After a few days of rain and cold weather, such that the mountains were covered to below 2,000m (6,500ft) with a dusting of snow, I decided to take a walk down the west side of the valley to Sion. It’s a drop of 900m (3,000ft) but there are sufficient undulations to rack up a height gain of over 600m (2,000ft).
As you will see from the first few images below, it was a bit of a gloomy day to start with, but the sun soon came out. However, I was just beginning to think that there were very few flowers in bloom and therefore very few butterflies, when I came across a ‘hot spot’ (see pics 13 to 18), which included a first for me – the Cardinal Fritillary. And, just like London buses, where you haven’t seen one for ages, 2 or 3 came along at once. The Dryads were in abundance too.
When I reached the river bed, just before Bramois, there were two Buddleia plants doing there best to grow. As you might expect, this also proved to be a good place to capture a few more butterflies – including yet another Cardinal! Even though they are widespread in southern Europe, they seem to be confined mainly to the Valais region of Switzerland. Click here for a distribution map.
Storybook views! I love the balcony with flowers spilling out everywhere. Great shot of the motion of the waterfall. Thank you so much for this beautiful walk Mike! Really appreciate the escape!
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I recently discovered that I could alter the settings on my point and shoot quite easily, by turning the dial at the front. I never seem to get good pictures of running water, so I thought I’d try the classic ‘delayed’ shot. (I’m not usually a fan of them, but hey, you have to try these things occasionally). And I was quite pleased with the outcome, especially considering it was hand held.
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Lovely walk, love all those butterflies! The waterfall scene is gorgeous and I love the black stone of the family shot! 😉
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I’m glad you liked the photos. I immediately thought of that black stone of the family. It seemed strange that the builders had decided to put that one odd stone in there. I imagine they had a bit of a laugh to themselves when they did it. 😊
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