A home exchange holiday in Italy seemed the perfect way to end the summer. Como is a lovely old Italian town on the shores of the beautiful lake of the same name. Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote "This lake exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty. It is long and narrow, and has the appearance of a mighty river winding among the mountains and the forests". We enjoyed two weeks exploring the villages and towns along the steep sided shores by car and boat. It is no surprise that so many rich and famous celebrities have homes here.
Lake Como scene
Butterflies
Lesser Purple Emperor - apatura ilia
I am not the World´s best tourist however and just looking at beautiful buildings and landscapes is not enough, so I found a little nature reserve where we could spend hours walking and observing nature away from tourists and the madding crowd.
The Lago di Piano Reserve is a few kilometers from the town of Menaggio on the road to Lake Lugano. It is a four or five kilometer walk around the small lake through woodland and pasture rich in butterflies and dragonflies. This Lesser Purple Emperor was one of the first butterflies we spotted and as they do not occur in Spain or Britain it was a lifer for me.
The Lago di Piano Reserve is a few kilometers from the town of Menaggio on the road to Lake Lugano. It is a four or five kilometer walk around the small lake through woodland and pasture rich in butterflies and dragonflies. This Lesser Purple Emperor was one of the first butterflies we spotted and as they do not occur in Spain or Britain it was a lifer for me.
White Admiral - limenitis camilla
Although I have seen the White Admiral butterfly before in Norfolk, this was my first opportunity to photograph this delightful insect which flits around in sunny clearings along the woodland trail.
| One of the commonest butterflies in the reserve is the Silver-washed Fritillary.  Silver-washed Fritillary - argynnis paphia valezina female |  Quite a large spectacular species it was present in both the greenish valezina and the more orange argyrea forms. |
| Also present in large numbers were the much smaller Heath Fritillaries.  Heath Fritillary - mellicta athalia  Spotted Fritillary - melitaea didyma |  Spotted Fritillary - melitaea didyma  Brimstone |
Wood White
As I am quite new to butterflying there were a number of "Lifers" for me in the Piano de Lago. The Spotted Fritillary for example is not present in Britain and as yet I have not seen it in Spain. The lovely delicate Wood White is not uncommon but this was my first photo opportunity for the species. Brimstones are a common species but this was a nice clean shot worth posting.
| Blues were abundant and as they are mostly very small I photograph first and try to identify them later from the pictures. The Common Blue predominated but also present were Chapmans Blue, Short-tailed Blue and Holly Blue.  Short.tailed Blue  Chapman´s Blues - polyommatus thersites Among the small species were a number of Skippers, including both Large Skipper, Small Skipper and Essex Skipper.  Large Skipper - ochlodes venatus The only discernable difference between Small Skipper and Essex Skipper is the black underside tip of the antenna on lineola, absent on sylvestris.  Essex Skipper - thymelicus lineola |  Common Blues mating - polyommatus icarus   Small Skipper - thymelicus sylvestris |
Dryad - minois dryas
Our wandering took us deep into the woods and in a large clearing we discovered an old dried-out watercouse now overgrown with buddleia bushes. Naturally it abounded with butterflies and amongst them I was delighted to discover two more "lifers". The Dryad is a sizeable and handsome brown species with distinctive large blue pupils in the wing spots.
The Scotch Argus is also brown but with small white centres to the doubled wing spots. Many of these two brown species were in very poor condition indicating that perhaps they were close to the end of their season. It is a wonder how they manage to fly with torn and tattered wings.
Dragonflies
The lake and its surrounds was home to a wide variety of dragonfly species. Black Tailed Skimmers patrolled over the water and in the vegetation around the lake-shore were many damselfly species, most notably for me my first Blue Featherleg which is absent from Spain which has the White Featherlegs instead.
 Blue Featherleg - platycnemis pennipes |  Black-tailed Skimmer - orthetrum cancellatum |
Southern Hawker - aeshna cyanea
The Southern Hawker is a large and imposing insect. It frequently hunts low down along borders in the half light of dusk or dawn, somewhat like a "phantom".
Although there were plenty of darters, dropwings, emporers and other relatively common species around, the next one had me stumped for a while.
Although there were plenty of darters, dropwings, emporers and other relatively common species around, the next one had me stumped for a while.
Keeled Skimmer - orthetrum coerulescens
Identifying this insect was a nightmare. I certainly would not expect to see a Black Pennant up near the Italian border with Switzerland, but what else could it be? I asked Mick Richardson for an expert opinion and he pointed out that the pterostigma is totally wrong for a Pennant, so perhaps a Black Percher? Well Mick couldn´t see the size of this insect from the photograph, it was much too big to be a Percher. Eventually he ID´d it as probably an old Keeled Skimmer. I assosciate this species with a tapered abdomen, either blue or yellow in colour, however old specimens change to a stockier shape with plain pruinose blue/brown colouring just like this one.
Como Conclusion
As expected Como proved to be a fascinating and beautiful destination, somewhere both Elena and I would definitely like to revisit. Next time we will try to avoid the month of August which is very humid, and to perhaps experience the stunning scenery when there are fewer tourists. I think Lombardy in Autumn in would be perfect.
As expected Como proved to be a fascinating and beautiful destination, somewhere both Elena and I would definitely like to revisit. Next time we will try to avoid the month of August which is very humid, and to perhaps experience the stunning scenery when there are fewer tourists. I think Lombardy in Autumn in would be perfect.
