Digne-les-Bains
Digne-les-Bains
We are off to Provence in a couple of weeks, about an hour from Digne-les-Bains, which I have never yet visited. I know it has an excellent reputation for butterflies, but how easy are they to find there?
Re: Digne-les-Bains
Jeez. You're in for the thrill of a lifetime.
You won't have to look hard, trust me.
You won't have to look hard, trust me.
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Roger Gibbons
- Posts: 1107
- Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:29 pm
- Location: Hatfield, Herts
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Re: Digne-les-Bains
The Alpes de Haute Provence is one the richest areas in France with around 150 or so species recorded. Early June will be very good although the high altitude (1500m plus) species will not generally be around until nearer July.
Where (town) are you going to be staying? I might be able to suggest some “hotspots”.
One of my favourite areas is north of Digne, toward Selonnet especially around Le Vernet. You may see Chestnut Heath, Mountain Alcon Blue, Northern Wall Brown amongst the many species there. The road from Selonnet up toward Chabanon is also good.
The Jardins des Proserpines http://www.proserpine.org/ just outside Digne is well worth the entrance fee of 5 euros. 137 species have been recorded there. I was there in July a couple of years ago and saw 42 species in an afternoon.
The road from St Andre toward Thorame Basse and the main D955 toward Thorame Haute are quite rich.
I just checked my records and will retract my comment about altitude – on 11 June last year I saw 35 species around the Col de le Cayolle (2320m), most of them on the regions just below the Col at 1900m or so.
Where (town) are you going to be staying? I might be able to suggest some “hotspots”.
One of my favourite areas is north of Digne, toward Selonnet especially around Le Vernet. You may see Chestnut Heath, Mountain Alcon Blue, Northern Wall Brown amongst the many species there. The road from Selonnet up toward Chabanon is also good.
The Jardins des Proserpines http://www.proserpine.org/ just outside Digne is well worth the entrance fee of 5 euros. 137 species have been recorded there. I was there in July a couple of years ago and saw 42 species in an afternoon.
The road from St Andre toward Thorame Basse and the main D955 toward Thorame Haute are quite rich.
I just checked my records and will retract my comment about altitude – on 11 June last year I saw 35 species around the Col de le Cayolle (2320m), most of them on the regions just below the Col at 1900m or so.
Re: Digne-les-Bains
Hi Roger,
Thanks! We stay by the Lac de Ste Croix and have done so for a couple of years, but are yet to venture much further north than Riez. My wife is becoming increasingly reluctant to undertake the half-hour drive up the sheep track to our usual altitude butterfly location - she thinks it might do terminal damage to the underside of the car, and is probably not wrong - so I'm on the lookout for some rather more easily accessible locations.
Thanks! We stay by the Lac de Ste Croix and have done so for a couple of years, but are yet to venture much further north than Riez. My wife is becoming increasingly reluctant to undertake the half-hour drive up the sheep track to our usual altitude butterfly location - she thinks it might do terminal damage to the underside of the car, and is probably not wrong - so I'm on the lookout for some rather more easily accessible locations.