Die Mosel (8th August)

Our third full day in Germany.  I decided to make the long bike ride down to the Mosel (a river flowing through some stunning scenery and rocky terrain.  I was hoping to see Hoopoe, Wryneck and Rock Bunting but my aims were a little too high and unfortunately I didn't see any of the three species.  The bike ride their was probably more productive with a total of 10+ Black Redstarts seen en-route, 3 Stonechats (a species I really wasn't expecting at an inland site nearly 350km from the coast), 1-2 RED-BACKED SHRIKES and 1 Red Admiral.  Best of all were 2 new species of butterfly, 1♂ LARGE COPPER and 7+ PALE CLOUDED YELLOWS (still need to get a positive ID on this one)!  Both brilliantly coloured species, yet the latter was a very difficult one to positively ID due to two similarly marked confusion species.  The vineyards were the equivalent of mono-cultural fields and bird were thin and far between.  Only 3 Black Redsarts were of note.  All the same, butterflies took the lime-light and included 2 new lifers, PAINTED LADY and BROWN HAIRSTREAK.  Other commoner species were Wall Browns, Green-veined Whites, Small Whites and 1 Small Tortoiseshell.
 

Pale Clouded Yellow

male Large Copper

Jersey Tiger Moth

the vinyards

Wall Brown

Painted Lady

Brown Hairstreak

fish species in Die Mosel

view over Die Mosel

unIDed butterfly species