Wildflowers and more on Mont Carrière, Villasavary

Mont Carrière isn't a mountain, it's just a hill no higher than our own village, which is only a few kilometers away. It's known for its wild orchids and we have visited several times, and I blogged about it in 2021 when we visited in April. It was interesting this time to see it a month later, with different plants in bloom.

As we didn't fancy the long uphill walk, we decided to drive partway up the farm track as we have 4-wheel drive. When we got to a place where we could park, we discovered there was another field entrance, this one leading to a tarmac road (albeit a very small, rough lane). It turned out we could have avoided the rough track coming up this way, as we discovered driving home on the proper road! It's in the Faves of our SatNav now. 😀

Looking towards our village, Fanjeaux.

What I love so much about this area is that initially we were walking along beside arable fields on a brown dirt track with long rough grass on the sides, when suddenly the brown dirt on the track gave way to white chalk and the long grass gave way to garrigue vegetation, particularly on the south facing slope - Rosemary, Thyme, Lavender, Curry Plant and much more. The decidious trees up here were mainly Downy Oak (Quercus pubescens) which likes dry limestone soils in a Mediterranean-Oceanic Climate, which is pretty much what we have here.

Fanjeaux from Mont Carriere, a green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela campestris) and a Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia).

As far as orchids were concerned it was a little disappointing, as whilst there had been a nice selection of orchids in April, in May there were only two orchid species coming into bloom that we could find. Below is the Long-lipped (or Ploughshare) Tongue Orchid (Serapias vomeracea).

And this is the Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis). We have both these species in our lawn!

Looking towards the plateau at the top of Mont Carrière, with Fanjeaux to the right and the Corbieres hills in the far distance.

There were tons of Owlflies flitting about, although they are quite hard to photograph as they don't stop for long when they do perch! Keith's photo has a nicer background than mine. This species is called the Owly Sulphur (Libelloides coccajus). Owlflies are part of the insect order Neuroptera, which includes the Lacewings, Antlions and Mantisflies - in my opinion some of the coolest insects to be found!

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Because this is an orchid walk, there were a number of info boards showing different species found here.

Wild Gladioli (Gladiolus illyricus), a gorgeous Barbie pink, though this specimen was past it's best. It was the only one I could get close to though.

On the plateau we remembered there being lots of Swallowtails the previous times we visited, and there were still plenty flying around, this Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) and also the regular Swallowtail (Papilio machaon).

Photo credit: Keith Allen

On the highest part of the plateau there is a 360 degree view and these info boards showing what is in each of the four directions is really handy, naming all the hills and mountain peaks. Here we are looking towards the Montagne Noir. We could see the Pyrenees on the opposite side, but the clarity wasn't great (it is at its best in winter).

This is a really pretty plant - it is Dropwort, or Fern-leaf Dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris) which is closely related to Meadowsweet, another Filipendula. It likes dry pastures and chalky soil.

Rosy Garlic (Allium roseum), a wild garlic of the Mediterranean region.

Another view looking towards Fanjeaux with a bit of the Pyrenees to the right and the Corbieres to the left, and garrigue plants in the foreground.

On our return, once back into the grassy arable area, we spotted a few of these delightful Narbonne Star-of-Bethlehems (Ornithogalum narbonense). I love the stripy buds!

I just love this time of year! We will be away for three weeks in June, going all around the Pyrenees on both the Spanish and French sides, so I am looking forward to the mountain wildflowers and hopefully lots of butterflies! I have one more post to go after this but I will probably go quiet for a while after that.