Here's the balmy Rhône Valley near Martigny today. Sunny, yes, but that haze is freezing and the sun's rays seem cold by the time they reach the ground.
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2010/13feb2010b.jpg)
In the shade the temperature never got anywhere near zero:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2010/13feb2010a.jpg)
There are no nectar plants out at all at the moment. All the speedwell carpets that began to bloom in early January, as usual, have completely died down again. I saw a few flies and heard two or three lizards in a three-hour walk along the valley. Last year was the severest winter for decades but this one beats it hands down!
On the plus side, I had good pickings of hairstreak eggs again. Here are two brown hairstreaks on the same branch...
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2010/betulaeegg109.jpg)
... and here's a nice healthy purple hairstreak:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2010/quercusegg1033.jpg)
I think this purple hairstreak egg was parasitised. It was dangling precariously off the twig so I collected it in a paper pouch to examine at home, but I got impatient and lost it when I opened the pouch in the field.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2010/quercusegg1030.jpg)
Finally, another mystery egg on blackthorn. Doubtless a moth, and doubtless I'll never know which.
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2010/mysteryegg104.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2010/mysteryegg105.jpg)
It was smooth and greenish, and a little smaller than a brown hairstreak egg, I think.
Guy