A week in the French Pyrenees

We recently spent a week in a Gite in the Pyrenees with 2 friends. I thought i'd run through the week in order (sort of)

Day 1

Arrived & unpacked & rushed to the nearest bridge over a river & found 2 Dippers, what a great start!

Day 2

It rained almost non-stop all day, a quick dash out in a short lull.

Day 3

According to the news there are floods everywhere with around 120mm of rain the previous 24 hours. Mudslides all over. However we weren't going to sit in all day so took a drive to a place we knew that did good food & on the way found some toads that didn't mind the rain,

we also disturbed this White Admiral (long way off)

& on the way home found a nice spot with a big fly on the cow dung

& highlight of a dull day was a Red-backed Shrike nearby!

Day 4

Suns out! Oh my goodness, you can see the hills all around & there are Vultures nearby, Griffons

& Egyptian

the rivers are still all very loud & busy

& we found a nice couple of dogs who picked us up in a village & walked around with us for about an hour & then went off home

In the afternoon we went off together for a drive to the Col de Somport to see Citril finches.

Day 5

An early morning trip to the loacal baker led to a pleasant suprise as we discovered the Vultures & Kites favourite take-away at the local rugby ground,

& after feeding they flew overhead to the cliffs closeby

They were amazing, I've never seen such big beautiful birds so close. We decided to get there at the start of feeding time the next day. However we went off for a walk & there were a few more butterflies around, a lovely Small tortoieshell

& more vultures flying around & on cliffs

In the afternoon we went to the lovely hilltop village of Aydius & took another dog for a walk (why us?)

She kept stopping for us & inevitably shared our biscuit we had with a cup of tea. We found a great auberge there too where we ate the next night. Still not many butterflies, but it wasn't very warm either!

Will stop there for now otherwise I might loose all this. part 2 tomorrow.

 

Best wishes

Hazel in Southwest France