Re: European Butterflies - A personal diary
Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2023 4:05 pm
Just 19 days later, on 16th June, I was off on my travels again, this time on the Greenwings Butterflies of the Italian Alps trip.
The weather in the Italian Alps had been pretty dreadful since the beginning of May, including the week before we arrived. Accordingly, there were estimates of the season being around three or four weeks behind a normal year! If so, this would deal a hefty blow to my chances of seeing some of my target species.
On arrival at Nice airport at around 11am, we were greeted with warm sunshine. There were mixed forecasts for the rest of the day however, and I was keen to set off early. Thankfully, all the flights for the other 12 guests arrived on time, and I was pleased to find out that I knew five of the 12 from previous Greenwings trips.
The guides for the week were Pete Eeles and Ben Greenaway, and our base for the week was Bagni di Vinadio. Our route from Nice airport took us over the Col de la Lombarde pass, and we stopped three times on route to the hotel.
The first stop was at an altitude of roughly 1400 metres. It was still warm sunshine and we saw a number of species straight away, including Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus), Small Blue (Cupido minimus), Wood White (Leptidea sinapsis), Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia), amongst others. Our second stop was at an altitude of roughly 1600 metres, also in sunshine. We saw our first of many Mazarine Blue (Cyaniris semiargus), Large Wall Brown (Lassiommata maera), Almond Eyed Ringlet (Erebia alberganus) and Apollo (Parnassius apollo) during the trip. Our final stop was at the Col itself, a height of roughly 2800 metres. At the right time of year, the Col is host to all sorts of interesting Erebia and other montane species. Despite the forecast cloud and rain, we were lucky to find sunny spells, and we stayed for around an hour, scouring the place for species. Sadly, it was clear the late season meant very little had yet emerged. All we saw was a lone Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae). Disappointed with the butterflies, we were still all in awe of the stunning scenery the whole journey. We arrived at around 5pm in our super hotel, and had a lovely first dinner. We were all nervous though, as the weather forecasts for the upcoming week were poor, other than for the next day.
The weather in the Italian Alps had been pretty dreadful since the beginning of May, including the week before we arrived. Accordingly, there were estimates of the season being around three or four weeks behind a normal year! If so, this would deal a hefty blow to my chances of seeing some of my target species.
On arrival at Nice airport at around 11am, we were greeted with warm sunshine. There were mixed forecasts for the rest of the day however, and I was keen to set off early. Thankfully, all the flights for the other 12 guests arrived on time, and I was pleased to find out that I knew five of the 12 from previous Greenwings trips.
The guides for the week were Pete Eeles and Ben Greenaway, and our base for the week was Bagni di Vinadio. Our route from Nice airport took us over the Col de la Lombarde pass, and we stopped three times on route to the hotel.
The first stop was at an altitude of roughly 1400 metres. It was still warm sunshine and we saw a number of species straight away, including Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus), Small Blue (Cupido minimus), Wood White (Leptidea sinapsis), Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia), amongst others. Our second stop was at an altitude of roughly 1600 metres, also in sunshine. We saw our first of many Mazarine Blue (Cyaniris semiargus), Large Wall Brown (Lassiommata maera), Almond Eyed Ringlet (Erebia alberganus) and Apollo (Parnassius apollo) during the trip. Our final stop was at the Col itself, a height of roughly 2800 metres. At the right time of year, the Col is host to all sorts of interesting Erebia and other montane species. Despite the forecast cloud and rain, we were lucky to find sunny spells, and we stayed for around an hour, scouring the place for species. Sadly, it was clear the late season meant very little had yet emerged. All we saw was a lone Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae). Disappointed with the butterflies, we were still all in awe of the stunning scenery the whole journey. We arrived at around 5pm in our super hotel, and had a lovely first dinner. We were all nervous though, as the weather forecasts for the upcoming week were poor, other than for the next day.