Holiday to Germany part 7
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 7:49 pm
continued from part 6b
.... From a butterflying perspective, finding the White-letter felt like my whole day had been rescued
. It was then that I realised I’d pulled in at the top end of the grazed grass field where I’d photographed the courting Small Skippers a few days ago. I thought best thing to do was walk down, cross the river bridge about 300 yards away and go back along the woodland walk where I’d seen the Arran Brown but this time heading out in the opposite direction. At the top end of the field was more Horse-mint; the white asteraceae thistle-like flower (that Brimstone and Silver-washed liked) and Scabious which were a magnet for all the butterflies. As well as Silver-washed there were a couple of Peacocks to focus my attention and camera on .
As I made my way down the field I took in another Common Blue (but no open-wing). In the field a pair of silver-washed appeared to be sparring in their flight, not the type of flight I’m used to seeing where the male loops around the female while she flies in a straight trajectory. I tried to capture it but failed as their movement was too quick.
Next, I crossed the bridge noting that the “enticing natural pool” was being used by a couple of naked ‘Germans’ ... and why not? I was growing accustomed to this sort of thing by now ….
Along the woodland path riverside marjoram(?) grew in abundance and I was soon to get my next treat. In amongst the Silver-washed was a High Brown taking nectar . The High Brown is a ‘large fritillary’ but not as big as paphia and he was having to stand his ground amongst his bigger ‘bully-boy’ cousins as they frequently barged-in on his patch. A problem for me too was that he was on the wrong side with respect to the sun, so getting the correct exposure (in full manual) was difficult. At one point I managed to get the sun behind me but risked falling down a steep bank into the river .... and anyway he just moved on further away dancing from flower to flower 
.
These pictures are re-worked but hopefully I’ve got it correct when I say adippe
(the underside veins look to be picked out with reddish rather than black scales and black cell-spot not visible).
Moving on I came across the spot where I’d seen the Arran brown and lo and behold, there was another one 
… or perhaps the same one just a bit more frayed around the edges.
At this point I took an about turn and headed back the way I’d came. Walking alongside a hedgerow bordering the grazed grass field I was surprised to see a ‘trailing gentian’ I always thought gentians grew as short alpine plants with their characteristic blue tubular flowers pointing skywards so this baffled me to some degree . Later I was able to confirm that it was indeed a gentian, a Willow Gentian Gentiana asclepiadea. 
A few Meadow browns were seen along the hedgerow too, but it was only at the top of the field amongst the wildflower stand where the butterflies were in relative abundance.
It was time for me to leave and meet up with the others. A Oberstaufen I booked us an Italian restaurant (popular in Germany) just a stones-throw from the Aquaria leisure centre and we sat outside on the veranda and talked about our day over drinks and Pizza. “Guess what I got myself today … a White-letter Hairstreak and a Clouded Yellow” I said with a degree of smug satisfaction 
. The response? “we saw a butterfly too dad and it was big with a white edge and it blue spots” I wracked my brains thinking what it could be but I wasn’t kept thinking for long as my eldest suddenly grabbed my phone and moments came back with an internet picture of a Camberwell Beauty. "What" 
.... and then I suffered a Victor Meldrew moment …. “I don’t believe it”, a butterfly I’ve never seen before and they all have! I was gutted 
. And then, just to heighten my mood, the wind suddenly picked up and a rumble of thunder went off in the distance 
… I’m not kidding honestly! Thankfully it didn’t rain.
you win some, you LOSE some
02/08/18. Two days left and then we’d be travelling back. I’d given up on seeing anything more nature-wise and trying to concoct excuses to do my own thing. This time proper holiday was back on the agenda.
So where to next? Some leaflets showed a reptile house and as my youngest likes snakes we took the short drive to Reptilienzoo Scheidegg. Very good it was too, like a supersized pet shop but with much bigger and better furnished vivariums. Lots of vipers were on show and out of doors there were walled enclosures housing Adders; turtles and Sand Lizards (not sure if the latter were incidental rather than captives ). Back in the car-park I spotted a group of whites taking salts with a Mazarine Blue close-by too. The butterflies looked like they were having an important meeting sat around as they were, in a semi-circle on a soil mound . Six butterflies became five as I approached so I had to stay further back than intended.
After that we drove on to the lovely small town of Lindenberg once famous for being the home of the straw hat. There was a hat museum which was interesting and fun with the try-on exhibits plus I got into some great conversation about football and politics with the German chap selling the entrance tickets. I found most German people charming; considerate; helpful; down to earth and willing to talk about all sorts of issues … a chance for them to practice their English speaking perhaps ? (which was just as well for me as my sum total of German was “Ein klein Bier Bitte” 
)
03/08/18. Our last full day in Germany. I woke up early as usual and panicked that this would be my last chance to get some butterflying in. I was still smarting a little from missing out on a Camberwell Beauty so, while the others dozed and lounged around I took a trip to the Hochgratbahn car-park and explored a little on the path next to the WeiBach river. I was hoping that at least an Emperor would put in an appearance, but it never happed (of course). A Silver-washed (what else?) and a Roman snail crossing the dry stony track (why do snails risk their lives doing that) was my sum total.
