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The first week Aosta has passed by very quickly and until now we counted 40 butterfly species. Summer temperatures needs to rise and summer species still needs to emerge; a few days ago I saw in a higher area some fresh Orange-tips flying. But, I will not complain as I have no ‘choice stress’ and we often visited the area of the Iolas Blue as I wanted some decent photos of this species. On Wednesday we also visited this area after breakfast but all butterflies in this area were already flying around. I noticed a male Iolas Blue and dropped my camera bag on the path when suddenly a black snake crawled next to my bag. The first snake I have ever seen in Aosta, I was too much flabbergasted that I forgot to use my binoculars but I guess that it was a dark Western Whip Snake. No photos of the Iolas Blue as the sun was shining and they were flying around without resting. Yesterday, after two days of rain, we visited this area again and found a roosting Iolas Blue (I guess that she was surprised by the rain on Friday as between the showers the sun was shining shortly).  Female Ioloas Blue - Iolana iolas Unfortunately she was sitting on a spot with the longest shadow….so I waited three hours before she opened her wings. Although I plamped the twig of her larval foodplant, the heavy wind blowed her up and down during three hours and taking pictures with open wings was a kind of mission impossible.
Sitting three hours in the shadow and waiting for the sun was also not convenient for the cold I already have for weeks. So next week we're going to take it easy.
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Yesterday evening we arrived in Aosta and after we unpacked the car we immediately went out, looking for butterflies. The meadows are full with alpine flowers but the butterfly season has yet to start. As we were tired after the long drive yesterday, I did not set my alarm clock this morning and after a cup of coffee we went out, not expecting much.
Two Green-underside Blues were roosting on Common Sainfoin and one of the Almond ringlets was sitting on a flower instead of low in the grass. As there were not much other butterflies we made plans to visit an other area after breakfast with the hope to find a new species: the Iolas Blue. This species flies on the southern slopes of the mountains. After we entered the area we spotted the first big blue butterfly and it became clear that it was not going to be easy as it is a powerful flyer, the slopes are steep and there are not many of this species. Long story short, one male and female were resting for a short time and I found an egg.....not bad for the first day in Aosta.
We will definitely visit this area again!
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Jibt dir dit Leben mal een Buff, denn weene keene Träne. Lach Dir'n Ast und setz Dir druff und baumle mit de Beene.
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