With temperatures set to soar into the 20’s C (70’s F) down in the Rhone valley, it was an easy decision to go for a walk in that area yesterday. After a quick scan of the map, I settled on doing another section of the Swiss Regional Route no. 36, “The Chemin du Vignoble”, between Saillon and Fully.
As you will see from the gallery below, the route also takes in a lot of the other farming activity which goes on along the valley floor – most notably the orchards and various poly-tunnels encouraging what looked to me like strawberry plants.
Of course I was also hoping to find a few ‘new’ (for this season anyway) flowers and butterflies and I was not disappointed. There were two distinct ‘hot-spots’ where I must have spent 20 to 30 minutes trying to chase down a Clouded Yellow – but the best shot I got was from a distance and hence why pic 21 is so poor. However, as any Twitcher or enthusiast will understand, I was extremely excited to discover a completely new ‘find’ (for me) when I checked the identity of pic 23. According to this Papillons de Suisse website (see last entry on the page) the Chequered Blue is only found in some parts of the Rhone valley, Ticino and a few other ad hoc areas in the south of Switzerland. Now that’s what I call a good day out!! 😊
Alittlebitoutoffocus 
Oh.. so many beautiful and amazing images Mike, certainly you had a good day out there! A good selection of butterflies, Interesting plants and exciting views.
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Thank you Anita. It was a lovely walk. All that’s missing is the sea… 😉
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There’s always something we miss, but at the same time, we can’t have it all 😊
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Yes, you always need something else to look forward to.
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Wow that Chequered Blue is a beauty! That looked a great walk and you have more species on the wing than we do and yes they are Small Whites.
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Yes, I was particularly taken by the way the orange loops around the spots to create sort of spikes. I reviewed the photos on the camera and thought it looked a bit ‘different’, so I was over the moon Brian (as they say) when I found out what it was. And thanks for the confirmation of the Small Whites. 😊
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P.S. Captured a Camberwell Beauty for you today… (Not looked at the pics yet, but I think they may be OK).
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Excellent! Box it up and post it over 😆
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I would if I could! I saw 2 or 3 before that one too. Fortunately the one I captured didn’t fly high and away like the others, but it ‘hopped’ or flitted along the side of the road. I had 3 or 4 different opportunities – until a car came along and off it went.
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I fully understand your happyness when you found the Chequered Blue. He is realy beautifull, but a part of that, I enjoyed your walk through the Rhone Valley. 20°C is a lot, we have about 12°C but also sunny. Thanks for sharing Mike.
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You’re very welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed the walk. I have another walk, from today, to post over the weekend.. 😊
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Fabulous butterflies, all so very pretty! They instantly reminded me of a quote I recently read, “Butterflies are flowers in flight, and flowers are tethered butterflies”. 🙂
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I’ll have to remember that one! Thanks Donna!
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