On Friday Jude and I drove down to the Rhone valley to take a stroll around the Pfyn-Finges Nature Reserve. We’ve been there a few times before, most notably last year when we spotted oodles of wildlife – but then, that was in June. So we were not sure what to expect, though the sun was shining and the temperature was in the teens (55-60’s F).
As you will see below, there wasn’t a huge amount of variety, but there were loads of damselflies. Rather frustratingly, they remained just out of reach for me to get a good, crisp photograph to identify them for sure. But what the images lack in quality is made up for in quantity… 😉
Alittlebitoutoffocus 
Nevertheless your damselfl shots are nice to look at 🙂
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Thanks. I was amazed at how many there were, so I guess it’s appropriate to post quite a few photos. 😊
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Thanks for sharing this gorgeous scenery with us on your walk, Mike. I enjoyed every single photo, did the slide show as I always do with your walks. It’s wonderful that you captured so many mating damselflies. And the wildflowers are delightful, I espec. liked the purple hepatica photo, so humble and brilliant both. Butterflies, bird, moth, horses, so much life. And the mountain and valley vista is breathtaking. Thanks so much, Mike.
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It’s my pleasure Jet. My walk today was completely different – see post tomorrow… 😊
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Love the pasqueflower….
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Yes, I was pleasantly surprised to see it down there. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a purple one before. But there were several others dotted around the Reserve. Although we do have one or two flowers emerging here, things are a lot more advance down in the valley.
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Fun and lovely as always. The flowers are all so cheerful in the still rather bleak not-quite-spring brown of everything else. Do you know what that tower is in #2? It looks kind of old, and it really seems rather odd just standing all alone like that.
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Thanks M. It always amazes me that the most delicate of flowers emerge from all the debris left behind from last Autumn. I’m afraid I’ve no idea what the tower is, or was. There are 2 of them actually, but that’s the easier one to photograph. Surprisingly, there was no Information board, so it’s a mystery. Sorry!
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Surprised when you said damselflies at this time of year but they look like some i’d seen in one of my books, sure enough Winter Damselflies (Sympecma fusca).
The Brimstone if you look carefully is laying eggs so it must be on a buckthorn.
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Gosh, you really do know your stuff, Brian! I had a quick/vague look in my book, but the photos were so poor, I couldn’t have been sure. We saw quite a few Brimstones. Indeed they have even been around here, up at 1400m recently. I hope to get a picture, but they don’t seem to stop. If I knew what a buckthorn looked like I’d stand nearby! 😉
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