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One of the reasons I wanted to visit the Röhn area was to catch* the Clouded Apollo before becoming extinct in this area. I only knew two higher locations but as the temperatures were low before our trip the chance to find them was low. I learned that there was a secret kept location on a lower part but I really didn't know where. The first days after arrival I visited the higher locations but there was no sings of a Clouded Apollo or any other butterflies. Long story short....after one week I found a good clue on the internet and finally I found the place with at least 10 flying Clouded Apollos! And as icing on the cake one Clouded Apollo was sitting on a flower near the path.  Parnassius mnemosyne - Clouded Apollo - Röhn I was very happy and started to photograph this butterfly but after a few minutes I noticed that something was wrong. Although the butterfly was drinking nectar he could not fly. I walked around and when I came back he was still sitting on that flower....not a good sign but fortunately there were some other Clouded Apollo's flying around.
The next day I returned and this butterfly was still sitting next the path and on the path I found a dead fresh Clouded Apollo....not a good sign! I placed the butterfly on an other flower and he immediately started drinking. I guess that the area has too few nectar plants that some butterflies are starving.
Although I found this rare species I was not in happy mood and I guess that they will disappear if nothing happens.
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For years the Röhn region in central Germany was on my wishing list for butterflies; normally I visit the Eifel at this time of the year. Last year the amount of butterflies was disappointing low in the Eifel that I booked a hotel in the Röhn area for one week in May/June this year....I wanted more butterflies! The first morning we visited a nature reserve nearby but we couldn't find roosting butterflies, as it was the first day I had good hope that the situation would change.  During the week we visited a lot of nature areas in every corner of the Röhn but no meadows with fluttering butterflies. Sometimes one or two butterflies were flying around and that's it. One day we came back from an area and next to a small road a lot of common sainfoin was growing/flowering and finally I saw a lot of fluttering butterflies. The next morning we visited this small area next to the road again and found the first roosting butterfly: a green-underside blue!
On a sunny hillside we discovered a small area with a lot of flowers including common sainfoin again and three mornings I tried there to catch some blue species with open wings which was not easy due to the heavy wind. On Saturday, the day of our departure, a Chapman's Blue was very cooperative and did not fly away immediately. Although we counted 33 butterfly species during our stay, I only found 7 species/12 butterflies roosting, the absence of butterflies is frightening!  Chapman's Blue Last Tuesday it was the last day with summer temperatures and again I noticed a fresh Provence Hairstreak around the accommodation. Near the house a lot of small marguerites are flowering and the Provence Hairstreak likes them a lot but when I approached her (it was a female) with my white umbrella she disappeared immediately. So I placed the umbrella above a part of the highest flowers and waited...and waited....and then she came. She granted me two photo's...as you can see her left frontleg is in the 'flying away position' and she is moving her hind wing...ready to take off again.  Female Provence Hairstreak (tomares ballus) A second butterfly species which I loved to photograph is the Spanish Festoon (Zerinthia rumina); every day I saw one or two flying but finding them roosting was an other thing. Yesterday we were driving through the hills into a nature reserve; in a beautiful valley we took a break and immediately I saw a Spanish Festoon flying around. Soon I saw more and counted four butterflies; after seeing them flying around for almost one hour there was a good chance that they were local flyers in that part of the valley. Although the weather forecast was not that good this morning we drove to the same spot to search for the Spanish Festoon and within a few minutes we found all four of them within a few meters roosting at/in bramble bushes:  Female Spanish Festoon (Zerynthia rumina) Unfortunately our holiday is over and tomorrow we will driving back home...fortunately with beautiful memories and photos!
In the higher parts of the hills we discovered, actually my friend did, a spot/area with a lot of Provence Hairstreaks and the good thing about this spot/area is that it is accessible. Having access to meadows in this area of Spain it's almost impossible as everything is in private hands and behind high fences. During the first week we drove around to search for butterfly meadows but we did not find them, almost every square meter of land is in use for cattle and fenced. Only small parts near roads and paths are available to search for butterflies even in the higher part of the hills.
The area where we found a lot of Provence Hairstreaks is fenced as cattle is grazing but fortunately still accessible. As this species is roosting in bushes the only way to photograph them is at day when the sun is shining. The females of the Provence Hairstreak loves it to sit low at the ground and it is very difficult to make a photo without disturbing material in the back or foreground (and there is a lot when cattle has been grazing). Fortunately the males are often sitting higher to look after a nice female.
 Male Provence Hairstreak (tomares ballus) Next to the Western Dappled White the Provence Hairstreak is the most common butterfly at the moment in this region; especially on the higher parts of the hills. With 5 days left some more Provence Hairstreaks will probably be photographed!
