April started with a great blizzard and remained cold for a week or so; when the sun returned and temperatures lifted, the fishermen took to the rivers, trees came into leaf and the first flowers appeared on the bare alpine grasslands. The most captivating was Lady of the Snows Pulsatilla vernalis with vivid, white hairy…
Tag: Ariege
Red squirrel
Normally red squirrels Sciurus vulgaris hide behind the far side of the tree trunk on approach but this one, near Quérigut was confiding and perhaps more concerned with extracting seeds from a fir cone. The main predators of red squirrels are pine martens. In most of England and Wales, the reds have been steadily ousted…
Griffon Vultures in the Ariège
Vultures seem to appear out of the blue; they are entirely silent and move remarkably quickly across the deep valleys and along the high slopes. Each bird watches everyone else and when one arrives there are soon more in train. At Col de la Core, the gateway to Mont Valier a group of upto 15…
Aston Valley’s Apollo
This is a wild valley only tempered by the hydroelectric dam at the top together with its feeder pipes, substation, lower dam and pylons. The fast-flowing stream runs down the steep valley through dense forest for some 10 miles to Château Verdun. At the furthest most point before the tarmac runs out there is a…
Summer in the Ariège
20th May 2023 The weather is wet and cold and summer is late. There is hardly a butterfly on the wing and the bumblebees and other hymenoptera are moribund on thistles and asphodels. Early spider orchids are still out and there are no signs of spring gentian although trumpets are in flower. Surely temperatures will…
Col d’Agnes
15th May 2022 On the route up to Port de Lers the road runs through dense woodlands to the open ground where waterfalls crash down by the road and woodland browns chase along the fringes of the beeches but never land in plain sight. In a flush by the road, a single De Prunner’s ringlet…
Château de Miglos
8th May 2022 The crumbling Château de Miglos is surrounded by equally ancient, limestone grassland rich in flowers and insects. The steepest slope, down which there is an overgrown footpath, faces west looking up the Vicdessos valley. There is a magnificent view from the small hill above the castle, including one looking south to the…
Above Cassou for the last time…
25th May 2022 The steep limestone grassland above the village has provided endless riches, a fleeting Apollo perhaps the pick of the many butterflies but there was also an array of orchids and other vibrant flowers on this large patch of pelouse calcaire. With the advent of spiked speedwell it is not surprising to find…
Le Route des Corniches
16th May 2022 Meadow clary has taken over the fields around the Eglise de Saint Martin on the small road from Luzenac to Verneaux and on up to Chateau Lordat. On the route des corniches from Lordat west to the villages of Axiat, Appy and beyond, the flora is emerging in the verges and abandoned…
Col de Pailhères 2
14th May 2022 The cyclists stream up the wide road from Ax-Les-Thermes to join the cars and camper vans at the summit; most walk up to the rock outcrops to take in the long views . The road from Ax is improved to cater for the skiers that come in great numbers to the Station…
Col du Pradel
6th May 2022 Coming up the small mountain road through the forest and up into the high pastures, the hillsides around the Col are transformed by a carpet of daffodils. There are also patches of ubiquitous broom, which the farmers are always trying to burn away in early Spring, and a scattering of flowering mezereon…
Col du Fajou
17 May 2022 The mountains above Col de Marmare are crossed by drovers’ paths which run through wide pastures. The grasslands are covered in elder-flowered orchids and gentians, woodlarks and tree pipits sing ceaselessly and the wall of sound is joyful. On the steeper slopes, juniper scrub is filled with territorial green hairstreaks that bound…