Jason Sargerson

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:04 am

I have not seen many butterflies so far this year - the occasional Brimstone, Small White, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell.

There was a nice Peacock taking nectar on my Pear tree a week or so ago, the first time I have seen this.

Yesterday I spotted a Holly Blue in the garden. I do find Holly Blues difficult to photograph - the camera doesn't like to focus on the shimmering blue for some reason. However, this one (a female) obligingly opened its wings for an upper-side photo for a change.

David M · Post by **David M** » Tue Apr 26, 2022 9:34 pm

I agree that Holly Blues (particularly females) are a challenge to photograph, Jason.

There seems to be a 'shift' in blue between the forewings and the hindwings which is tricky to even out on an image.

Lovely to have them around though.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Sun May 22, 2022 6:44 pm

My website has been restored now. It has 7 books, 5 magazines and 2 DVDs all worth exploring.

If you are visiting Switzerland, then the railway books may be useful as well as the butterfly books.

There are many butterfly sites in Switzerland reachable by train (use a Swiss Travel Pass).

However, there are some that can only be reached by train including, Alp Grum (Graubunden), Erdmannlistein near Bremgarten (Aargau), Combe Tabeillon (Jura), Kleine Scheidegg and Murren (Bern).

See photos attached.

David M · Post by **David M** » Mon May 23, 2022 10:47 am

Some beautiful scenery there, Jason, and Europe, finally, is opening up to travel again so we once again have the opportunity to see it in person.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 9:24 pm

I have just returned from my first trip to Switzerland in almost 3 years (last time August 2019).

On the first day, the weather was not very promising where I was staying, so I headed west to Geneva. Unfortunately, for some reason, I pulled a muscle in my right calf before setting off on my first site visit. So I was hampered in my walking, limping for most of the holiday!!

From Geneva I headed to La Plaine and walked slowly to the Allondon Reserve. There were limited butterflies - I found White Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and a very worn Marbled Fritillary. So returning to the railway station I took the train to Russin. On a log near the reserve sign I saw a tortoiseshell - on getting closer, it flew up into a tree - I took a long distance shot - I think it is Large Tortoiseshell - scalloped forewing. Other butterflies included Heath Fritillary, Adonis Blue and Silver-studded Blue.

David M · Post by **David M** » Fri Jun 10, 2022 4:48 am

Sorry to hear you suffered that muscle injury, Jason. Bloody awful to happen on your first day overseas in three years!!

Hope things improved for you during the course of the trip.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Fri Jun 10, 2022 8:08 pm

Thanks for the sympathy David - it is only just improving now I am at home.

On the second day of my holiday the forecast was cloudy across Switzerland, so I opted for a rail trip to Luzern, then on the Voralpen Express to Rapperswil.

Of course by the time I had reached Luzern it was gloriously sunny. They have some huge 3 section trolleybuses in Luzern. Mount Pilatus and Lake Luzern were in good view from the train.

At Rapperswil, I walked slowly uphill to the castle. There is a good view over Lake Zurich and the causeway.

At the rear there is a deer park and Fallow Deer feeding in the grounds. I had lunch and returned to Brig via Zurich.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Sat Jun 11, 2022 10:19 pm

On the third day of my holiday in Switzerland the forecast was for sunny weather in the Rhone Valley.

I arranged to meet up with Gyorgy Liptovszky who now lives in Switzerland. He took me in his car from Martigny to two sites near Martigny - one site is good for Iolas Blue and Cardinal, the other site is a vineyard near the Rhone. As I was not walking well, I could not have made this trip on my own.

We first went to the Cardinal site - unfortunately it was not as sunny as predicted and also most of the Red Clover the Cardinal likes was past its best - the season has been early. We did manage to locate Bladder Senna for the Iolas Blue and had some short sightings. Other key butterflies were: Turquoise Blue, Small Blue, Painted Lady and Queen of Spain Fritillary. On walking back to the car we had our only sighting of Cardinal - on Tufted Vetch - one photograph only.

At the vineyard site there didn't appear to be much flying, but gradually we found some butterflies. The key species were Purple-shot Copper, Silver-washed Fritillary (early), Comma and Idas Blue. There were some Heath Fritillaries mud puddling, Gyorgy got quite excited because they could be Provencal Fritillary - still waiting for confirmation.

