After 5 glorious days in the mountains with temperatures in the mid twenties we have woken to thunderstorms and rain so it is a good time to post an update on the blog.
I have probably looked down more than up (when I have been looking at all - I am on holiday after all đ) and have scored yet another new butterfly species in the form of a Geranium Argus (brun blĂ„vinge). It is not a particularly scarce species and one I have probably overlooked previously. There turned out to be quite a few of them in an area where there were 6 different species of blue butterfly. Proof that I have previously overlooked them was easy to find as I been in the same area the previous day and not noted them (but had seen many female Mazarine Blue (engblĂ„vinge) flying around which I had not bothered to follow up….).
The six species of blue I had flying together were Common (tiriltunge), Mazarine (eng), Idas, Cranberry (myr), Northern Brown Argus (sankthans) plus the Geranium Argus. I also had some tiny individuals of Mazarine that in the field I thought were Small Blue but my pictures proved otherwise. I also took a picture of a Germainium Argus which lacked the distinctive white line on the underwing and could have almost passed as an Amanda’s Blue based on the one picture I took.
Other good flutterbies were another Large Heath (myrringvinge) and a couple of Purple-edged Coppers (purpurgullvinge) which in my opinion is the best butterfly in Norway.
A trip above the tree line revealed lots of Dewy Ringlets (fjellringvinge) and quite a few fritillaries but the only ones that allowed themselves to be identified proved to be relatively uninteresting Pearl and Small Pearl-bordered.
Birds that have entertained us have included Short-eared Owl, Willow Grouse with young and Lapland Bunting.
I have also rekindled by love hate relationship with orchids but will not bother you any more with that right now đ
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| Geranium Argus (brunblÄvinge) |
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| Idas Blue (idasblÄvinge) |
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| Mazarine Blue (engblÄvinge) |
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| Northern Brown Argus (sankhansblÄvinge) |
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| Common Blue (tiriltungeblÄvinge) |
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| 2 Geranium Argus |
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| Cranberry Blue (myrblÄvinge) |
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| Male Purple-edged Copper (purpurgullvinge) |
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| Dewy Ringlet (fjellringvinge) |
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| Large Heath (myrringvinge) |
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| A Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (brunvinge). I thought this was an aberration but apparantly is just some form of scale defect |
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| Arran Brown (FlĂžyelsringvinge) |
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| There are possibilities for some good dragonflies up here and this Azure Hawker (fjellibelle) is only my third ever |
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| Female Willow Grouse (lirype) |
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| Male Grey-headed Yellow Wagtail (gulerle) and Lapland Bunting (lappspurv) |
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| Very young Willow Grouse |
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| Willow Grouse mum |
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| Lapland Bunting, insect and moon |
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| Short-eared Owl (jordugle) |
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| Lapland Bunting and Bitihorn mountain |
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| Vinstri lake 3 July |
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| And 29 May. A lot has happened in 5 weeks |
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