Post by wollastoni on Jun 13, 2015 16:03:30 GMT
Haute Savoie in the French Alpes, is a paradise for insects, but the season starts later (in July) due to the altitude.
I spent few days there around the 1st of June and it was interesting to see the beginning of the season there.
Around 1600m, it was still cold, around 15°C with the sun, and there was still a bit of remaining snow. There were very few butterflies despite flowers everywhere.
Biotope at 1600m near the Lake of Vernant, flowers everywhere, but the vegetation is still dried (due to the winter coverage during 5 months)
Aglais urticae, very common at 1600m
A nice Geometridae, Semiothisa clathrata, at 1600m
A male of the tiny Cupido minimus at 1500m
I decided then to go to lower altitudes, in the forest surrounded by meadows, above the village of Araches at 900m altitude. There, the season has already started and it was hot, around 22°C.
A paradise for butterflies in Araches, 900m
An old male of Lycaena tityrus at 900m
An old male of Lycaena tityrus at 900m
Coenonympha pamphilus at 900m
The poetic beauty of Aporia crataegi at 900m
To conclude, a strange encounter. Macroglossum stellatarum is a common European Sphingidae that you can easily see in your garden buzzing from flowers to flowers. It is the first time I see a Macroglossum stellatarum who were not around flowers but who were laying on the ground. He did not seem to feed on the ground. When disturbed, he flied to another place on the ground 5 meters away. That behaviour made me able to get good close-up pictures
