The Suffolk Argus altitude of 2400 metres.
hers was the only semi-occupied house. Along the open path we soon came upon several more Apollos, most of them rather more worn than the previous sightings. One of them was happy to climb onto my hand and in the photo appears to be checking that we were making good time. I thought my day had become perfect. At the side of the path roosting on a shrub in the full sun was a Queen of Spain Fritillary, the first I had ever had the chance to photograph, down on one knee, camera at the ready and, a dark shape passed in front of my lens. It was one of our randonneurs. The Queen of Spain was not happy either and had gone for ever. You would think that a retired Air Force General would know more about flying objects, but then again Yves was a radar expert and no doubt only saw moving objects on screen.
The train arrived and we all piled into one of the open wagons. We slowly rattled and twisted in and out of the many tunnels arriving at Fontpédrouse where we dropped off our four less intrepid randonneurs. On our way down we had seen several Apollos drifting over the line and were entertained by a good number on the flower meadow beside the station. These were not the same ones we had seen in the morning for that sighting was some two kilometres away. We soon arrived back at Thues-Entre-Vaills and all agreed that we should repeat the walk next year.. As I was not driving I could relax and think about Apollos. I have now seen them at eleven different places between 900 and 1700 metres altitude. I know they are present at several different nature reserves that I have not visited. At these sites they are strictly monitored so any variations due to climate change should become apparent.
Continuing along the valley we arrived at our destination the station of La Cabanasse where we had a fifty minutes wait for the train. Above us to the left we could see the town of Mont Louis where the 17th Century fort is still used to house the mountain training unit for the French Commandos and above us to the right the ski slopes of Saint-Pierre-dels-Forcats which rise up to an
After Copenhagen I despair of World Leaders doing enough to stop, let alone reduce pollution levels.
Editorial copy date Contributions for the Summer edition of our newsletter are very welcome and should be sent to the Editor, Peter Maddison, no later than Saturday 18th September. Any piece of writing considered to be of interest will be published and we also welcome line drawings, prints and photographs. Contributions (preferably electronic) can be sent to the address on the back page or by email to: prmaddison@yahoo.co.uk
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