Holiday to Germany part 8 (last)

[Philzoid]

In contrast to our arrival we were leaving Oberstaufen under sunny conditions . My daughter manned my mobile as she did on the way in.

The route took us on country roads past Isny and somewhere between there and Leutkirch I had to stop as I spotted a group of White Storks foraging in a field.

My daughter navigated me around the motorway hold-ups so we made good time. She also helped me find the Landgasthaus standenhof restaurant & service station, that we’d stopped at after leaving the Ibis hotel, Livange Luxembourg on the way in (and which we were now heading back to). The journey was not as punishing perhaps because the weather stayed fine or perhaps because I was growing accustomed to long journeys . A mate back home had cut me some CD’s from MP3’s I’d given him on a datastick, so having my own music helped: - Alan Parsons; Steely Dan; Mike Oldfield; Steve Hackett; The Doves (of course); Pink Floyd and Rush .
The one thing that I need to mention iss adapting to driving on the autobahn. I consider myself no slouch in the UK but at 85 - 90mph you still needed to judge the timing of your overtake perfectly if you didn’t want to shave-off speed when gaining on the caravan in front. Cars would appear from nowhere in the overtaking lane and all seemed to have that burst of acceleration that my 1.8 Almera didn’t (leading to the cars in my rear-view mirror overtaking me before I could make my own move safely) . That all said I totally agree with that way of driving, you just have to adjust to it (much better than our dire congestion-causing ‘Smart Motorways’ sic.)

At Landgasthaus I refuelled had some refreshment (Bratwurst in a bun) and explored around the grassy banks. This time there were no ‘fancy moths’ and the only butterfly I managed to photograph was a Common Blue.

Moving on we arrived at the Ibis Hotel at Livange ahead of schedule, had time to clean up and relax before heading to the “Il Cherubino” for our evening meal. I had my seafood pizza which was the best of the best meal I’d had on the whole holiday. Not a Paella Chris, but I think you’d have liked it .

Next morning before and after breakfast I explored the grassy margins around the hotels and a little bit further up a farm lane. My first butterfly was a Common Blue, a butterfly vying for top spot with Silver-washed for the commonest butterfly seen throughout the holiday.

As it was grass that I was wandering through the commonest insect were grasshoppers. I’d largely ignored them but had a go snapping this male Meadow Grasshopper whilst waiting for my next butterfly .

The next butterfly wasn't long in coming: my first Brown Argus of the holiday taking my species total to 38 .

Next up was a Common Blue and the best open-wing male shot that I could muster. I like the way the blue forewing venation stands out against opaque almost translucent membranous parts of the wings (which I consider is an aid to identification on ‘very blue’ examples of this species)

Just before breakfast I added a Burnet Companion to the Sandisk

After Breakfast whilst the others sorted out their stuff etc I squeezed in another foray where I added a Small Heath and a Large White, (my first sighting would you believe ?) and my 39th species .

Common Green Capsid on Tansy

So, we set off again and were making good time although the weather was hot as ever and driving a little tiring. Our return ferry crossing was booked for 22:30 but I realised we’d arrive well in advance so I needed to kill some time somewhere. At the same time, I was determined to do a decent stint so I decided that I’d drop into Mons, Belgium at around 2/3 journey distance . During the drive I noticed some of the place names were one that were famous/infamous for WW1 battles on the Western front and Mons was the place of the first major battle for the British Expeditionary Force. Perhaps oddly for that reason I had a curious desire to see what the place was like ……

And the outcome was I wished I’d never bothered . I was driving around in circles on an inner ring road on a Sunday with little sign of life and nowhere obvious to park. At one point turned into three lanes of oncoming traffic on a misinterpreted left-turn green filter light . In the end I was able to extricate my way out thanks to my daughter’s navigation. I’m sure Mons would be a nice and interesting place to visit … on a different day.

Moving on close to Lille (Baisieux) I pulled into a lay-by which was a lorry park. My daughter told me from the phone GPS that our car bisected the border between France and Belgium. Close by was a buddleia bush and on it some butterflies .. all the one’s I’d struggled to get pictures of . Strangely I couldn't recall seeing any butterflies on the buddleias in Germany .
I could see that there was a Swallowtail but for some strange reason after a quick record shot I focussed my attention on getting the Red Admirals and the Swallowtail got the huff, did a big arc fly-by then burgered off . This was totally unlike the 'unspookable' boomerang one I’d got in Cabopino in Spain or even the buddleia bush one nr. La Bastide de Serou in France. Drat As I attempted to get good pics of the twitchy solar-charged butterflies the others were calling me back. The lorry park with lorries; litter; and drivers loitering, felt a bit threatening to them so it was time to leave.

The good thing was I now had a photo of every species I’d seen .

