Dolomites July 2008 : From 15th July to 1st August

[ranunculus]

Well folks,
It’s that time of year I’m afraid, when images of the Italian Dolomites flood your screens again and you are forced to don shades to ward off the effects of white rock blindness!
The Bookers are back from their annual stint leading wildflower walks for Collett’s Mountain Holidays (see http://www.colletts.co.uk/) and now two thousand four hundred plus images must be whittled down to a manageable number, a tiny proportion of which will be posted on this wonderful forum over the days and weeks to come.
Our two and a half weeks in these magnificent mountains encompassed the weather of four seasons, the floral might of an entire summer and the unending beauty of these majestic peaks.
We enjoyed snow, hail, thunderstorms, freezing winds, absolute calm and (predominantly) glorious sunshine on our daily treks and Collett’s guests were thrilled by the range and proliferation of flowers to be seen.
We were based, as usual, in Arabba (on the Pordoi Pass), but our walks and excursions took us out to the Marmolada glacier; to Selva Val Gardena; to Vallonga,; along the famous Bindelweig; out to Falzarego, Cinque Torre and Valparola,; through the meadows and screes of Santa Croce; and even through the forests and valleys of Col di Lana and Campitello.
We estimated that the flowers were approximately two (to even three) weeks late in comparison to our previous July visits, due (we imagine), to heavier more prolonged snow cover and a very wet and cold spring.
Anyway, enough of the blabbering, on to the pictures … as usual, there is a complete lack of organisation … they are not, unfortunately, in numerical, alphabetical or chronological order … they are as they come (including the occasional duplicate - of subject matter, but not (hopefully) the actual image)
Many are titled correctly, some are titled in true Booker fashion (does ‘scatterbrain’ translate into most forum languages?) and some may even be wrong (titling is the bane of my hobby and I tire of finding new short descriptions for each shot …  you can only use ’Potentilla nitida rubra - Cinque Torre’ once in 2400 titles).

I hope you enjoy these images and are tempted to visit (or revisit) these wonderful mountains yourselves.

Armeria
 Arabba view
 Anemone scene
 Adenostyles
 Aconitum napellus
 Aster alpinus
 Baby bird : see possible ID on page three by Diane Clement
 Butterfly
 Campanula duo
 Cerastium


 

[ranunculus]

Batch Two from the Dolomites...
Butterfly 2
 Campanula
 Chough
 Chough and gentian
 Cinque Torre in mist
 Cirsium
 Clematis alpina
 Climbers
 Cushion scene
 Desirable location

[ranunculus]

Batch Three from the Dolomites...

Dolomite fungi
 Close-up valerian
 Close-up
 Chough 2
 Campanula duo 2.
 Butterfly 3.
 Excellent gentian.
 Flower meadow
 From Sella top

[ranunculus]

Batch Four from the Dolomites...

 Dolomite fungi 2
 From Sella top 2
 Gentian nivalis and euphrasia
 Gentian scene
 Gentiana close-up
 Geranium scene
 Hedysarum
 Large potentillas
 Lilium martagon

[ranunculus]

Fifth (and final batch for today) from the Dolomites...

Lilium martagon 2
 Linaria alpina
 Massed orchids
 Massed orchids 2
 Massed orchids 3
 Mountain lake
 Orchid extravaganza
 Orchid duo.
 Adorable puppy that nearly consumed the photographer
 Photographer being consumed alive

[Magnar]

Thanks for nice and interesting photos.

[Maggi Young]

Blast it! I knew I had forgotten something.... when I saw Cliff and Sue were back home I should have remembered to buy more sunscreen..... I have a very fair skin, you know 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

You've done it again Cliff !
Wonderful photography as usual ! 
Looking forward to 2000 more... 

[tonyg]

Superb Cliff!  Words aren't sufficient

[ranunculus]

Many thanks for the very kind comments folks.

I took two cameras to the mountains and this second posting comprises some of the images captured on the 3.4 megapixel Nikon 995.

(I still prefer this lovely little camera for macro and depth of field shots).

Across the valley
 Arenaria ridge
 Beautiful dark Dianthus superbus
 Approaching storm
 Beautiful gentian
 Beautiful Papaver rhaeticum
 Black rampion
 Butterfly
 Campanula 2
 Campanula barbata going to seed close-up

[ranunculus]

Batch Two with the Nikon 995..

Campanula very close
 Cushion
 Dark and light Prunella grandiflora
 Dolomite fungi
 Dianthus close-up
 Dolomite fungi 3
 Falzarego.
 Fragile Papaver rhaeticum
 Gentiana punctata in front of Marmolada 2
 Gentianella close-up

[Gerdk]

Excellent pics, as usual! But there is one thing I missed: Where is the barrel with rum which these Bernhardiner dogs usually wear? It seems the puppy is looking for it 

Gerd

[ranunculus]

I think the puppy had the alcohol prior to consuming the photographer ... a canine aperitif?

Batch Three with Nikon 995 ...

Gentian from side
 Gentian and silene
 Massed silenes 2
 Moth on rampion 2
 Nigritella rubra
 Nigritella rubra close-up
 Orchid close-up
 Parnassia palustris
 Pedicularis view
 Phyteumas 2

[Maggi Young]

Gerd, of course the puppy is far too young to have brandy barrel!!

Cliff,  may I just point out to you that without the pic f names in the text the search engine will not pick up on anything.....

[ranunculus]

My apologies Maggi ... I now realise why the missing names have suddenly appeared in so many of my previous postings.
Just another task performed by our incredible administrators.

Is there any way to make this fact known to all future posters (or have I missed the relevant instructions in my haste to post)?