The Mercantour for a couple of days

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Folks,
Here we are in the Mercantour for a couple of days.
This region is 1 hour north of Nice in south-east France.

Arriving 2 hours too early for the check-in at the hotel, we went for a stroll. Within the space of 1 hour I had already ticked off 2 lifers and tallied 15 other species.
Duke of Burgundy Fritillary ? - a lifer

Provençal Fritillary ? - a lifer

Context - a typical view of the scenery.

It was warm and breezy, and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the 'blues' would just not sit still. I have yet to discover other species.
Also flying : aurinia, semiargus, didyma, sinapis, cardamines, bellargus, rubi, alfacariensis, rhamni ?, pamphilus, podalirius, tages, dia, megera ...
Today, the Lombarde pass ?
Back soon,
Chris

[Chris Jackson]

Today we ventured up to the Lombarde pass, beyond Isola 2000 ski resort, up to the Italian border.
OK, so its not quite summer yet, but we didn't expect this :
View from 2350 m ASL, east into Italy.

No butterflies here, but we could hear marmots (French prairie dogs) calling through the icy wind.
We found good use for the snow, keeping our survival provisions chilled

Back down at a more reasonable altitude, research paid off and I found a Chequered Blue (1000 m ASL).

View from hotel window at 7.30 am

Bye for now,
Chris