Still trying to kill time we called into a village ..... which was deserted then a service station Aire de Saint Laurent where we spent the next hour (but no butterflies just this impressive female Dark Bush Cricket on a wall).

My eldest checked the Ferry times and found that there was an earlier one leaving at 20:30 ….. still leaving us plenty of time. So, to kill some more time we called into the town of Dunkirk itself (some distance from the ferry terminals). No problem getting in and getting parked this time .. and a nice town too .
We arrived at the ferry port and were able to take the earlier 20:30 ferry. After a two-hour crossing adjusted for UK time and the hardest drive yet: - Dover to Woking, we arrived home just after midnight.

It had been one hell of an adventure and writing this has helped to rekindle it all .

So, butterflies species seen: -
Meadow Brown; Small Heath; Gatekeeper; Common Blue; Small White; Mazarine Blue; Green-veined White; Swallowtail; Silver-washed Fritillary; Marbled White; Small Skipper; Sooty Copper; Silver-spotted Skipper; Map; Ringlet; Essex Skipper; Comma; Niobe fritillary; High Brown Fritillary; Holly Blue; Speckled Wood; Small Tortoiseshell; Red Admiral; Peacock; Painted Lady; Mountain Clouded Yellow; Large Wall Brown; Yellow-spotted Ringlet; (Pyrgus serratulae or carlinae or cacaliae); Brimstone; Purple Emperor; Wood White; Arran Brown; White Admiral; Scotch Argus; Clouded Yellow; White-letter Hairstreak; Brown Argus and Large White = 39 species ... though spread over France/Belgium; Luxembourg; Germany; Austria; Switzerland and Italy… and one less than I got in France/Andorra in one week).

High-points of the holiday?: - Hundle and Hochgrat (‘scuse the pun); some unexpected moth lifers; the Hawfinch and Red-backed Shrike; fresh air; smooth roads; clean and functional toilets and washroom facilities; great beer … lovely towns and cities, friendly down to earth people ….
Low-points: - A parking fine in Oberstaufen; sore blistered feet and sun-burn; One of the resort receptionists (but that’s another story) and some noisy boozed-up German youths returning to the resort late one night Missing out on the Camberwell Beauty

We have extricated ourselves from out timeshare (at cost) and my other half has gone and booked up our next holiday …. for one week in Dinge near Dinan northern France, early August and one-week late August at our frequent cottage retreat in Sibton, Suffolk. It is unlikely that I will be racking-up any new butterfly lifers but the holiday will be a thoroughly enjoyable one all the same . The landlord of the Sibton cottage lets me use my moth-trap there so there’s a good chance I’ll be bringing it with me (if it hasn’t fallen to bits by then … the plastic bowl housing to which the lamp is mounted has turned brittle over the years and is being held together with parcel tape .

Whether I'll be able to take another holiday like this in the foreseeable future remains to be seen. With my eldest going to University next year and my youngest likely to be doing the same three years on, I doub't I'll have much money to spend

Phil

[David M]

...Whether I'll be able to take another holiday like this in the foreseeable future remains to be seen. With my eldest going to University next year and my youngest likely to be doing the same three years on, I doub't I'll have much money to spend..

Poor you, Phil!

I hope you CAN get away again soon. It's always nice to vicariously relive the joy experienced by those who venture into Europe for a bit of 'Premier League' butterflying!

If you're ever in the French Alps or Pyrenees let me know and I'll point you in the direction of a few hotspots.

[millerd]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your travels and everything you saw, Phil, both butterflies and everything else.

Excellent stuff.

Cheers,

Dave

[Chris Jackson]

Great report, Phil, and yes that pizza does look tempting.

Chris

[Matsukaze]

one week in Dinge near Dinan northern France

We have stayed over in Dinan as our final stop on the way home from southern France the last couple of years - the town itself is lovely and has an excellent riverside walk (and good eating at the harbour). The coast nearby is also a thing of wonder.

Exotic butterflies have been a bit thin on the ground, though one place that might be worth checking out is the Pointe du Grouin west of Saint-Malo, where we saw plenty of Painted Ladies feeding up before migrating north, and an ovipositing Swallowtail. It ought to be good for Grayling and Wall Brown in season too. The woodlands look as though they would be great for moths.

