoon.
4th: Snow
still lying on the ground in Leysin. I went down with a vicious cold
and spent as much of the day as I could in bed (but I had to get up to
walk Minnie three times, of course!).
5th: The snow
has melted. I spent another day in bed.
6th: Morning
today. I was ill, but taught several lessons nevertheless.
7th: A fairly grim day, but leading to a clear
night. Here are Auriga and Taurus above Leysin church.
8th: Out of the blue, a clear, sunny day! As I was walking
Minnie down this track by the deer meadow in
Leysin, I suddenly spotted a large
tortoiseshell
adjusting its position on the sunny side of one of the posts. I
couldn't get round to take a proper photo, but by backing up the track
and a little round the bend could just get a convincing proof-shot.
I hope that after warming up a bit, it was able to find a new place to
hibernate. It needs to sleep through until April! Here is Jupiter
in a starry sky.
9th: After yesterday's unexpected sun, back to cloud
and cold.
10th: Morning
and evening.
11th: Afternoon
walk (and here).
12th: The Leysin
train, viewed from Route des Corbelets.
13th: Afternoon
walk, above Leysin Village station.
14th: Afternoon.
Here is an alpine chough on a rooftop,
photographed with my iPhone.
15th: Minnie
meditating on her afternoon walk.
16th: A grey
day ...
17th: Snow
- but it didn't settle.
18th: Minnie
on the Golden Panoramic Express to Gstaad, for a walk (as it
turned out) in the rain.
19th: Another grey day. This is Bex
station in early evening, as we were on our way to church in
Villars.
20th: Cloud
in the valley in the afternoon. Minnie
on her evening walkies.
21st: Evening
clouds over the Chamossaire.
22nd: A red admiral flew in a break between the clouds today. Here is Orion
rising over the Grand Chamossaire in the evening.
23rd: An unexpectedly beautiful day, from dawn to dusk,
amid all the recent cloud and rain.
24th: Much cloud in the valley and
increasingly overhead today. Heavy snow is forecast for tonight and
tomorrow.
25th: The snow
came last night, though it wasn't as heavy as forecast. Here is Minnie
waiting for the train in the afternoon. Here is Leysin
in the evening, and here Minnie
on her evening walk.
26th:
It snowed right down to the valley last night but it was a sunny day
today and it quickly melted at the lower altitudes. Minnie and I went
to the valley to see what butterflies might still be flying. We saw
three red admirals
- all rather restless, and the third definitely a gravid female looking
for nettles. Despite ambient temperatures of between -1°C and (when we
left) 3°C, a single Queen of Spain flew in one of
their hotspots. I didn't chase it for better pictures.
27th: A snowy day. Here's Minnie on her evening walk,
hurrying home to the warmth!
28th: When it's grim up the mountain, the choughs
come down to town. Here's a shot taken as I walked
up to school in the evening. The western sky was strangely
illuminated.
29th: A view of the distant hills.
30th: View
on our morning walk.
December
1st: December began with snow all day. Here is Minnie
on her mid-day walk, looking a bit cold, and here a snow-covered
tree near school in the evening. It was still snowing
very heavily on our evening walk.
2nd: Lots of fresh snow - a cold, cloudy day.
3rd: A beautiful but very cold morning. We went down to the
valley, just in case there was any chance of a December butterfly - but
there really wasn't. The vineyards were thick with snow
(and here)
and even my hottest hotspots, where I can usually find a Queen even
when they are not flying anywhere else, were icy
and cold. This is the Rhône flowing towards the bend at
Martigny and this a rock bunting eyeing the snow. Here
is Leysin
in the evening, with Orion rising above the Grand
Chamoissaire, and here is Leysin church. I had to teach in
the evening, and as I waited for the train, the ISS came over. It is
the short,
bright streak in this picture. The dark
shadow behind it was present on the next picture I took, too,
as it headed
towards the horizon (the other bright object is Jupiter).
4th: Choughs feeding at rosehips in
Leysin. Minnie's
evening walk.
5th: Down
the track towards Leysin Village station.
6th: Beautiful light through the clouds all day. Here is a view
along the Rhône Valley, and here Leysin shortly
before sunset.This is a chough
calling from the gutter in the afternoon. The clouds cleared to give a
beautiful, clear evening. Here is Orion rising over the Grand Chamossaire.
