It was a beautiful, sunny day, though, and butterflies were flying, if not in great numbers. New for the year were Glanville fritillaries, including one rather striking melanic individual:
Here is a normal one:
Also new for the year was de Prunner's ringlet. I saw many drifting over the meadows and rough slopes but only one actually stopped where I could get a (poor) shot of it:
Chequered blues were out in good numbers again ...
... and there was the usual complement of grizzled and dingy skippers, various whites and yellows, small coppers, green hairstreaks, walls and small heaths:
(southern grizzled skipper)
(small copper)
I had intended to cycle down to a site in the Visp Valley but I could see, looking across to the road I would normally take, that a landslide had made it impassable. If I took the main road instead, I would have to go through a long tunnel and I hadn't brought my bike lights, so I waited for the train. Unfortunately, for a second time in the same day, there was trouble on the rails and my train was delayed, so I decided to cycle down anyway, and just walk through the tunnel. But it turned out I couldn't even access the road, as the minor road leading to it was blocked with fallen trees. So back to the station and an hour's wait for the next train. I got off that at Stalden, intending to continue by bike, and then AGAIN found my way blocked in every direction by the aftermath of the weather:
So back onto the train, and then a cycle ride back up the valley to where I wanted to be!
Once again, it was carnage. I got to my destination, but not without clambering over many more trees, carrying the bike and Minnie:
It was worth it, though. I arrived in the heat of the afternoon, so things were very active, but there were some treats. Provençal short-tailed blues are suddenly common, and one stopped at mud allowing photographs:
There were lots of Camberwell beauties around, some looking well past their prime:
Here are a couple of wood whites doing that thing they do, that never seems to go anywhere but is wonderful to watch:
By now there was quite a wind blowing and photographs were difficult. Here is a female Eastern Bath white ...
... and here a male:
Then the trek back over the fallen trees to Visp, where I was able to buy a few beers for the train home!
I hadn't brought any beers with me because I had expected a long, steep cycle ride down the Val d'Hérens and that's sometimes pretty scary even without beer.Guy
Mind you there must have been a little consolation in sitting back and enjoying a beer or three 