We returned to the Cardinal site in the afternoon, Gyorgy got some good photos of Iolas Blue egg laying. Other butterflies included Green-underside Blue and Black-veined White.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Sun Jun 12, 2022 6:17 pm

On the fourth day of my holiday the forecast was not very good. I took a chance and went to Chatelard Frontiere on the Mont Blanc Express.

It was raining gently and sunny when I arrived. Fortunately the rain stopped and it was sunny for about 30 minutes.

I found the Duke of Burgundy near the Bee hives as usual - very worn, so late again. There were a lot of Apollos flying and also Almond-eyed Ringlet.

I also spotted Purple-edged Copper and Silver-studded Blue before it clouded over. I headed back to the railway station, where it poured down in a heavy lightning storm until I got the train back to Martigny. It rained all the way to Martigny and it was still raining when I reached Leuk. So I continued to Visp, bought a sandwich and looked back to Leuk - sunny possibly - so headed back to Leuk.

At Leuk I found Adonis Blue, Common Blue, Idas Blue, Large Skipper, Red-underwing Skipper and Marbled Fritillary. Not too bad for a poor weather day.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 9:40 pm

On the fifth day of my holiday I arranged to meet with Gyorgy Liptovszky again.

He suggested going to the Jura - to Le Brassus to look for Violet Copper.

I took the train from Brig to Morges and then to Biere where Gyorgy picked me up in his car.

We went over the pass to Le Brassus. The first site we visited had some False Heath Fritillaries and Small Heath. Gyorgy spotted only one Violet Copper.
There were a lot of biting insects, so we moved on to the second site nearer to France, by the L'Orbe river. This was very promising. There were Purple-edged Copper euridice and some Violet Coppers. I took some photos and video of the Violet Coppers, not realising the the browner versions were actually the females. There did not seem to be much interaction between the males and females - the breeding season must have finished. There was plenty of Common Bistort (Polygonum bistorta) at both sites, however, the Violet Coppers seem to prefer the foliage to the flowers.

Gyorgy took me back to Nyon and I took the train back to Brig.

selbypaul · Post by **selbypaul** » Tue Jun 14, 2022 4:52 pm

A great selection of butterflies already. Look forward to reading about the rest of your trip!

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Tue Jun 14, 2022 6:35 pm

Thanks Paul, I managed to see some good butterflies, although didn't get good photos of some!

On the last and sixth day of my holiday, the weather was not good in the morning, so headed to Montreux and Aigle to see the railways.

In the afternoon I headed back to Leuk. Here the new butterflies included Queen of Spain Fritillary and Bath White that I missed last time.

Other butterflies were: Common Blue, Adonis Blue, Idas Blue, Marbled Fritillary and Marbled White.

David M · Post by **David M** » Thu Jun 16, 2022 5:52 am

Good to see you had a productive trip, Jason. Those Violet Coppers were surely the highlight?

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 11:13 am

Yes David, the Violet Coppers were the highlight of my first trip to Switzerland.

I returned from my second trip to Switzerland last Wednesday (6th July). I felt poorly on the way back, was definitely poorly on the Thursday and tested positive for Covid on the Friday. Still positive on Sunday (yesterday), but feeling better. Very disappointing to have caught Covid in Switzerland.

On the first day of my trip (Thursday 30th June), the morning forecast was reasonable, so headed for Murren in the Bernese Oberland. It was clouding over when I arrived, but walked along the railway to my usual spot and found Apollo, Black-veined White, Dark Green Fritillary (no High Brown Fritillaries I think), Heath Fritillary, False Heath Fritillary, Large Wall Brown, Mazarine Blue, Titania's Fritillary, Chalkhill Blue and Painted Lady. I took only one photo of a Ringlet - Bright-eyed Ringlet, thinking I would take others later - must do better at Ringlets - but I don't think I have progressed.

I would normally have walked through the village and gone on the funicular to Allmendhubel, but it was looking like rain and I was still not walking very well. I sat in the train back to Grutschalp and it poured with rain, so returned via Interlaken and Spiez to Brig.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Tue Jul 12, 2022 8:34 pm

On the second day of my holiday (Friday 1st July) the morning forecast was for cloud and rain, so I headed to Aigle to look at the railways. By lunch time it had fined up in the Rhone Valley and I visited Leuk (must be the sunniest and warmest place in Switzerland). I found Scarce Swallowtail almost immediately nectaring on Viper's Bugloss, its favourite flower at Leuk. I was pleased to find Chequered Blue - relatively late in the season, for the first time since 2015. Other key butterflies at Leuk were Marbled White, Bath White, Dingy Skipper and Provencal short-tailed Blue.

