Day two and a change of venue - this time a journey up the Tinée Valley as far as the Col de la Lombarde or the Colle della Lombarda. This depends on where you are in the car park as the border runs straight through the middle. I noted that we parked in France but had our picnic lunch whilst sitting in Italy.
On the ascent we paused briefly to inspect a 100m stretch of roadside verge, it was absolutely alive with butterflies. So many that, for a brief time, I was overwhelmed with specimens to photograph and achieved nothing. Slowly I realised that you had to concentrate on a single subject and not get distracted, pretty hard as the temperature was on the up and the butterflies manic.
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| Black-veined White |
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| The first Apollo of the tour |
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| Large Blue |
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| More Large Blues |
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| Lang's Short-tailed Blue |
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| Lang's Short-tailed Blue |
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| Lang's Short-tailed Blue |
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| Lang's Short-tailed Blue |
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| Sooty Copper |
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| Scarce Copper |
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| Purple-edged Copper |
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| Marbled Fritillary |
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| Marbled Fritillary |
Then a long climb up to the col, thankfully in a minibus.
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| Well it's a long way up for me |
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| Alpine Butterfly enthusiasts |
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| Alpine Butterfly enthusiasts |
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| Cynthia's Fritillary |
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| Cynthia's Fritillary |
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| Cynthia's Fritillary |
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| Cynthia's Fritillary |
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| Cynthia's Fritillary |
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| Escher's - again?? I was looking for Amanda's |
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| Grisons Fritillary |
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| Grisons Fritillary |
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| Grisons Fritillary |
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| Grisons Fritillary |
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| Large Grizzled Skipper |
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| Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper? |
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| Large Grizzled Skipper |
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| Mountain Clouded Yellow |
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| Mountain Clouded Yellow |
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| Mountain Clouded Yellow |
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| Purple-edged Copper |
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| Scarce Swallowtail recorded at 8700 ft |
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| Silver-spotted Skipper |
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| Silver-spotted Skipper |
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| Silver-spotted Skipper |
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| Silver-spotted Skipper |
Stunning mountain plants - shame there was only time enough to record some of the wide range flowering all over the slopes.
Finally a small meadow adjacent to the river, chock full of Cranesbill or Geraniums - the target species? Geranium Argus of course.
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| Geranium Argus |
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| Geranium Argus |
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| Geranium Argus |
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| Silvery Argus |
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| Almond-eyed Ringlet |
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| Almond-eyed Ringlet |
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| Large Ringlet |
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| Large Ringlet |
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| Purple-edged Copper |
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| Purple-edged Copper |
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| Purple-edged Copper |
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| Niobe Fritillary |
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| Niobe Fritillary |
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| Niobe Fritillary |
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| Marbled Fritillary |
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| Marbled Fritillary |
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| Marbled Fritillary |
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| Forester moth |
Great habitat for Grasshoppers
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