A week in the Swiss Alps

Got back yesterday from a family holiday in the Swiss Alps, south of Interlaken, in a small village called Stechelberg. It is a very scenic part of the country - the village is situated in the top of a huge cliffed gorge, that is an international hotspot for paragliders and base jumpers. I must admit that I chose this part of the world because I knew there would be very few birds, and no potential lifers or too much quality for me to be tempted to sneak out of bed early. It was a relaxed week indeed. Sadly we could not get to the highest elevations - cable-cars and mountain trains are outrageously priced there. So most of our time was spent in the mountains near the village, up to 1900 m.

Scenery was breathtaking - Jungfrau (4197 m) towering above us constantly:

Birds were few and far between. Admittedly I did not try too hard but still saw very little. Relative highlights were a high flying Lammergeier, 2 flyby Citril Finches at Allmendhubel, a flock of 10 Crossbills, some Alpine Choughs, a Nutcracker and a family of Dippers. On the lake at Botingen there was one 2cy Med Gull and some Yellow-legged Gulls. Check my eBird checklists here and here.

Dipping Dipper

Dedicated to my UK friends who get excited by Black Redstarts

I was sometimes so bored I even looked at Butterflies:

Old World Swallowtail

Small White

Red Admiral

Silver-washed Fritillary

Please correct me if I got IDs wrong.

I apologize for the poor quality of images in this post. I carried my 'bridge' lens (400 mm/f5.6) only, and photographed mainly using my phone, hence the crappy photos.