Thanks Dave and Wurzel. Yes, Switzerland had its warmest October on record, I think. Let's hope November has begun as it intends to continue.
The great thing about the Alps is that you can pass from one climate to another just by going up or down the mountain. Yesterday, I went up, because I wanted Minnie to remember the snow and it looked rather grim in the valley anyway. Today I went down, and along to Valais, where 13 species of butterfly were flying. Here is a selection.
Adonis blues are still flying in good numbers:
Here is a female:
And here a male and female together:
Chapman's blues were also numerous:
The two were frequently together, as there were relatively few nectar flowers around:
This is a northern brown argus, another species that often flies late into the autumn:
And this is a small copper:
I was surprised to see a comma:
But not so surprised to find a grayling:
I've regularly seen graylings into November, though I think 6th might be my latest. I couldn't get a better angle on this one without falling off a cliff. I also saw a single tree grayling today.
Clouded and Berger's clouded yellows were both on the wing. This is a male clouded yellow:
This is a female
helice:
Here is a clouded yellow (the same male as above) with an Adonis blue:
Walls are always around late in the year - even into December:
I saw a couple of painted ladies, but strangely, no red admirals:
This was not my winter Queen of Spain site and I saw just one of this species, in flight. I also saw a single silver-washed fritillary pass in flight. This was the most surprising sighting of the day. It was gliding, more like a cardinal than a silver-washed fritillary, and passed close enough for me to see sex brands clearly on the upperside. Size-wise, it was largish, but distinctly smaller than cardinal and I thought smaller than silver-washed too. In colour, it was faded orange (not tarnished bronze). The only options are high brown fritillary (I've seen dark green at the same site in December) and silver-washed, given the conspicuous sex brands, and my money is on silver-washed, just because that's what I thought it was as it flew past.
The weather was not brilliant, with a maximum temperature of 11°C and significant cloudy spells:
Around us, the snow-covered mountains reminded us winter was on its way.
Guy