Saas Fee revisited

[Lvandelft]

Very nice series Tony. And beautiful pictured wildlife and those cute marmots. Thanks so much for showing!


PS in the last series, pict. 3 is more likely Solidago, just don't remember which species at the moment.

[Armin]

Tony,
the Ringlet looks like a Lesser Mountain Ringlet (Erebia melampus, Kleiner Mohrenfalter).

[Ragged Robin]

Tony, I love your mountain shots of slopes, wildlife an pretty alpines and I'm so pleased you managed some higher altitude walks in the fresh (if damp) air 

Amy feeding the Marmot with peanuts is a very cool shot 

[Gerdk]

-- and the bird is a Snow finch - Montifringilla nivalis !

Gerd

[tonyg]

Thanks for the kind comments and for filling in the missing names!  

Of course it is a solidago species Luit - I did not take my flora with me, without it the memory can play tricks  I will look it up when I am at home.

Edit:  It is Solidago virgaurea .... ssp minuta according to Flora Helvetica.
The euphrasia species pictured earlier is probably Euphrasia versicolor.

[tonyg]

Eventually it was time to go - no more peanuts today.  Amy held out her hands to show there were none left and we were treated to one of those memorable moments
Passing Centaurea nervosa, note the attractive bracts under the flower, the rain came down again.  Round a corner and down a steep path ... we found we were no longer alone in the rain.  I had not expected to see Ibex, let alone get so close to them.  They took the same path down as we did for a while, eventually finding a route of their own before surprising us as we passed through a childrens play area further down.  All in all the things we saw on a wet afternoon make the point that you should never let a drop of rain put you off!  
Arriving back on the outskirts of Saas Fee the meadows were cut.  A smattering of pink caught my eye, closer inspection revealed Colchicum alpinum, a tiny relative of the more common Colchicum autumnale.  (Three weeks later I have one in flower now at home!)  Eight years ago, when I was last in Saas Fee, I took a grand photo of Lilium martagon in almost the same spot as the two Colchicum alpinum.  The meadows had not been cut then but otherwise it was much the same, we had walked down from Speilboden on a wet afternoon!  As the rain teemed down, my friend Robert waded through the wet grass to hold an umbrella over me while I took the picture   Sadly I only have the slide, did not use digital in the rain in those days

[Ragged Robin]

Enchanting photos, Tony, you really had a good time even if it rained and caught the flavour of the Alps    the local fauna photos are so amusing!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wonderful stuff Tony !
I would never have expected the Ibex to be that tame and stick around in the presence of humans...
I remember seeing some that fled as soon as they spotted me.. 
 

[tonyg]

One fine morning I made a solo breakaway while the others slept.  The Alpin Express lift takes summer skiers up from 7am allowing amateur botanists the chance to explore the heights as the first rays of the sun break over the ridgetops.
Alighting at Morenia (aka Maste 4) still in the shadow on the left of the first pic, it was very cold, the ground at my feet was still frosty.  Places where the meltwater would soon trickle were still frozen.  The plants, in and out of flower, were covered in frost.  As soon as the suns rays reached them the frost turned to water droplets as on Linaria alpina, not long after the water evapourated in the heat of the sun.
On a clear, cold morning the views were stunning.  I have cropped the detail of Langfluh to help you find it in the landscape shot!

[tonyg]

The terrain here is very rocky and much altered to create suitable pistes for winter visitors.  However there is still an interesting range of true alpine plants to be found, all within a few minutes walk of Morenia station.
Cerastium uniflorum ha sperhaps the largest flowers of the genus.  Certainly it is one of the most attractive, compact cshions, liberally studded with white flowers. 
Saxifraga azoides is common in these mountains, seen from relatively low altitudes right up to the high places.
Saxifraga bryoides becomes more and more compact as the altitude and exposure increases.
On a previous trip I had seen many different forms of Saxifraga x kochii the hybrid between Saxifraga biflora and Saxifraga oppositifolia.  That was in mid-July.  This year by early August most of them were over.  A few late flowering plants were found near a place where the snow maut have lain a little deeper.  The hybrids have less widely spaced petals and are usually paler in colour.
The mountain sorrel, Oxyria digyna was notable for its bright colour in this barren landscape.

After 90 minutes of solitude I headed back for a late breakfast with the girls.

[cohan]

interesting to see these plants enduring frost to flower---seems like my growing season 
handy to have the lift to get right up into that alpine habitat!

[Ragged Robin]

Tony, you have captured some wonderful shots of alpines - it is interesting to see the see the ski slopes in flower in the summer and surprising to think of skiing on top of them protected by the snow!  A great looking Linaria alpina - my favourite covered in droplets as if it has stepped out of the shower, thanks 

[ashley]

A fine thread Tony; many thanks.

The S. aizoides you show seems to be growing under fairly dry or at least well-drained conditions.  Was this typical?  The reason I ask is that in northern Sweden this species seems to prefer really damp or even wet conditions such as along stream edges.   

[tonyg]

Thanks Ashley - your trips and the record you have presented of them has made my mouth water ... makes my trip look tame  
The shot of Sax aizoides needs to be put into context.  The screes look dry but everywhere there was meltwater from above trickling through.  The shots of iced over streamlets posted at the same time as the Sax were taken close by.  Also, this was over 2500m altitude which cools things down a bit.  I also associate it with wet places where the plants can get really big.  I have seen it in other less wet places too but never as lush as by water.

[ashley]

Thanks Tony.  It doesn't apply in this case then but where alpine plants depend on water below the surface, particularly those growing in open sunny aspects, sometimes it's a wonder that seedlings can establish in the first place.  I suppose the attrition rate must be high and depend on the season and/or rate at which a taproot develops.