Last Saturday I arrived in Spain; we rent a beautiful house in the hills outside Madrid. After many many years seeing photos on the internet of the Provence Hairstreak (and never found it in the Provence) I had the wish to see and photograph this species. I knew that this species was seen years earlier a few hundred meters from our accommodation so there was a chance to see this little butterfly. As our accommodation is situated a little higher on the hill and as near the house his larval foodplant is growing we placed the garden couch nearby and waited with our binoculars. After two hours sitting and watching I was fooled by two Small Coppers but suddenly I saw some glittering green on the wing....very quickly I get up and searched and searched but the little butterfly was gone. Today, we were just waiting again on the couch when a Provence Hairstreak visited the low vegetation. With an umbrella I created some shadow and for some minutes she was sitting like she was roosting....when I moved the umbrella and the sun touches this little beauty she was gone immediately!  Female Provence Hairstreak (tomares ballus) Unfortunately I did not see a second one and this afternoon we made a walk through the area and I noticed a lot of larval food plants but no sign of other Provence Hairstreaks.
My first blog since months and my last blog for this year. Since Aosta I haven't touch my camera anymore as I was very busy creating a kind of life work for my children. 2022 was an eventful year with personal changes and beautiful butterfly trips to Greece, France and Italy. Retreat to nature for a while with good company, meadows full of butterflies and a good glass of wine with delicious cheese gives me so much energy!  Good life with a great view So for 2023 I treat myself with an early butterfly trip to the mountains/nature of Spain. During June/July I will stay at my house in the Vosges as I am curious which kind of butterflies species have survived the drought and a fellow villager who lets his horses graze in the one and only butterfly meadow. But for now I wish you all Merry Christmas and the very best for 2023!
Merry Christmas - Prettige kerstdagen - Frohe Weihnachten - Joyeux Noël!! It's almost four weeks ago that I have left Italy. The last week I stayed in a more alpine area than the other valleys but due to the drought and hot temperatures a lot of alpine species were not flying or already gone. On the yellow flowering arnica montana I found one roosting butterfly the first morning....the other six days the flower buds were empty....no roosting fritillaries unfortunately.  There were plenty of butterflies, the majority were erebia's and skippers. Erebia's are very nervous 'bastards' especially when there are not covered with dew. There were a lot of different erebia species flying at day but finding them roosting was an other thing, especially the species which I liked to 'catch' like the ones with a metallic sheen.
 Lesser Mountain Ringlet - Erebia melampus As I did not catch the erbia species with open wings I need to go back to Aosta a fourth time!!!
Last Saturday we moved to an other valley with the hope to find a lot of alpine butterfly species. Unfortunately this valley is extremely suffering from the drought and although at day hundreds of butterflies are flying, I miss a lot of species. The erebia's, grizzled skippers, scarce coppers and chalkhill blues are doing it very well. Thanx to a lot of erebia species I hit the 100 species!
During my visits to this valley in 2020 and 2021 I found the Silvery Argus....for me a special species and fortunately I found them regularly early in the morning. Although we have since almost four weeks blue skies, high temperatures without clouds and a lot of wind in the morning, I was happy to catch one male Silvery Argus with open wings just at the moment a very small cloud causes soft light:  Silvery Argus For the first time cloudy weather is forecasted for tomorrow so I'm curious what I will find on the last day. A nice 'dessert' would be welcome!
Unfortunately, our third week in the Aosta - Gran Paradiso region went by too fast; tomorrow we will move to another place/valley. It was a week of high temperatures and very active butterflies. Fortunately we had some rain two days ago and slowly the meadows are transforming from brown into green again. From a Social Media friend, which I met last week in this region, I received a spot in this valley of the Meleager's Blue. I visited this spot a few times with the hope to find a roosting female but I 'only' found males:
Because of the high temperatures they were active and creating some shadow over them was too much asked; only one male was a bit cooperative and I was able to catch him with open wings:  But, this valley was good for a complete new butterfly species which I had never seen/photograph before. At first, I even did not recognize that this was NOT the common apollo....I tried to make a landscape photo with an apollo on a flower. Only after I came closer I noticed the two red spots on the fore wing and realized that this was NOT the common but the Small Apollo:  Small Apollo - Parnassius phoebus Until now I counted 94 different butterfly species.....with one valley left I hope to 'hit' the 100 species!
EDIT: back home I noticed that this is not the Small Apollo but 'regular' Apollo. In one of the Aosta valleys lives a very rare little brown butterfly of the blue family (Lycaenidae): the Piedmont Anomalous Blue (polyommatus humedasae). This little butterfly is endemic to Italy/Aosta. Like in 2020 and 2021 I payed a visit to the hotspot of this species. First, I was shocked how dry and and brown this spot was; I found some butterflies but not the species and amounts of the two former years. Secondly I noticed that a lot of Piedmont Anomalous Blues were numbered and searching for this species felt like a kind of bingo game!
During our first visit at day we found number 10, 70, 87 and two not numbered species on the main path. On our second visit we found number 6, 33, 38, 51 and 99 and again some not numbered species; all around/at the main path. Interesting was that number 38 was roosting far away from the other butterflies.
We had plans to return a third time this morning to get a full bingo card with hundred numbers but it was too warm during the last two nights that they will fly away immediately. But, the most remarkable thing is that I found this rare species on an other spot! Out of the blue there was sitting a beautiful Piedmont Anomalous Blue in front of me, what a nice bingo price:  Piedmont Anomalous Blue - Polyommatus humedasae I also saw a second one so I guess that there is a very small population on this spot.
In the meantime we have left the Mont Blanc view accommodation and moved in into an other beautiful place/valley at 1750 meters with 29 degrees in the shadow! |
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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