I'm afraid it wasn’t a Badger, Wurzel.
Finally the season is waking up. Today was a 40-species day, which would be preposterous in the UK but is business-as-usual in the Alps. It began with a search for Nickerl's fritillary (
Melitaea aurelia). This turned out to be very easy - the species must be at its peak right now and was present in good numbers in many meadows. Nickerl's fritillary is an instantly recognisable butterfly (except where it overlaps with Assman's) because of its small size, overall dark appearance and above all its childish flight! None of the mature glides and twists of other fritillaries!
At the same site were Glanville fritillaries and heath fritillaries, showing off their turns, and a small number of spotted fritillaries. New for the year for me were black veined whites, Apollos and safflower skippers - these last being out in good numbers.
(Black-veined white)
(Safflower skipper)
Green hairstreaks, Dukes, orange tips, brimstones and commas were still flying and peacocks were actually common (though this is a site where they always fly late). A few grizzled skippers were on the wing, as well as plenty of dingies and locally a lot of red-underwing skippers, and the blues put in an excellent showing, with common, Chapman's, Amanda's, Adonis, turquoise, Provençal short-tailed, green-underside and little blue all in evidence. I didn't take many photos because this is a meadow site and I don't like to trample - better just to observe from a respectable distance!
Here is a Berger's pale clouded yellow. I was very pleased with the composition of this picture, with the yellow flowers in the foreground and the background reaching right through to the snow-capped Alps:
For the browns, small heath, speckled wood and wall were all on the wing, and there were small whites, wood whites and green-veined whites all over the place. The first few Apollos were flapping clumsily over the verges and meadows.
I could easily have spent all day there but I had another Melitaea to find, at another site, and storms were forecast for later in the day. So, down the hill, along the valley and off to pastures new.
The sun was hazy but hot at the next site and despite the wind it didn't take too long to find a pristine male Provençal fritillary, subspecies
berisalii. Here he is, taking minerals on the track:
In the wind, he was not willing to show his upperside so I offered him something tastier than mud - sweat - and he readily accepted. I then moved across the meadow to a sheltered spot where he could both sun himself and eat:
It is not unusual to find a Camberwell beauty in June. It is unusual, I think, to find three keen territorial males on a track, behaving as if it were April! Here's the first one, who had a thing about tall posts and enjoyed looking down on me:
(That picture was taken with my arms held high above my head, from a couple of metres away)
Another was defending his patch from vantage points on large leaves and came to the ground quite often. This is him:
All were geriatrics - at least 10 months old by now - but none were prepared to admit it!
In total, I saw at least four and possibly five, with the last two being seen after the storm had begun so I didn't see where they were holding fort.
I saw no Zephyr blues and no southern white admirals - both regulars at that site. Nor were there any ilex hairstreaks, marbled skippers or purple-shot coppers. Given the weather, I could easily have missed some of these, but essentially the story is that it's a very late year. De Prunner's ringlets were still drifting around and this green hairstreak looks in peak condition!
Here is a scarce swallowtail enjoying the mud:
(It's a little unfortunate that it looks as if he's left something behind him)
Other species at the second site and not already mentioned were large skipper, Bath white, red admiral and Queen of Spain.
A few more piccies:
(
Setina ramosa - a lovely little alpine footman related to the dew moth)
(Northern brown argus)
(A beautifully pale Queen of Spain)
(The approaching storm, that spoiled everyone's fun from about 14h30)
Guy
In Switzerland
But more importantly - which beer did you grab? 
I love the Safflower Skipper - simply gorgeous. 
