Dolomites Return.

 It was only just a little over a week, from returning from the Bulgaria trip to when I was heading out to the Dolomites again for my 4th tour of this special area.

 I once again teamed up with Luca, a great leader that knows so much about the local butterflies, birds and flora. The family run hotel in the small hamlet of Tamion was where we stayed for the week long trip. The weather during the week was a little mixed, with the first 3 days being dry and sunny, but a little breezy. Following these 3 days we had to drive a little further afield to escape wet weather. However, we always managed to get plenty of wildlife watching in each day.

The first morning was gorgeous and the view out of my bedroom window was as ever extremely special.

The view from the bedroom.

As I have now done this tour 3 times before, I am recognising many of the species, but some are still very confusing, particularly some of the Grizzled Skipper types along with some of the various Ringlets.

Olive Skipper

Large Grizzled Skipper

Large Grizzled Skipper.

The Ringlets in particular were at times very similar. None more so than the Lesser Mountain Ringlet and Yellow-spotted Ringlet.

Yellow-spotted Ringlet.

Yellow-spotted Ringlet.

Lesser Mountain Ringlet.

To be fair, the differences are seen easier on the underwings. It is times like this though, when I'm pleased Luca is about to spot the identifying marks.

Some of the other Ringlets are a little easier now.

Large Ringlet.

Blind Ringlet.

The Fritillaries have also become easier over the years, and I was really pleased to improve on my shots this year of the rare Thor's Fritillary and also a great encounter with the Titania's Fritillary.

The Thor's Fritillary is actually more numerous in the Lapland area where it is a smaller butterfly than where we find it in the Dolomites. It's a dark butterfly, that presumably helps it to absorb heat in the high mountains. Having only seen this species once before I was very pleased to catch up with it again. 

Thor's Fritillary.

Thor's Fritillary.

It was in a very large meadow where one of our group spotted a fresh fritillary in the long grasses. They called me over as they were not sure why the butterfly was behaving strangely. It was immediately clear to me that the butterfly had just emerged from its pupa, and had climbed up the grasses to dry out its wings before its maiden flight. I was also able to point out the blob of meconium that had been secreted from the butterfly. This happens in all butterflies after emerging, and before they take flight.

Newly emerged Titania's Fritillary secreting meconium.

We stayed watching the butterfly for several minutes. It soon closed its wings back while it carried on drying the wings. It was wonderful seeing the intricate patterns on the underside of the wings.

Newly emerged Titania's Fritillary.

Just as we were leaving the butterfly in peace I quickly looked to see if I could spot the empty pupa. It was actually surprisingly easy to find as it was higher up the grass than I had expected. 

The photo below is of another Titania's Fritillary.

Titania's Fritillary.

Shepherd's Fritillary.

False Heath Fritillary.

Southern Heath Fritillary.

Southern Heath Fritillary.

Mountain Clouded Yellow.

Other species that were very special was the rare Alpine Blue and the Short-tailed Blue. The Alpine Blue was high up in the mountains whereas, the Short-tailed Blue was in the lowlands, where we went on one of the days to escape the rain in the mountains.

The distinct underside of the Alpine Blue.

Alpine Blue.

Short-tailed Blue.

In the mountains we also saw several moth species. Some are found in the UK, although mostly much rarer than in Italy. The Pyrausta cingulata is one species that I have searched for locally on the South Downs, but is a particularly rare species here. I have however, seen it a few times in the Dolomites, although I haven't managed to photograph it until this trip.

Pyrausta cingulata.

I have seen the Transparent Burnet at several European sites. In the UK it is now only found in small areas of Scotland and Ireland.

Transparent Burnet.

The Purple-shaded Gem we often get in the moth trap at the hotel, however, this year we also found one in the field. In the UK the only example of this moth was thought to be an import, so has probably never occurred naturally.

Purple-shaded Gem.

The Ghost Moth however is a more common moth in the UK. It was great though finding 3 of these in a mountain meadow.

Ghost Moth.

The Silurian on the other hand is a very rare moth in the UK, only appearing in a small area of south east Wales. 

Silurian.

A few other delights seen included the colourful Green Mountain Grasshopper.

Green Mountain Grasshopper.

A search also gave us the Dwarf Musk Orchid. A tiny plant that only grows near the top of the mountains. This was a brand new species for me, and we were lucky to find a small group of 6 plants.

Dwarf Musk Orchid.

On our return to Venice to fly back to the UK we called into a fabulous woodland walk that follows a river. Although we were limited on time here, we did see many new species for the trip. I must confess, I spent much of the time here photographing the beautiful Large Chequered Skipper. A delightful species that has a bouncy flight, but it can be approachable while it nectars on various flowers along the rides.

 Large Chequered Skipper.

Large Chequered Skipper.

Of course, the Dolomites does have some of the most spectacular scenery. The following images show some of those scenes. As I do not have a wide angle lens, all of these are shot on my mobile phone. Hopefully these will give you an idea of the beauty of the region.

Tamion. Our hotel on the left, with the tiny church on the right.