We've been back from Italy for several weeks but I have only just got around to downloading my photos! That is partially because we both came back with rotten colds, which may or may not have actually been Covid as they were not the same as normal colds - I did do a test but by the time we got around to getting one from the pharmacy, it was 10 days since I had caught Keith's cold and the results were negative. Anyway, it left me feeling drained although I am glad to say we are both feeling much better now.
I found some photos from July and August on my camera so I am sharing those now, before I get back to reporting on our Spanish trip.
I decided to try shooting butterflies in flight, but you know how it goes - you go outside to do so and where are the butterflies? Well exactly. I shall have to try again next year when there are more butterflies around. This summer was so hot and dry that I didn't see that many butterflies in the latter half of the summer, and it was too hot to go out for walks. A bit of a wasted summer in that respect (although the pool was nice and warm, see above. 😀)
I did get a reasonable shot of a Long Tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) in flight - interesting because they usually sit with their wings closed. If you open up the collage you can just see its little tails. The other picture is of a more worn specimen which is lacking its tails and eye spots at the base.
October has been a very pleasant month with temps mostly in the low 20Cs and lots of sunshine. Just before we went away we had an enormous amount of rain which was sorely needed - I think it was about 50mm (2 inches) so when we came home it was very green everywhere which was so nice after the dry summer. There are still a few butterflies around, one of which is the Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) which is below taken on wild oregano, back when it was flowering.
This is a Rough Saddle Bush Cricket (Uromenus rugosicollis) on a garden waste bag. Love its eyes! Also, I've just remembered - I don't have a photo but we found a gecko in the garden - it was on a watering can that I was carrying around at the time! I thought they were only found in the coastal areas so that was a real surprise. Haven't seen one since though there are lots of young Wall Lizards around.
And whether it is the heat or what, I don't know, but I have seen lots of Preying Mantises (Mantis religiosa) this summer. There are probably lots more, but look how well it is camouflaged against the colours of the plant! Often I spot them because they are on a wall, or have just flown out in front of me to land in a plant. If they don't move, they are very hard to notice.
My indoor orchids are doing really well. The Odontoglossom below is one of the fancy ones I bought at the plant fair last year so I was really pleased to see it come back into flower again, although these flowers didn't last very long (about two weeks) and are actually going over in this photo.
This is a Phalaenopsis that came back into bloom for the first time, so I didn't even know what colour it was going to be! These blooms are really huge ones.
My favourite purple Dendrobium flowered its face off before we went to Italy and this time, instead of the usual 5 or 6 flowers on each stem, it had loads of flowers, I think about 11 or 12 on each stem! When we came back it was just going over but has two more flowering stems which have just started flowering!
Three of my other Phalaenopsis are about to flower yet again, having already been flowering for four to five months earlier this year, and my fancy Jewel Orchid (Ludisia discolor) with the stripey leaves (you can just see it in the foreground below) has a bud on it.
I can honestly say that at the moment I have really green fingers where orchids are concerned. 💜 I am being very good about watering and feeding them regularly, and have been repotting some of them, which might help!
But how was Italy, you may be asking? It was really enjoyable and made a nice change from Spain and France. However, the amount of tourists in some places was incredible; I absolutely dread to think what it is like there during the school holidays! It was also very green everywhere which was surprising and the weather, whilst sunny, was very humid which wasn't so nice. As for the Roman sites we visited, they are out of this world. You'll have to wait until I finish blogging about our earlier Spanish travels first though! 😀
We drove through the Regional Natural Park of the Baronnies Provencales and stopped for a wonderful walk through the Gorges de Méouge.
We crossed over via this medieval bridge from the C14th or C15th and took a path on the other side from the road.
I did see the occasional butterfly but I'm not sure what this is - possibly an Adonis Blue due to the black marks along the white edge. Could be a Common Blue though!
At first we walked along at the river level. The water was so lovely and clear and there were the occasional people sunbathing and even wallowing in the water where there was a deeper pool. Bet the water was cold and as you can see from my fleece, whilst the air wasn't actually cold, I certainly wouldn't have been sunbathing!
Our path then went higher up and was a bit dodgy in places as it was quite narrow and there was a rather long drop down! Even though I'm mostly OK with heights now, it did worry me a bit, mostly because my balance is not good due to the neuropathy in my feet, and I have fallen a few times so I have to be very careful.
I had a fall due to skidding on an acorn once in Spain!! I felt like one of those cartoon characters that continues to run once out over the cliff edge then arms and legs are whirring around in mid air - that was me until I thought, all in this second that seemed to last for ages, I will fall towards this stone wall on my right to stop myself landing completely on the floor. I got grazed and a bit bruised but was OK. Poor K got shouted at though for not catching me!
The first hints of autumn colour.
We then came down to river level again and crossed over it via a footpath bridge, and went back up to the road.
Looking back to the medieval bridge again.
On the way back to where we had parked we walked along beside the road.
It was a really lovely walk with little signs of autumn appearing here and there, although the real colours won't appear until October/November.
We saw a spot suitable for eating our packed lunch down by the stream so I managed to scramble down the bank to sit on the rocks (note my blow up cushion, which I take everywhere! I still can't sit on hard things).
This is a Lackey Moth (Malacosoma neustria) caterpillar.
