Unknown to me at this time -- I'm trying to find out a little bit of what happens to Swiss crops and specifically what happens to the stuff grown around here. Since this is probably barley rather than wheat, it's probably headed to become food rather than a fuel of a different kind.
20080701
Addendum: I think many of us have had the issue of food shortages and food price increases on our minds. I came across this story in the Guardian about a leaked secret report from a World Bank study that estimates that it is the diversion of crops to biofuels that has increased food prices by more than 75% (the US government claims that the push for biofuels in the US and the EU has contributed to only a 3% increase).
20080701
Flora: Brown knapweed (IMHO rather a dull name for such a pretty flower). Centaurea jacea. Wiesen-Flockenblume. Looks like I incorrectly identified it as cornflower last year.
Fauna: Marbled white. Melanargia galathea. Damenbrett or Schachbrettfalter.
A week ago when I posted a photo of a small blue, Tash of Palos Verdes DP made the observation that butterflies are difficult to photograph with their wings spread out. I had never thought about this as I had never tried to photograph butterflies with any dedication so I decided to give it a shot. I now completely agree with her!
And finally, those of you who have an interest in old botanical drawings might like this. The following book has been scanned and is available through the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research: Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz (1885)
20080701
The sign makers were determined to cover all the bases. This sign hangs in our partially-underground garage. I wonder why the pipe isn't fuming.
20080701
Seen at the entrance to a path down to neighboring Stilli. Today, is theme day for the CDP community. Please visit the portal to find out what members all over the world have selected to show as forbidden activities in their areas.
Some of my visitors were tickled by an earlier post showing a 'no tank on bridge' sign. If you missed it, you can see it by clicking here.
20080701
Compare with this photo from early May. A different time of the year and a different time of the day giving a different kind of light.
20080628
One last look before we leave Arosa.
The white flowers are Ranunculus aconitifolius. Eisenhutblättriger hahnenfuss. Same family as those flowers known as buttercup and fair-maids-of-France. While the flowers are poisonous to cattle and taste bitter and cause blistering of the mouth so that they're generally left alone, they become safe to consume when they're dry (source).
The yellow flowers are probably from the same family but I didn't get any close up photos of them and am thus unable to identify them with any confidence.
20080623
Weisshorn at 2653 m above sea level.
This is the destination for the cable car seen in yesterday's post. I didn't realize that the lifts were running until it was too late (it was a day trip that we made). I'm rather sorry that I didn't get to see the views from up there.
20080623
Arosa Luftseilbahn.
A couple of days ago I had pointed out the pylons or support towers behind the chapel. Here's one of the cabins gliding along to the top.
20080623
I think this is a small blue (how original!) aka Cupido minimus (source). Any input on the identification is appreciated.
Anyway, there were lots of butterflies flying about in Arosa but due to some technical difficulties I wasn't able to get many photographs. In case anyone is curious: my camera's display and even the EVF are almost useless in high illumination situations and a tiny moving target is nigh impossible to capture.
Incidentally, Pfiffoltra is the word for butterfly in the Swiss German dialect that's used in Wallis (the German-speaking Oberwallis, not the French-speaking 60% source) and I have to mention it because I've always found it such a lyrical word in a language that generally sounds very hard to me. As for in Graubünden, here are some of the words for butterfly (and/or moth) in the dialects of Romansch spoken there (source):
- spler (Grischun, Puter and Valader)
- tgiralla (Grischun)
- tschitta (Grischun, Sursilvan and Surmiran)
- bella (Sursilvan)
- bula (Sursikvan and Sutsilvan)
- pula (Surmiran)
- chüralla (Puter)
20080623
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