Alpine mammals

In an earlier post I rashly promised a future piece on Alpine mammals - I like to keep my promises but it feels like very old news so I'll keep it brief, for all our sakes. Fortunately it was a case of quality over quantity as there weren't too many species to be seen but Marmot, Ibex and Chamois were all pretty high on my list.

Alpine Ibex

Ibex are famously nimble around the precipitous slopes of the Alps - but seeing them up close it was clear this was no lightweight

I hadn't seen Ibex before this trip so was hopeful of changing all this when we headed up into the mountains at Col de la Colombiere, scene of two close encounters with Lammergeier. Our first trip drew a blank but on the second, as George and I headed up to a higher altitude, within half an hour a young Ibex startled us as it ran past at speed down a steep rock face.

This presumed male was a real unit - and blinged up to the eye-balls with four ear tags, three neck tags and what looked like a satellite tracking necklace!

An impressive set of antlers, one of the reasons this species was hunted almost to extinction

As we climbed higher we came across another group of three, then a second group of half a dozen. Most of these were tagged for what we assumed was a conservation monitoring scheme. Reading up on the status of the species on returning home, I discovered that, rather like the Lammergeier, Ibex are only present in the French Alps today thanks to a re-introduction scheme after being shot to local extinction in the 19th century.

Typical scree-slope habitat for the Ibex

An incredibly sure-footed animal

The Alpine Ibex has recovered from a low of just a few hundred to over 30,000 individuals with all those living today descended from a population in the Gran Paradiso National Park in the Italian Alps.

Wider angle view of the Ibex habitat

Mont Blanc from Col de la Colombiere

When a planned trip part-way up Mont Blanc via cable car was called off due to bad weather, we pawned all the non-essential organs of our first born to pay for the toll to enter the Mont Blanc tunnel. We emerged skint and blinking 7 miles later on the Italian side of the border to radically different architecture, substantially stronger coffee and even higher mountain passes than we had been visiting in France.

Alpine Marmot - this one appeared to be acting as sentry for the colony

Marmot bolting for its burrow

The road to the highest of these - Col du Petit Saint Bernard, at a wheeze-inducing 2,188m - featured in The Italian Job, and while the switch-backs were impressive, we felt quite safe thanks to the substantial barriers which the Italians seemed to have over-engineered by comparison to their French counter-parts.

On duty again

Native to the Alps, and reintroduced to the Pyrenees in the 1940s

The weather was better than it had been in rainy Chamonix but still overcast, but I headed up from the car park at the Col anyway to check our the alpine habitats nearby. Not far from the car it became clear that this was THE place to see Alpine Marmots - while we had heard them at other locations, we had yet to see them, but at this site there were good numbers, several of which allowed for a close approach.

Marmot fat is coveted as it is said to cure rheumatism when rubbed on the skin. Eugh.

Adult Marmot with youngster

Creatures of the Cols part II

As well as providing some close encounters with Lammergeier, two visits to the Col de la Colombière during our recent trip to the French Alps proved productive for several high altitude species of butterfly. My favourite among these was the Mountain Clouded Yellow, a pallid version of the more familiar Clouded Yellow which we see in the UK, with a distinctive dusting of black scales on the upperwing.

Mountain Clouded Yellow - always lands with the wings closed

The beautiful upperwing could therefore only be captured only in flight

Reminiscent of the patterns made by iron filings with a magnet!

This individual showed the distinctive dark dusting through the underwing

It turns out that continental butterflies are every bit as unfussy with their tastes as our own: we christened a particularly large pile of dog-mess near the Col 'the turd of plenty' on account of the number of butterflies it attracted, including two new species for me: Red Underwing Skipper and Common Brassy Ringlet (the latter sounding a bit like a Shakespearian insult, I think).

Red Underwing Skipper doing what it says on the tin

Upperwing shot of Red Underwing Skipper

Common Brassy Ringlet taking a break from feasting on excrement 

This more discerning Large Wall Brown eschewed the turd of plenty to roost on a rock

A walk into the mountains west of Sallanches to the Refuge de Doran produced a few more new species including an attractive Damon Blue and an elusive Alpine Heath which led me a merry dance around a scree slope before I eventually pinned it down for a photograph. Still to come in future posts: a few Alpine mammals, fun with Fritillaries and some Erebian nightmares...

