- Waking up to see High Brown Fritillary, Wall, Swallowtail, Essex Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Hummingbird Hawkmoth and Clouded Yellow nectaring on the lavendar in the garden (which regularly had a count in excess of 300 butterflies each morning!!!)
- Hundreds of Large Tortoiseshell in the Sibillini mountains
- Black-veined Whites in abundance
- Mazarine Blue everywhere
- Seeing my first Large Chequered Skippers!
- Good numbers of Small Tortoiseshell everywhere (something I miss)
- Seeing a Golden Eagle flying above our heads in the mountains
- Excellent scenery
- Stunning wild flowers
- Great company!
- Finding larvae (and pupae) everywhere we went
One critter that foxed us is the one shown below (followed by some random pics) - gregarious groups of black caterpillar on young blackthorn bushes up in the mountains. Any ideas anyone? Looks like a nymphalid, but what do I know?
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Cheers,
- Pete