For Saturday the 28th everyone said they wanted to go to Munich
. So that’s where we went … a 100+ mile drive to get there with my eldest navigating again. Prior to setting off from the resort, I snapped some shots of the cheeky juvenile Black Redstarts which were often loitering around the cars
.
- Barbed wire fence: now with added rust
The drive was incident free until we got to the town centre and tried to find a car-park. The GPS map data upload was occurring ‘after the event’ so the car-park that was there … wasn’t there
. Fortunately, we chanced on one after I was close to giving up. The underground car-park although 20Euros for the day was a godsend as we were literally in the town centre able to see most of the sights on foot
.
At street level from the car-park we went straight into a Bavarian restaurant on FrauenstraBe for drinks and to freshen up. When I went to use the toilets, it was clear that the cleanliness of this establishment was not of the usual German standard as evidenced by a hair in the otherwise spotless wash-basin
.
We loved exploring Munich (beautiful city) but there was little wildlife seen to report. A pigeon practising camouflage against the walls of St. Peter’s catholic church (I was impressed
) and a naked German in the park
.
- matching the colour card
Later-on I was determined to see the Olympic stadium (to see it’s space-age (at the time) roof design) so we took the underground to get there but there was quite a long walk through a large park to get to the stadia
. A Black Squirrel (form of red?) eluded my camera lens and despite the warm evening there were no butterflies anywhere
.
- Looking down the Georg-Brauchle-Ring to BMW HQ, Munich
Next morning was
my day, a reward for driving the 200mile round trip
. I was able to do my own thing whilst the others rested up from the all the walking they’d done around Munich. So, first port of call was my new-found grassy bank next to where I’d seen the Hawfinch three days earlier. No Hawfinch or deer this time but I was soon into butterflies staring with Small White and then a lovely male Mazarine Blue
.
As expected there were male Sooty Coppers and Common Blue too
The next butterfly was the real show-stopper for me, a beautiful fresh female Sooty, resplendent in chestnut-red as it attempted to blend-in with the red clover flower dead-heads that it alighted on
.
Further shots were made of Small heath and Small White + a lozenge-shaped Ladybird
Hippodamia (Adonia) variegata but climbing and sliding up and down the steep bank was taking its toll on my feet (new boots not broken in) plus at the top of the bank I was exposed in the eyeline of a farmhouse and I didn’t want to risk a second ticking-off
.
On the way back through the woodland walk where the sunlight penetrated onto the track, was another butterfly, a Speckled Wood
. Like Specklies all over they seem inquisitive to intruders in their territory, this one first alighting on the ground then perching on a leaf around head height as a vantage point.
Back at the resort I had a look around the various apartment blocks and came across a Paper wasp nest similar but larger than the one I found in Cabopino Spain. I think the species is
Polistes dominula and I believe they will sting if their nests are threatened, but they didn’t seem to be bothered by my near presence
.
to be continued