I left Leuk about 1300, headed to Visp and then on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn to Tasch where it was forecast sunny. At Tasch there was a good showing of Scarce Coppers, Almond-eyed Ringlets, Large Ringlets and Heath Fritillaries. Other Fritillaries included Spotted, Queen of Spain, Knapweed and Niobe (eris form with yellow spots). Apollo and Black-veined White were found and the Blues included Silver-studded and Chalkhill.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Wed Jul 13, 2022 7:25 pm

On the third day of my holiday (Saturday 2nd July) I went to Lauenensee in the Bernese Oberland. This involves a round trip by rail from Brig to Spiez to Zweisimmen to Gstaad, bus from Gstaad, then train on to Montreux and back to Brig. The views from the train are excellent on a sunny day. (Golden Pass route).

Lauenensee is a spectacular place with waterfalls, mountains and the lake and rivers. However, the main problem for me is the biting insects - I think I will only visit here every 2 or 3 years, as all the butterflies I see can be seen elsewhere. I did manage to find several Scarce Large Blues - but no Dusky Large Blues and no Coppers (disappointing). There were plenty of Lesser Marbled Fritillaries and one worn Titania's Fritillary. Arran Brown appears to be the main ringlet species. Other key species were Black-veined White, Silver-studded Blue, Ringlet and Comma.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 1:31 pm

On the fourth day of my holiday (Sunday 3rd July) I went by bus to Mattmark (Stausee Mattmark), then returned to Stalden, where I caught the train back to Tasch for a second visit.

Mattmark is above 2000m, so I expected to see some high mountain butterflies, although these are more difficult to photograph as they are smaller and more flighty. The day was very good, hardly any wind and sunny. The right hand path above the reservoir is very good for butterflies, it is protected by an overhang and there is a gully and verge with plenty of flowers. I was very pleased with quite a few Grison's Fritillary, Purple-edged Copper eurydame, Alpine Heath, Marbled Ringlet and Swiss Brassy Ringlet. Other Fritillaries included Niobe and Mountain (thin black markings). There were Scarce Copper and Sooty Copper subalpina. Blues included Mazarine Blue and Alpine Blue. The Apollo I saw turned out to be Small Apollo - faint red marking on forewing edge and also striated antennae. I usually see some Skippers, but didn't record any for some reason.

At Tasch I was pleased to see some new species for the trip, including Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Great Sooty Satyr. As I was walking back along the track, I usually walk on the verge to protect my legs and was amazed to find Blue Spot Hairstreak and Purple-shot Copper. The other regulars were Knapweed Fritillary, Silver-studded Blue, Scarce Copper, Almond-eyed Ringlet and Large Ringlet.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Sat Jul 16, 2022 8:02 pm

On the fifth day of my holiday (Monday July 4th), it was pouring with rain as I walked to the railway station in Brig.

I went to Realp to see the Steam train set off for the Furka Pass. It gradually stopped raining as the morning went on.

I returned to Brig and went on to Leuk - sunshine of course. I saw Chequered Blue again, Provencal Short-tailed Blue and Queen of Spain Fritillary.

Other typical butterflies were Common Blue, great Sooty Satyr, Bath White and Scarce Swallowtail.

jasonsargerson · Post by **jasonsargerson** » Sun Jul 17, 2022 6:23 pm

On the last day of my holiday in Switzerland (Tuesday 5th July), I went to Chatelard Frontiere on the French border. Here there is usually a good range of Fritillaries and other favourites such as Apollo, Black-veined White and Large Wall Brown. I didn't see a Swallowtail though. The Fritillaries included Silver-washed, Marbled, Heath, False Heath, High Brown and Niobe.

After visiting Chatelard, I returned to the Rhone valley and to Leuk. New butterflies here were Speckled Wood and a Southern White Admiral. The Southern White Admiral did two fly-pasts, but did not settle, so unfortunately no photo. Also seen were Scarce Swallowtail, Provencal Short-tailed Blue, Red Admiral and Bath White.