Further to my Dolomites 2025 posting, here are some highlights of this year’s visit, focusing on species and themes I didn’t comment on then. All the images are mine except where indicated.
Monkshood (aka Wolfsbane), a beautiful but deadly poisonous plant
Yellow Wolfsbane
Herb-Paris, a rare but distinctive plant of the high mountains
The colourful symmetries of Yellow Mountain Saxifrage
The scarce and definitely montane Grass-of-Parnassus, divine at least in name
The Spotted Gentian (yes! they’re not all purple!) coming into fruit
The glorious colour of the Willow Gentian, another scarce flower of the high mountains
The Hoary Plantain, an elegant mountain member of a common genus
The striking wild Columbine (Aquilegia), mountain cousin of the garden plants
The extraordinary and beautiful Goat’s Beard, Aruncus vulgaris
Clary Sage (Salvia), the attractive wild cousin of the garden herb
Betony-Leaved Rampion, like a space invader in the plant world
The Hairy Alpenrose, a high-altitude native member of the Rhododendron tribe
Alpine Adenostyles
Time for a lichen or two!
The graceful champagne flutes of the Cup Lichen, Cladonia cf fimbriata
One of the most attractive of all lichens, Usnea florida, the flowery beard lichen
And now for a few bugs!
The bright warning coloration of the Mediterranean Milkweed Bug says “Don’t try eating me, I’m poisonous”.
The Lesser Purple Emperor spends most of its time high in the treetops, but in hot weather (like the current heat dome covering most of Europe including Britain) comes down to wet rocks (here, beside a delightfully cold and refreshing mountain stream) to drink the mineral-rich water. You can see its long proboscis extended for drinking. The wings have a purple sheen, created by microscopic structures which interfere with light, when the light is in just the right direction; they are pigmented brown.
On the subject of increasing heat, this photograph of a mountain forest tells a sobering story. Dead Spruce trees are dotted about the slopes. They were killed by the European Spruce Bark Beetle, Ips typographus. As its name suggests, it mainly affects Spruce but can harm other conifers.
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The female lays her eggs under the bark of the tree. The larvae make galleries there, which can be extensive enough to girdle and kill the tree.
Growth of the beetles is slowed or halted by hard winters, and they used to have just one brood per year. With global warming, Europe’s winters are becoming milder, and the beetles often survive the winter. In addition, they now have up to 3 broods per year; damage to forests has greatly increased.
The star of the show? The celebratory summer-lover, the Green Mountain Grasshopper. It was a joy when one landed on my shirt and stayed to pose for the photographers.
For more, see the page Wildlife of the Dolomites. It groups the organisms by type.