www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Anyone reading Guy's diary will have seen I met up with him in Switzerland. Well, I will post a few photos here as time and access goes by, but I was prompted to open with this, which is quite the most stunning Pearly Heath I think I have ever seen. I hope you like it....

Brilliant picture, Paul. It's rained a bit since I saw you ... Hope you've managed to see a little between the showers.

Guy

Yes, it's a cracker. They really are very beautiful butterflies and if they were scarce I'm sure they'd garner a great deal more attention.

I've moved around a bit, including a dash south to where I know Blue Spot Hairstreaks fly.... I wasn't disappointed, although the first ten or so I saw had all been harried by birds and had their blue spots pecked away.... then I struck lucky....

Well, I'm back in UK and have Wifi. A large forest in the Chablais kept drawing me back in the hope of Poplar Admiral, initially in Guy's much appreciated company....populi never did show up, but at least my time in the woods was rewarded with these ilia shots...

Oh my, the intensity of colour on those wings is incredible, I can only imagine what they looked like in the flesh!

Yep, it was a very pretty sight, and there must have been a dozen or so of them around.... but very active!!

Another welcome consolation in the wide forest trails were several polychlorus and I finally managed to achieve a couple of passable photos of this grand species....

Lovely, undamaged specimen there, Kip. You were amply rewarded for your patience.

Yep, quite right David, but they are two different ones, I saw several, and as Guy said, they were emergent, so would only be around for a few days to feed up before hiding away until next year. I was lucky!
Here are my shots of trappi, seen with Guy on my last day ( these postings will not be in chronological order), I was quite pleased to eventually capture these images.... ( above, on the larval food-plant )
( I do have another shot of the female, which although even more rubbish than the above, does prove she was trappi )

A few more Blues from this holiday, various venues...

Provencal Chalkhill, down south in the Drome .... .

Mazarine in the Alps... Large Blue in the Alps... Escher's in the Alps...

Purple-edged Copper remains a spectacular butterfly when fresh, and especially when it sports purple edges, like this one I bumped into at Les Gets... oh, and here is his heart's desire, both were fresh as a daisy....

Referring to Guy's diary. here are my best efforts from the day... a first ever view of the elegant Hungarian Glider, so intent on flying elegantly it virtually never stopped. I don't have Guy's zoom, which would have helped a lot.... but here's are those I managed.....

Those are much better pictures than I got, Paul (though I'm pretty sure three of them are in the wrong orientation ... ). To use my super-zoom effectively I need to hold the camera very steady, and this was not possible when I was snatching shots in a moment before the butterflies flew. You were standing much closer and your camera also performs better in those half-shade conditions. I'm very happy for you - as we set off over the Col I felt very confident you would see gliders but much less confident you would actually get any pictures!!

Guy

Great images, Kip, and very worthy of that decadent smiley at the end of your post!

Blimey Guy, how did I not see that orientation thing.... thanks!...... checked the RAW images and, well, here are the corrected ones... Big self satisfied smile replaced by

Return visits to the woods in vain for Poplar Admiral, gave me a chance to study the Woodland Brown with more time. Just as well, because obtaining a photo was not at all easy. White Admirals were a different matter of course... Finally, this shabby individual turned up.....

Woodland Brown is one of Europe's most difficult species, Kip, so well done on getting images such as those.

Wonderful!

I'll second that. Woodland Brown is not only scarce but incredibly nervous and difficult to photograph.

It has an infuriating habit of flying into dense trees and bushes usually at about 3m above the ground and it never stops flying. We saw over 100 in one location at the end May when it was 30C and we never saw one stop. Then there was a storm and afterwards it was overcast and the temperature dropped to 20C and I thought this might slow them down but, no, they just carried on as before.

Cherish those photos, Kip. I'll just look on in admiration.

Roger

I really appreciate that chaps. It took a long time and I think they just got used to me in the end!