Having returned to our apartment I found the others were still not ready to do anything so I was off exploring the grassy banks etc around the resort and saw a single worn female Mazarine Blue. Back at the ranch again everyone was still moping . Perhaps we were all a bit holiday weary but until my eldest piped up with the suggestion to visit the town of Kempten, we were in danger of ‘doing nothing' .
So, Kempten it was
. Our route was via Immenstadt so on the way I stopped there with the express intention of getting a photo of a Pike in the shallows where the Konstanzer Ach river meets lake Alpsee. My aim was met although the photos were poor.
Kempten was not too far and we found one of those underground car-parks … this one via a lift led straight into a department store (C&A). Outside the shop was a flowering pot plant with a Small White taking nectar .
This was the only butterfly I saw in Kempten although it was not the purpose of our visit. Kempten, like all the Bavarian towns we’d visited was clean; picturesque (great blend of old and new architecture), vibrant with lots of shops and places to eat and drink at decent prices too. I’ve lots of pics of the town (yet we hardly saw any of it in truth.) so it’s hard to choose one. The picture below shows me outside the Rathaus (town hall) .
So that was it for our last day. Back to the resort to pack up our stuff ready to shoehorn into the car the next morning 
.
One more to go
Phil
.... From a butterflying perspective, finding the White-letter felt like my whole day had been rescued
. It was then that I realised I’d pulled in at the top end of the grazed grass field where I’d photographed the courting Small Skippers a few days ago. I thought best thing to do was walk down, cross the river bridge about 300 yards away and go back along the woodland walk where I’d seen the Arran Brown but this time heading out in the opposite direction. At the top end of the field was more Horse-mint; the white asteraceae thistle-like flower (that Brimstone and Silver-washed liked) and Scabious which were a magnet for all the butterflies. As well as Silver-washed there were a couple of Peacocks to focus my attention and camera on .Next, I crossed the bridge noting that the “enticing natural pool” was being used by a couple of naked ‘Germans’ ... and why not? I was growing accustomed to this sort of thing by now ….
Along the woodland path riverside marjoram(?) grew in abundance and I was soon to get my next treat. In amongst the Silver-washed was a High Brown taking nectar
. The High Brown is a ‘large fritillary’ but not as big as paphia and he was having to stand his ground amongst his bigger ‘bully-boy’ cousins as they frequently barged-in on his patch. A problem for me too was that he was on the wrong side with respect to the sun, so getting the correct exposure (in full manual) was difficult. At one point I managed to get the sun behind me but risked falling down a steep bank into the river .... and anyway he just moved on further away dancing from flower to flower . These pictures are re-worked but hopefully I’ve got it correct when I say adippe
(the underside veins look to be picked out with reddish rather than black scales and black cell-spot not visible).- The Silver-washed were a lot easier to get close to
… or perhaps the same one just a bit more frayed around the edges. . Later I was able to confirm that it was indeed a gentian, a Willow Gentian Gentiana asclepiadea. . The response? “we saw a butterfly too dad and it was big with a white edge and it blue spots” I wracked my brains thinking what it could be but I wasn’t kept thinking for long as my eldest suddenly grabbed my phone and moments came back with an internet picture of a Camberwell Beauty. "What" .... and then I suffered a Victor Meldrew moment …. “I don’t believe it”, a butterfly I’ve never seen before and they all have! I was gutted . And then, just to heighten my mood, the wind suddenly picked up and a rumble of thunder went off in the distance … I’m not kidding honestly! Thankfully it didn’t rain.you win some, you LOSE some
02/08/18. Two days left and then we’d be travelling back. I’d given up on seeing anything more nature-wise and trying to concoct excuses to do my own thing. This time proper holiday was back on the agenda.
So where to next? Some leaflets showed a reptile house and as my youngest likes snakes we took the short drive to Reptilienzoo Scheidegg. Very good it was too, like a supersized pet shop but with much bigger and better furnished vivariums. Lots of vipers were on show and out of doors there were walled enclosures housing Adders; turtles and Sand Lizards (not sure if the latter were incidental rather than captives
). Back in the car-park I spotted a group of whites taking salts with a Mazarine Blue close-by too. The butterflies looked like they were having an important meeting sat around as they were, in a semi-circle on a soil mound . Six butterflies became five as I approached so I had to stay further back than intended.- 3 Green-veined and 2 Small
)03/08/18. Our last full day in Germany. I woke up early as usual and panicked that this would be my last chance to get some butterflying in. I was still smarting a little from missing out on a Camberwell Beauty so, while the others dozed and lounged around I took a trip to the Hochgratbahn car-park and explored a little on the path next to the WeiBach river. I was hoping that at least an Emperor would put in an appearance, but it never happed (of course). A Silver-washed (what else?) and a Roman snail crossing the dry stony track (why do snails risk their lives doing that
) was my sum total.- L'escargot.
. Perhaps we were all a bit holiday weary but until my eldest piped up with the suggestion to visit the town of Kempten, we were in danger of ‘doing nothing' . So, Kempten it was
. Our route was via Immenstadt so on the way I stopped there with the express intention of getting a photo of a Pike in the shallows where the Konstanzer Ach river meets lake Alpsee. My aim was met although the photos were poor. . . .One more to go
Phil