Dolomites trip

[Tony Moore]

Just returned from a week in the Val de Fassa in the Dolomites. For anyone contemplating a visit, I really recommend the Arnica Mountain Hotel in Soraga. It is clean, friendly, centrally placed and reasonable - the food is nothing short of sensational. End of commercial!

I went hoping to find Shepherd's, Mountain and Titania's Fritillaries, in which endeavour, I was singularly unsuccessful, except for a fleeting glimpse of a female Mountain F at 3,000 metres. I guess I was about 10 days early.

I was very pleased to find these two in the Costalunga Pass:

The first, I hope is Asian Fritillary and the second the nominative form of Thor's Fritillary (Clossiana thore thore). I saw several Asians, but only one thore , which I chased around a small area for two days...

I think this one is Nickerl's, but am happy to be corrected:

and this large 'blue'. Amanda's??

There were many other 'expecteds', including Geranium Argus, Alpine Heath, Camberwell Beauty, Baton Blue, Marsh Frit etc.
A lovely bit of the planet to which I hope to return next year - a bit later on .

Tony M.

[Padfield]

Hi Tony. That is certainly Amanda's blue, and the intermedia and thore are good too. I doubt that's Nickerl's, though. It seems to be quite a constant feature of Nickerl's that the marginal band on the hindwing is a slightly deeper yellow than the lunulules inside it (it may be darker in athalia but is always darker in aurelia). The swollen black lunules separating the two are also very unusual for aurelia - this should be a narrow line. This is a typical underside for aurelia:



In Switzerland those swollen black lunules are typical of deione but given the rather heavy branding in s.2 of the forewing I would favour athalia for your butterfly.


(Swiss deione, showing the swollen black lunules - photographed this year)

Interesting that you saw no titania, pales or napaea. These are normally on the wing by now in Switzerland - though I haven't been in the right places in the last week to know if they have emerged yet.

Guy

[Tony Moore]

Guy, very many thanks for your expertise, once again.

I'm very happy to have thore and intermedia OKd. They were both on the outside edge of my 'hoped fors'. Regarding titania etc. I plodded the areas, where they are supposed to fly in profusion, without a sign. The search was clouded by the presence of many PBFs, still in good condition. I had seen Amanda's in Bulgaria, but don't remember it being quite coruscatingly blue.

What about this poor beastie for Nickerl's?

It was a sad specimen which didn't stick around. In the same place I saw a really minty, very small fritillary, which cruised backwards and forwards and disappeared without stopping - very frustrating . I thought that that might have been aurelia.

Next year - if I should live so long.....

Tony.

[kevling]

Tony,

Enjoyed looking at your photos and hotel recommendation. The Dolomites is our likely summer holiday destination next year, so this has wetted my appetite. Do you recommend any particular locations from your visit, or is it a case of just a case of getting out and about and being surprised (I found that option very succesful in Chamonix last year).

Regards
Kev Ling

[Tony Moore]

Hi Kevin,

Val de Fassa is a superb centre. Definitely leave your visit until the beginning of July to get the best. I looked at a couple of Naturetrek trip reports on the net, which gave me pointers to the best places and likely species. If you pm me, I can give you precise directions to the place where I found thore and intermedia(neither mentioned in the trip reports ). It's a very small area. which could be easily overlooked. Do stay at Arnica Mountain if you have the chance. Marco and his wife, Sylvia, are very welcoming and Sylvie speaks enough English to explain the menus! I would also phone the hotel and ask for the best deal - it will be much better than anything that you will get from the online booking agencies.

May see you there...

Tony.

[kevling]

Thanks for that Tony. It will be late July that we go (kids holidays). Will definately research the hotel. We stayed in Selva a few years back, which is close by. I'll take a look at the trip reports too.

Regards Kev

[Padfield]

I'm unsure on that next possible Nickerl's. As I've mentioned elsewhere, the determinative characters for me when identifying this species are ecological and behavioural - the normal flight pattern is quite distinctive and easily differentiates it from heath fritillary (heath has a stronger flight with more gliding). The butterfly you show looks quite compatible with a rather bright male Nickerl's fritillary (chez moi, both sexes are typically darker than this) - but equally, I could believe it was heath fritillary, a famously variable species.

Sorry not to be more helpful. Someone with better knowledge of the local forms of heath and Nickerl's fritillaries might be better placed to judge.

Guy