This picture shows where glaciers were 25,000 years ago, and you can see where we walked - from the Bains (thermal baths) of Llo, up the river valley, then around and over the hill where St Feliu is marked, then a steep slope down to the top of the village. You'll need to click on the photo to see the details.
This Pink was very bright and pretty though I have no idea what it is as there are umpteen species of wild Dianthus in Europe.
Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea).
The view. There was the worst haze I have ever seen - there should be mountains across the valley there! Yet we were in lovely warm sunshine so apart from the lack of views, it didn't matter.
Possibly a Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata). It has spotty leaves.
Keith is very good at taking photos of me with my eyes closed! 😀
Broad-leaved Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza majalis)
My favourite flower of the day was this Black-eyed Heron's Bill (Erodium glandulosum). Erodiums are related to the Cranesbill Geraniums, but much smaller plants.
Houseleeks, one of the host plants of the Apollo butterfly, along with sedums. The one on the right and bottom is the Cobweb Houseleek (Sempervivum arachnoideum). The other one that is flowering I am not sure but could be the Common Houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum).
We decided not to hike up this steep hill to the remains of the chapel called St Feliu, which you can just see at the top. We wouldn't have had a better view up there due to the haze.
Another Fritillary that I can't ID. Without pictures of the underwings, Fritillaries are very difficult to ID. This might actually be the same species as the unknown one in the previous post.
Another photo by Keith - this time it's a Robber Fly with prey of Provence Orange Tip butterfly.
The only part of the walk that I didn't like was the very steep descent back to Llo, and I thank goodness that I had my alpine stick to help. I find steep slippery slopes terrifying - the last thing I want to do is land on my bum! 😱
We came out at the top of the village. I just love this kind of old rounded slate tile that is still seen here and there in old villages in the mountains.
Down at the bottom of the village with the old ruin of La Tour del Vacaro in view on a hillside.
Back to where we parked near the Thermal Baths. Our route started off to the right out of this picture.
Well what a day! Other species of butterfly seen but not photographed:
Speckled Wood
Provence Orange Tip
Orange Tip
Black Veined White
Large White
Comma
Spanish Gatekeeper
Brimstone
Cleopatra
Clouded Yellow
Painted Lady
Red Admiral
White Admiral (or Southern White Admiral)
Small Heath
Wood White
Total approx 26 species for the day. 💜 The good thing is that this place is only 2.5 hours from home, so I certainly want to come back again, though I would like to walk further along the paved road towards the refuge next time.
The next day we went home, via Villefranche de Conflent, another Vauban citadel not far from Mont Louis. I don't have any great photos from there so I am winding up this travelogue with a final photo of me with a very strangely presented chicken kebab!!!
I hope you have enjoyed coming along on our travels with us. Many thanks to those of you who comment and let me know, or like on facebook.
This was the last full day of our holiday, and it was perfect. So perfect, it made up for the not so good weather during the first couple of weeks, and the lack of interesting fauna and flora.
We headed to Llo, where I had read about a circular gorge walk that sounded interesting and just about the right length for me (about 7km/4 miles).
We followed a quiet paved road which lead uphill, but not steeply. In any event, there was so much stopping to look at the wildflowers and butterflies that the uphill wasn’t a problem!
The first butterfly I saw was this one below, one I’d never seen before. It was perched on one of its host plants, a Cranesbill Geranium. The sides of the road had lots of large flowered Cranesbills along it, not something I see very often in the wild.
Alpine Saxifrage (Saxifraga paniculata)
Geranium Argus butterfly (Eumedonia eumedon) * (a lifer!)
Either Common Spotted (Dactylorhiza maculata subsp. fuchsii) or Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata). I can’t tell the difference and as you will see, I saw many that are one or the other (or indeed, something else!). The ones where I took photos of the leaves had spotty leaves.
Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issoria lathonia)
All along the way we walked beside this mountain stream, the Segre.
Above and below: either Heath Spotted or Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza species)
Yet more lifers! I saw five on this day! Asterisk denotes a lifer.
Iberian Marbled White (Melanargia lachesis) *
Pearly Heath (Coenonympha arcania) *
Unknown Fritillary
Round-leaved Restharrow (Ononis rotundifolia). I thought this was a delightfully pretty plant.
Apollo (Parnassius apollo). This is the butterfly we have been longing to see for years. It’s not a lifer as we saw some in the Jura mountains above Geneva more than 20 years ago, but we weren't into photography much back then, and didn’t have a digital camera at that time, which helps i.e. taking loads of pics! There were tons of Apollos flying about along this road and up the gorge banks. 💜
These are Keith’s images, as mine were not so close up.
Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia).
Piedmont Ringlet (Erebia meolans) * This butterfly took a liking to K’s foot, and jumped onboard to drink some of his sweat!
Unknown Blue butterflies. I'm not sure if they are the same species though they look similar. Possibly Amanda's Blue?
Alpine Saxifrage (Saxifraga paniculata)
Below is the only building we came across, a farmhouse called Mas Patiras.
Large Wall Brown (Lasiommata maera) * Slightly larger and lighter than the regular Wall Brown.
We came to where we turned off the paved road at a bridge and looked around for somewhere around the stream to have our picnic lunch. The rest is in the next post.
Relief map showing the Cerdagne and the places that we went to. Not marked is Llivia and its hill, where we went in the last post, bottom left.