7th: The moon
and Venus in the morning. An alpine
accentor searching for food near the snow in Leysin (and here).
8th: Morning
walkies in the snow.
9th: Morning
light in the clouds and evening glow from the piste
machine up on the Grand Chamossaire!
10th: Cloud
(and here).
11th: Evening
view.
12th: Rain! The choughs took advantage of the big
green patches opening up, while Minnie was not so impressed on her evening
walk.
13th: The rain has washed away almost all the snow.
What used to be dry tracks are now mini-rivers.
Here are some bullfinches feeding in a spruce
tree.
14th: Back to snow again! It snowed heavily all
day today, and the snow settled.
15th: Wonderful clouds, from the morning all through the day
(and here,
and here).
16th: A beautiful but very cold day. Minnie and I took a walk
along the Rhône,
towards the eastern end of the valley. We didn't expect to see any
butterflies because the mountains here shade the hotspots for much of
the day. Here is one of our butterfly haunts, still
with frost
at nearly 13h00. I wasn't actually going to go there, but Minnie
refused to turn back until we'd done our usual itinerary! This is the
sun disappearing
behind the mountains in the early afternoon. Here is Orion
over the Grand Chamossaire in the evening.
17th: A second day of wall-to-wall sunshine,
so we visited the nearer end of the valley, with more hope this time of
finding a butterfly. And so we did - two red admirals. Here is the first,
basking just downhill from me in the stepped vineyards (so no chance of
getting round the other side). The second, not far away but an hour
later (on our return) didn't stop. This
is the site - a regular winter hotspot. Here is Minnie
trotting past a persimmon tree.
The fruits were incredible - lush and sweet (actually, too sweet for my
taste). We came home early as I had much to do. Here is Leysin
in the afternoon, just before the sun set.
18th: I took Minnie to her kennels near
Bex in the morning. This is Leysin
later in the day, and this a view
of Orion on my evening walk (after I had packed, ready to
leave for the UK long before dawn tomorrow).
19th: (Very) early morning. I flew to the UK
today.
20th: The river
Deben. Here is a wigeon, and here a little
egret. This is Polly, the Rector's (and his wife's) dog, on
the beach
at Shingle Street.
21st: Red-legged partridges near
Martlesham, and Martlesham Creek. Here is an avocet
along the Deben, and here a black-tailed
godwit.This is the Shire Hall in Woodbridge, looking
very Christmassy, and this is the Thoroughfare.
22nd: Sutton
Heath. Here is Polly, with her mistress. In the
evening, I sang at the carol service in Great
Bealings church.
23rd: The river
Deben. This is the moon through clouds at Shingle
Street in the late afteroon, and here Polly
on the beach as the sky reddened. It was a remarkable sunset
(and here, and here).
24th: A grey
Christmas Eve !
25th: A Christmas Day kingfisher on a boat
on the Deben. Here is a grey
plover and here an avocet.
26th: Polly
in Fen Meadow in the morning. The Deben
by the Tide Mill. Later, my sister picked me up and we went to Shingle
Street, before heading to her house in Norwich.
27th: A seal pup on the track inside the
dunes at Horsey. This newborn pup, lying beside its mother,
still has its umbilical cord. They were being watched by wardens.
28th:
I caught the 05h30 train from Norwich, heading for the airport. All
over the country, there were delays and strikes, but somehow I managed
to get to Gatwick ahead of schedule, in time for a few
beers at the Wetherspoons. I got home at 18h30, Swiss time,
so a 12-hour journey in total. This is Leysin
in the evening.
29th: Picked up Minnie from Bex in the morning. It
was a cloudy
day. Here is Minnie on her afternoon walk, posing in front of
the Leysin
American School, where I teach.
30th:
I was going to spend today sorting out my things from the trip and
getting on with admin before the New Year, but it was such a lovely
morning I decided instead to go butterflying in the Rhône Valley. We
set off late, catching the 10h04 down the hill, but at this time of
year there is no point in being too early. As hoped, it remained a
lovely day and before long we reached our winter
hotspot and saw our first red
admiral. Here it is in
context.
That was the only species seen, but we saw probably 3 in total and
returned home happy. Sadly, not such good weather is forecast for the
immediate future.
31st: The last day of the year began mild
but turned to heavy snow in the afternoon. Here
is a hawfinch in the morning, in the
tree opposite my house. Here's Minnie coming home from her last
walkies of 2023 ...
