French Pyrenees - Vallée d'Ossoue

Day 4  - Vallée d'Ossoue and the Barrage d'Ossoue.

Day 4 found us up the Vallée d'Ossoue, with butterflies everywhere. First stop was at the Pont d'Ossoue where I found my first Apollo - bit of a disappointment as it was so tatty, "never mind" I thought - there will be plenty more - how wrong can you be?

My first sighting of the spectacular Sulphur Owl Fly was a bit of shock too - a very strange looking insect indeed.

My first Apollo - well past its sell by date

Black-veined White as it should be.

Gave d'Ossoue - upstream

 

Gave d'Ossoue - downstream

Pont d'Ossoue

Large Wall Brown - never still!

Another Pearly Heath

Sulphur Owl Fly

Further into the valley we made another stop where a family of Rock Buntings were active and the daily Lammergeier gave us several fly bys. By now the meadows were alive with butterflies and down by the gave we found another set of mud puddlers - this time Skippers.

 

Large Grizzled and Marbled Skippers

Large Grizzled Skipper

Large Grizzled Skipper

Tufted Marbled Skipper.

Finally a fresh Apollo but not willing to pose

Dark Green Fritillary

False Heath Fritillary

Lesser Marbled Fritillary



Lesser Marbled Fritillary



Lesser Marbled Fritillary

Large Wall Brown

Large Wall Brown



Marbled White



Spotted Fritillary



Turquoise Blue looking for salts

Humming Bird Hawk Moth

Some friendly Alpine Marmots sunbathing.

 

 

 

Pyrenean Saxifrage, Saxifraga longifolia   on the rock face just by the bridge. The very distinctive rosettes take five to seven years to flower and being monocarpic the plant then dies.

 

Late flowering Ramonda, Ramonda myconi  just one plant left in bloom. named after the French botanist and explorer Louis Ramond de Carbonnieres, who was among the first to explore the high Pyrenees.

At the Barrage d'Ossoue



Frog Orchid



Marsh Orchid

Mountain Ringlet



St. Bernard's Lily



Vanilla Orchid