I’d anticipated that my nature finds would not reach the heights of 2015 in France and 2017 in Spain. Whilst that was true, it didn’t work out too bad and I was able to add a few species to my lepidoptera life-list
. However, unlike Spain 2017 there wasn’t a final flourish of wildlife sightings. Basically, it was a case peaking early and fizzling out despite putting more hunting-time in at the latter end 
The main problem though was that many of the photos didn’t come out as well as I would’ve hoped as you will see) Perhaps it was the wrong time to start using my relatively new macro 180 lens in anger. Perhaps I cannot take consistently good photos
As with all my holiday postings I will be padding them out with scenery and tourist location shots .. …perhaps more than usual out of necessity.
The first part of the journey to Livange (after an 08:30 ferry crossing from Dover to Dunkirk) was tough and the second stint to our destination of Oberstaufen im Allgau was even tougher. Without my eldest daughter as my co-pilot/navigator (who used my mobile phone’s GPS maps and gave me instructions for where to turn off) I’d have gone into meltdown.
The "Ibis" accommodation was OK, a sort of Premier Inn without the tea-making facilities (made me wonder what the adjoining “Ibis budget” block was like … it looked nicer from the exterior)
. In the morning the weather was fine so I explored the ground around the Hotels while the ladies were getting ready. First butterfly up was a good-ole Meadow Brown (what else?) After that a Small Heath and a Gatekeeper were seen and photographed. Also seen were Small White and Common Blue 
. The latter would prove to be commonest lycaenid of the whole holiday, perhaps the commonest butterfly all told ……. and be difficult to photograph too.
. Initially I thought Pyrausta sanguinalis but the markings were not quite right and it had feathered antennae too. It turned out to be a macro moth (Geometer) Purple-barred Yellow (Lythria purpuraria) related to Small Purple-barred (which many of you may have encountered on Chalkland sites?) This moth does not occur in the UK. . As all this was my first wildlife seen in Germany, I was anticipating exciting times ahead .The rest of the Journey got tougher as we drove past the south of Stuttgart heading to Ulm encountering traffic jams from roadworks, where argy-bargy Quashqai-esque SUV cars would jump the queues diving in at the last minute
. These hold-ups added around 2 hours onto my journey time and then around 100 miles from my destination it started raining 
. It varied from spitting to full down-pour but due to a fault with my wiper-motor, I only had manual operation (push on stick) or standard speed wipe, and needed to stop the car and switch the ignition off to kill the wipers (and to time-it correctly to get them in the park position). Having to do this whilst maintaining concentration at autobahn speeds (more on that later) added an unwelcome layer of hassle to the journey 
. When the weather is hot and dry the wipers work fine … but then of course you don’t need them).We arrived at our resort Alpenblickhotel Oberstaufen at 10 to 6, and directed to our accommodation block apartment which could best be described as basic. Nevertheless, it was in a beautiful setting although on arrival the mountains were shrouded in rain-clouds
. . I was itching to get out and do some butterflying but it would just have to wait 
. On the Sunday morning we explored the small town of Oberstaufen and marvelled at its buildings, state of the roads; pristine flowerbeds, the variety of shops with nothing boarded up, no graffiti or litter … all the things one would hope to expect in any civilised country. The washroom facilities everywhere, even motorway service stations, (self-cleaning toilet seats) were spotless 
. Everywhere else we went to in Germany was pretty much the same . We also explored the town of Isny, the small village of Steibis and the area around the cable-car station for the Hochgrat mountain, all in the Oberstaufen region. This cable-car station area would later be one of my butterfly hunting grounds . 
). Monday 23rd.
Many of the grass banks surrounding the accommodation blocks (Haus) were unmown and contained chalkland meadow flora of vetches knapweeds and plantains etc. The banks were relatively steep and were overlooked from the resort accommodation block’s balconies from where the occupants could see me quartering them armed with my large camera and lens. No-one asked me what I was up to and throughout my entire holiday I didn’t see anyone else taking photos of wildlife …. and hardly anyone carrying a camera
. All my hunting was accompanied by the perpetual sound of cowbells. Even at night you could hear their clankingIt took some work to find butterflies, a meadow Brown here and there and then I got a male Common Blue a Green-veined white and finally a blue (on the wrong side of a barbed-wire fence) which due to it’s green-blue scaling on the underside, I initially mistook it to be a Green-underside but later sussed it as Mazarine Blue (my first lifer)
- Mazarine Blue
- Great-crested grebe on next
- House Sparrows were bold here and could be hand fed
- Lindau harbour
. I would do this woodland walk most mornings and venture further which would eventually lead me to some butterflies and other stuff.Back on the grassy banks of the resort, there was more of the usual suspects (minus Mazarine Blue), with Common Blue; Meadow Brown; Small Heath and Green-veined White seen. A few moths too with Silver Y in abundance. Also, a fly-by Swallowtail which alluded for better to come (but sadly only a couple more fly-bys and no photos (in Germany)).
- Diasemia retucularis a Crmabid moth (and lifer)
- Juvenile Pied Wagtail
- Black Redstart
.- Red-backed Shrike juvenile
I don;t know if it will be a lifer for you but the Pied Wagtail in the UK (Motacilla alba yarrellii) is the British race, and on the continent it's a White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba) 
