It's exam week, and I cunningly arranged my invigilation and marking to give me today completely free. The forecast was very favourable so I decided to look for scarce large blues (
Phengaris (
Maculinea)
telejus). This is one species I don't head off to the Rhône Valley for but instead make for the Oberland. There are many colonies scattered throughout the region and although it is an extremely rare butterfly on an international scale it is relatively easy to find at the local level if you know where to look.
The site I chose seemed to be at peak right now (I know another site much higher up, so UK Butterfliers coming out a little later this year should not despair!). Here are a few pictures of this special insect:
(This is a female, ripe with eggs)
(And here she is, laying them on a head of greater burnet)
(Another female with a male)
(In Switzerland, the forewing spots on the male are typically vestigial or absent)
After drinking my fill of scarce large blues I pushed on up the hill to see if the cranberry fritillaries (
Boloria aquilonaris) were on the wing yet. They were, but only just. I saw two males in total, one of which paused awhile to ponder the meaning of life:
(That's a sea of cranberries he's sitting in)
Where there are cranberries there are usually also moorland clouded yellows (
Colias palaeno). Several males were winging their way inaccessibly across the bog but I was very lucky to spot this couple discussing something in detail:
Here is a beautifully fresh purple-edged copper (
Lycaena hippothoe):
And here an older one, posing against the hills:
Cycling along the hill roads I had to swerve often to avoid creatures. Here is an emperor moth caterpillar probably going for his last walk before pupation:
And here is a cricket (I moved this one off the road, as it was just sitting there):
To get to my various sites today I had to cycle up and down mountains, including going over the Col de la Croix, at 1800m. But to go back I just dropped down to the valley under gravity (over 20km without using the pedals
), cycled along the valley and caught the tram back up the hill. It was while going along the bottom that I spotted a road casualty lying in the grass. It was a fresh lesser purple emperor that must, tragically, have been hit by a car or a train:
It was dead, with wings folded beneath the body, but very fresh because still quite floppy. I don't know why, but I folded his wings above his back, popped him in a paper triangle and took him home. When I was a child I used to set road-kill butterflies. Maybe I'll set him and show him to the kids at school.
Tomorrow it'll be back to walking sternly round an exam room throwing scowls at any student who dares breathe too loudly. But at least I'll have some good memories from today to think about.
Guy
