My target today was the mountain dappled white,
Euchloe simplonia, one of the earlier mountain species and something I completely missed last year. It is quite widespread in the Alps but often in rather inaccessible places as its foodplant (
Erucastrum nasturtiifolium) seems to grow best on steep slopes where the soil frequently slips. My 'tick' site is a roughly 3km stretch of mountain lane where this plant is common right next to the road.
I arrived at the bottom of the site shortly after 10h00, having cycled 14km already - so hoping for a quick fix! It was not to be. The sun almost showed but it was cold and nothing at all was on the wing. I cycled slowly to the top of the stretch, and then on to an alpine meadow where many blues, as well as Dukes, normally fly. On the way I examined a few plants and found this single simplonia egg, showing the butterflies were on the wing, if not visible:
Over the meadow the clouds glowered and it seemed the day would be fruitless, at least from the butterfly point of view. In the absence of any leps, I decided to continue my occasional photo series, Fine English Ales at Altitude:
Normally, I try to buy local, but I make an exception for beer.
For very short periods, the sun did try to show and every time it did it seemed to get a little warmer. A green underside blue moved into position while the sky was still cloudy, then a Chapman's blue actually took to the wing, followed by an impressively dark female green-veined white:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2013/thersites11may2013a.jpg)
(Chapman's blue,
Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) thersites)
Eventually, I conceded defeat and cycled down to the bottom of the hill, whereupon the sun immediately (sort of) shone. A few more whites came out, including several wood whites, some small whites and an orange tip, and a couple of scarce swallowtails started nectaring on the blackthorn:
SO - I turned round and cycled straight back up the hill.
Cloud.
Down the hill.
Sun.
Up the hill.
Cloud ...
On my third descent, despite the cloud, I saw a single
simplonia zooming from hostplant to hostplant.
On my fourth and final descent, at about 13h30, a second
simplonia stopped very briefly for me (cloudy at the time) and a third posed a little longer shortly afterwards:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2013/simplonia11may2013a.jpg)
(the first individual to stop)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2013/simplonia11may2013c.jpg)
(the next individual, identifiable by a long hairline tear in the forewing)
That was that. Not the long reacquaintance I had hoped for but nice to see these butterflies again anyway.
Before the sun disappeared definitively, a few more blues showed up, including Adonis, holly, little and Provençal short-tailed. Here is a male holly blue opening his wings during a cloudy moment:
And here is an Adonis blue, taken immediately afterwards:
It then began raining and continued raining for the whole cycle ride back down to the valley. There was no point in heading anywhere else, as the bad weather had really set in, so I caught the first train home. There would have been a long wait at Aigle for the bus, so I continued on to Montreux to enjoy a short cycle ride along the lake.
Butterflying is very hard work this summer! But today patience paid off and demonstrated that even on days we might consider write-offs from the point of view of butterfly-watching the butterflies themselves simply wait their moment and then fly and do all their necessary business!
Guy