Alpine Heath - a reasonably straightforward species to identify with the broad spotted white band in the underwing

Closer crop of the Alpine Heath

Damon Blue underside - another fairly easy one to identify

Damon Blue upperside

Creatures of the Cols part I

If the birding was hard work on our recent holiday in the French Alps, butterflying was a bit easier and more productive - we caught the end of the continental heatwave, enjoyed good weather even at altitude, and I saw several species for the first time. Colleagues are still helping me with some of the trickier identifications - oh for the simplicity of the British butterfly list and its 59 reasonably discrete species! So this post, the first of a couple focusing on the species I was reasonably confident about identifying myself, may be followed by others as my tentative identifications are either confirmed or corrected.

Queen of Spain Fritillary, Col du Grand Colombiere

The closest I got to photographing the stunning pearls of the Queen of Spain's underwing

Queen of Spain Fritillary

One of our first excursions to higher altitude from our base near Annecy took us west to the Col du Grand Colombiere, just shy of 1500m. This was a recommendation from Dr Martin Warren who kindly provided some site info before I left - and a good recommendation it was too. Within a few minutes I had seen Apollo, Scarce Copper, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Large Wall Brown as well as species familiar from home in the UK like Adonis Blue, Chalkhill Blue and Silver-spotted Skipper.



Scarce Copper - the first of several new species for me

A view of the Scarce Copper underwing

The first Apollo of the trip was the smartest - but a bit distant for a good photo

From there we dropped down into the lowlands and the beautiful Marais de Lavours, another recommendation from Martin. A boardwalk took us through a variety of wetland habitats but it was too hot for both us and the wildlife it seemed - a False Heath Fritillary and a fleeting view of a probable Southern White Admiral were the highlights.

Adonis Blue was one of a number of species familiar from home

Ditto, Chalkhill Blue...

...and Silver-spotted Skipper - this species appeared quite widespread - more range restricted back at home

From there we again went in search of the cooler air of high altitude, driving up to the top of Mont du Chat, an attractive location who phonetic pronunciation caused much mirth with my increasingly puerile children. I really don't know where they get it from. As well as spectacular views, Mont du Chat offered a close encounter with a hilltopping Swallowtail of the gorganus sub-species which prevails in continental Europe.

The Silver-spotted Skippers (this a female) appeared darker to my eyes than those we see at home...

...the field guide suggests this is a feature of higher altitude specimens - this one a male

False Heath Fritillary at Marais de Lavours

With the heat of the day receding we descended to the lowlands to meet up with friends for a swim in Lac de Bourget. The lakeshore area was too developed to see much in the way of wildlife but for someone who is not much of a swimmer I must say even I enjoyed a dip in the refreshing mountain waters.

This Swallowtail was in excellent condition

Found in very different habitats to the britannicus sub-species I saw in Norfolk earlier this year

Swallowtail

Returning to base near Annecy was a reminder that we didn't need to climb into the high mountains to see good butterflies - there were Brown Hairstreaks nectaring in the garden and I even rescued a Glanville Fritillary from the swimming pool!

Brown Hairstreak - not bad for a garden butterfly

This Glanville Fritillary was water-logged in the pool

I was able to see the attractive underwing pattern as it dried out

Alpine birding

Alpine birding is a case of quality over quantity at the best of times, but even more so on our recent family holiday. We made quite of bit of effort to get into the high mountains, but, with hindsight, probably not high enough to connect with some of the more sought after species like Wallcreeper, Alpine Accentor and Snowfinch. We still managed memorable encounters with some special birds of the area though - in addition to the raptors in my last post, some other highlights are below.

You have to get up high to see an Alpine Chough - but when you do they can be very confiding

Son George and I hiked up from the Col de la Colombiere at 1600m to a high ridge at 2300m to see these

First sign of an Alpine Chough is the distinctive call - even more high pitched and wheezy than its red-billed cousin which we get in the UK

Characterful birds

A pair were scavenging scraps from picnickers on the ridge

On the way up to the ridge we passed through the feeding area for the local Crag Martin colony

A difficult bird to photograph

Eventually captured on film after a close fly-past

A robust bird, bigger than the local House Martins

Black Redstart appeared to be the commonest bird in the Alpine pastures...

...followed closely by Water Pipit

Female Black Redstart

Unable to photograph a couple of Citril Finch which flew past at Col de la Colombiere, I had more success with this male Linnet

Despite gaining considerable height, this was as close as I got to a Griffon Vulture (Col de la Colombiere)

Alpine Chough gather in large flocks on the Alpine Peaks

Yomping up another slope above Col du Petit Saint Bernard on the French-Italian border (more on which in a later post), a Marmot's alarm call gave away the presence of an immature Golden Eagle - the second Eagle of the trip