Wengen: Swiss Alps

1st - 5th July 2025

A short trip to the Bernese Oberland with a view to possibly returning in 12 months’ time for a longer stay. This is a popular location for finding truly alpine butterflies at elevations above 1500m.

Tuesday 1^st July: We took the train from Basel to Berne and then on to Lauterbrunnen at which point we changed onto a cog-wheel train that takes you up to the car free town of Wengen. While we waited for our accommodation to be prepared we took a walk around the picturesque town of Wengen where we immediately spotted some butterflies including Arran Brown, Common Ringlet, Mazarine Blue, Comma, Marbled White, Essex Skipper and Meadow Brown.

Arran Brown

Mazarine Blue

Comma

Wednesday 2^nd July: For our first full day we decided to take the early train up the mountain to Kleine Scheidegg and then spend the morning walking across the top towards Grindelwald. Our first butterfly of interest was a fresh-looking Sooty Copper followed by a small colony of Blind-eyed Ringlet, a nearby False Heath Fritillary and an Alpine Heath. Other highlights were a rather worn Mountain Green-veined White and a fast-flying Mountain Clouded Yellow. More common butterflies included Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Dark Green Fritillary, Small Heath, Small Blue, Large White, Small White, Swallowtail, Wood White, Small Tortoiseshell and Dingy Skipper.

Sooty Copper

Alpine Heath

Blind Ringlet

Mountain Clouded Yellow

Mountain Green-veined White

Wood White

In amongst the butterflies were several orchids of interest including Broad-leaved Marsh Orchid, Common Spotted Orchid, some impressive Dark Vanilla Orchids, Early Purple Orchid and Fragrant Orchid and we also saw a pair of European Nutcrackers.

Dark Vanilla Orchid

Dark Vanilla Orchid

Dark Vanilla Orchid

In the afternoon we took the cable-car from Grindelwald to First and walked down the hill to Bort, area known to be good for butterflies. We found three new species in the form of Titania’s Fritillary, Bright-eyed Ringlet and Dusky Grizzled Skipper as well as Small Tortoiseshell, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Large Skipper, Heath Fritillary, Large Wall Brown and Southern Small White.

Titania's Fritillary

Dusky Grizzled Skipper

Bright-eyed Ringlet

There were also lots of orchids on this side of the mountain including Fragrant Orchid, Small-white Orchid, Frog Orchid, Globe-flowered Orchid, Dark Vanilla Orchid and Lesser Butterfly Orchid.

Small-white Orchid

Globe-flowered Orchid

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

Thursday 3^rd July: We decided to explore the opposite direction by walking down the hill from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen and then taking a bus to Stechelberg from where one can get a cable-car up to Gimmelwald. From there we walked through the village into a longwooded path that eventually opened out. Unfortunately the weather was somewhat mixed with frequent light showers during the morning and early afternoon. However there were some interesting orchids on show in addition to the expected butterflies. In fact the highlight of the day was a superb Red Helleborine in full flower by the side of the path. Close by were a group of Dark-red Helleborine and we also found Broad-leaved Helleborine (not yet in flower), plenty of Burnt Orchid (mostly past their best) and Fragrant Orchids.

Red Helleborine

Dark Red Helleborine

Dark Red Helleborine

When the rain stopped, and the sun came out, so did the butterflies with one particular patch containing High Brown Fritillary, Silver-washed Fritillary, Scotch Argus, Heath Fritillary, Queen of Spain Fritillary and Arran Brown.

Heath Fritillary

High Brown Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary

Friday 4^th July: For our final day we decided to do a repeat of day 1, starting off in the morning at Kleine Scheidegg where we saw Water Pipit, Nutcracker, Linnet and Black Redstart. In the afternoon we took the cable-car up to Bort and explored the area there close to the river. Low cloud kept the butterflies under wraps but when the sun came out saw several Titania’s Fritillary and False Heath Fritillaries. A new butterfly was a somewhat worn Purple-edged Copper together with Orange Tip and Large Blue.

Titania's Fritillary male

Titania's Fritillary male

Titania's Fritillary female

Bright-eyed Ringlet

False Heath Fritillary

Purple-edged Copper

Saturday 5^th July: A short but very interesting trip which definitely suggested that we need to return for a longer visit next time. We took the train from Wengen all the way back to Zurich Airport from where we flew to Gdansk (see next Blog).