[Philzoid]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your travels and everything you saw, Phil, both butterflies and everything else. Excellent stuff. Cheers,

Great report, Phil, and yes that pizza does look tempting.Chris

Thanks Dave and Chris ..much appreciated
Germany might not be an obvious choice for some as a holiday destination but I would fully recommend … certainly Bavaria . One low-point (regret) I didn’t include in my report was missing out (a journey too far) going to Konigsee; Berchtesgaden; Chiemsee and Salzburg which I went to as an 11 year-old on a school trip. Swimming in alpine lakes; visiting a salt-mine plus Hellbrunn Palace with its water tricks and getting scruffy from the silt-laden water under the mouth of a Glacier were all great experiences .... but the one memory that really stuck out was finding a Black Redstart in Bertchesgarden ... such an exotic species for a young budding bird-watcher to see . Recent trips abroad have shown me they are quite common, certainly on this holiday in Germany and also in Southern Spain. One even turned up at my workplace in Addlestone Surrey one winter . Despite that I still get a buzz from seeing them
Pizza was a staple for me in Germany +, and a sea-food one is right up there coming a very close second to Paella .

I hope you CAN get away again soon. It's always nice to vicariously relive the joy experienced by those who venture into Europe for a bit of 'Premier League' butterflying!

A great way to describe it David . Butterflying abroad is very-much Premier league.

If you're ever in the French Alps or Pyrenees let me know and I'll point you in the direction of a few hotspots.

Thanks again David . Perhaps one day I may be able to break away from the ‘relegation zone’ and get into the top six .

We have stayed over in Dinan as our final stop on the way home from southern France the last couple of years - the town itself is lovely and has an excellent riverside walk (and good eating at the harbour). The coast nearby is also a thing of wonder.

I’ve stayed at Dinan twice before (late 90's) on driving holidays around Brittany and Normandy: - one in a mini clubman estate and the other time in a Renault 5TL. It is a lovely town as you say although I didn’t try out the river walk . My partner was my girlfriend back then and I didn’t have much interest in looking for wildlife although I do remember seeing Jersey tiger moth and finding Swallowtail larvae at Jugon Les Lacs.

Exotic butterflies have been a bit thin on the ground, though one place that might be worth checking out is the Pointe du Grouin west of Saint-Malo, where we saw plenty of Painted Ladies feeding up before migrating north, and an ovipositing Swallowtail. It ought to be good for Grayling and Wall Brown in season too. The woodlands look as though they would be great for moths.

Thanks Matsukaze. I will definitely make a point of checking this place out . Btw you mention St. Malo which isn’t far from Dinan but the cost of getting a ferry there is astronomical (and as they only run overnight there is further cost for a cabin to sleep four). My cheapest on-line quote was nearly £900, considerably more than the accommodation . My plan now is to take a cheaper and quicker one to Cherbourg and drive the 130+ miles to our destination. I now have the perfect excuse to make a stop or two on the way and who knows what might turn up

Phil

[Wurzel]

A cracking report throughout Philzoid just a shame it's over . You definitely undersold it that time in a damp car in Shipton Bellinger The key to getting more foreign butterflying in could be 'fly-drive' - it's something I've considered for once the girls get older; fly on a budget airline, hire a car and use that as the hotel

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Philzoid]

A cracking report throughout Philzoid just a shame it's over . You definitely undersold it that time in a damp car in Shipton Bellinger

Yes it is a shame … all good things come to an end
Perhaps I was drawing comparisons with my ‘days-off’ when I was in France and Spain. In France I had an open meadow (walking distance from our caravan), where I saw Clouded Yellow; Weaver’s Fritillary; Short-tailed; Provencal Short-tailed and Lang’s Short-tailed Blue; Southern Grizzled Skipper; Heath and Meadow Fritillary with a Lesser Purple Emperor only a stones-throw away. In Spain a long drive but with lots of places to drop into got me Rosy Grizzled Skipper; Cardinal; Dusky Heath; Tree Grayling; Rock Grayling; Striped Grayling and Southern Swallowtail (fly-by). On both occasions the only thing I had to contend with was the heat. In Germany the heat too, but the main contention was the fences … granted to keep the cows in rather than the butterflyers out . Even up the mountains ‘prime areas’ were fenced off … but agreed mountain heights did bring great rewards

The key to getting more foreign butterflying in could be 'fly-drive' - it's something I've considered for once the girls get older; fly on a budget airline, hire a car and use that as the hotel

That’s something I’ve thought about too though I’m not so sure about sleeping in a car … a cheap tent stowed in a back-pack maybe . Something discuss at the social

Phil

[Charles Nicol]

i enjoyed reading your despatches from the front line Philzoid !! you were certainly taking no prisoners .... sorry, i tend to get carried away when talking about the Fatherland. ahem.

i still have not read section 7... will save that for later.

Charles

[Philzoid]

i enjoyed reading your despatches from the front line Philzoid !! you were certainly taking no prisoners .... sorry, i tend to get carried away when talking about the Fatherland. ahem.

I know what you mean … difficult not to what with all those barbed wire fences and ‘look-out’ posts. I “mentioned the war” … and didn’t get away with it, with my reference to the Hochgrat cable car sound like droning Lancasters (which was purely an observation) but was jumped on by my youngest daughter …not funny dad .