A day in Switzerland

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Folks,
We’ve just got back from holidays in Evian-les-bains, on the shores of Lac Léman in France.
Evian is a nicely manicured town and is totally sterile as far as butterflies are concerned. Even up to 1400 metres in the nearby Bernex and Tollon-les-mémises ski resorts, all I saw were a few 100 Meadow Browns, Marbled Whites and Ringlets, plus 1 each Gatekeeper, White Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and the odd white.
Fortunately, Switzerland was less than an hour away, and Guy Padfield very kindly offered to show me around one of his mountains.
I picked Guy and Minnie up from the station and we were off to the mountains.
We parked the car at around 2000 m ASL at the start of a track and headed upwards. Guy and Minnie worked uphill effortlessly while I was puffing and panting behind. By the time we reached 2500 m altitude I had already ticked a good handful of lifers. There were so many new species to take in, all in rapid succession, I hope I took good note of them.
All of these were lifers for me.
Purple Emperor from lower down in the valley:

Large Ringlet:

Mountain Ringlet:

A fresh Cynthia's Fritillary, male. Due to the cloud cover, this individual was having a job drying its wings out:

A mountain subspecies of Marsh Fritillary, debilis:

Idas Blue:

Guy:

Minnie kept us duly informed when any marmottes (prairie dogs) were around. Lawrence of Erebia (Guy):

Alpine Grayling:

Alpine Heath:

Shepherd's Fritillary, female:

Mnestra's Ringlet, male:

A melt-water pond at around 2500 m ASL:

Shepherd's Fritillaries:

Dewy Ringlet:

Mountain Clouded Yellow:

An interesting geological formation further down in the valley:

I didn't take note of this one - any ideas ?

Eleven lifers in all, not counting the Peak White which flew off before I could get it in the viewfinder.
A big thanks to Guy, without whom my butterfly tally this holiday would have been most disappointing. . I don't think I've ever notched up so many lifers in such a short time.
Cheers, Chris

[Padfield]

Hi Chris. It was a pleasure.

That last fritillary is a male Melitaea varia, the Grisons fritillary.

Guy

[Chris Jackson]

...
That last fritillary is a male Melitaea varia, the Grisons fritillary ... Guy

Thanks Guy,
With a re-count, I'm up to 13 lifers now on that day then
Chris

[David M]

Idyllic stuff! Wish I could have been there myself.

[essexbuzzard]

Me too! Wow,that's some going.

[Chris Jackson]

Hi both,
You didn't do too badly for species yourselves recently.
Clearly, butterfly spotting in unknown territory is child's play when you're guided by someone with local knowledge.
Cold prospecting is exciting but is frustratingly disappointing when you come back with no sightings.
Chris