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Alpine marmot Marmota marmota
Distribution: Alps, Carpathians, Pyrenees, Tatra mountains of Europe.

Alpine marmots live in grazed sub-alpine pastures and higher elevation alpine regions. Like many other Old World marmots, alpine marmots live in family groups where there is a breeding pair and offspring from previous years. 

Older male offspring have been shown to help thermoregulate younger siblings during the cold alpine winters. Occasionally sons may mate with their mothers. About half the adult females will breed in a given year. Litter sizes are small, about two and a half pups. Active seasons are relatively long: five and a half months, but young tend not to disperse for at least 3 years. 

Alpine marmots have two different alarm calls. They commonly whistle and occasionally produce a descending whistle. The more common whistle tends to be repeated a variable number of times and is associated with the degree of risk a caller experiences.

Izard (Chamois) Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica
Distribution: Pyrenees, Cantabrian Mountains and Apennine Mountains

The izard is the Pyrenean cousin of the Chamois, a member of the antelope family (the Carpinae subfamily of bovids, along with sheep and goats). It is fairly small, only approx 110cm long and 70cm high.  In the summer they are a ruddy brown colour, but in winter their coat becomes black/brown with dark patches around the eyes.  Both males and females have backward hooked horns which can be up to 20cm in length.

The izard is generally to be seen in small herds, on grassy slopes and rocky cliffs below 3000m.  It can also be seen in beech or pine forests during the winter.  The izard eats grass, lichen and buds (particularly from the beech and rowan trees).

Due to overhunting, the izard nearly became extinct in the 1940's.  Thankfully, due to the creation of nature reserves in the Pyrenees, it is now thriving, particularly in the Orlu and Ossau valleys.

This truly incredible bird commonly has a wingspan of over a 2 and a half metres!   Despite this, it manages to circle gracefully with its cousins, the Griffin Vultures.  This area of the Pyrenees is lucky to have a breeding pair of Lammergeiers so sightings are not that rare.  The birds live in the high peaks and rocky cliff faces of the region, although they can also live in forested areas.  It is the only vulture to have kept its head feathers, probably because it  feeds primarily on the bones of a carcass.  It  will take large bones and drop them from a height to crack them into smaller bits.  Tortoises are, unfortunately for them, treated in the same manner.

Lammergeiers tend to be silent unless it is making a shrill call around breeding time.  This tends to be from mid Dec to mid February, when they lay 1 or 2 eggs which hatch after just under 60 days. 

Identifying the lammergeier: The white head of the bird can sometimes help identify it from a distance.  The long tail is also a clue.  Adults look very dark in flight with the immature birds being slightly browner.  The head to tail length is normally about a metre.  Their wings are very long and narrow, so their silhouette is different to other vultures.

Griffon Vulture: Gypaetus fulvus
Distribution: Fairly common in Portugal, Spain and S.France

 
                                                                       photo by Dr Clare Betteridge

You would be unlucky not to see a Griffon vulture during your spring or summer visit to this area of the Pyrenees.  They are most often to be seen circling gently over the mountain peaks in groups of 6 or more, early on a colder day, and later on during the hotter summer days

The Griffon feeds off carrion (sheep/goats) and lives in loose colonies of over 10 pairs.  They lay 1 egg at the end of the breeding season (April to July. 

Identifying a Griffon vulture: The birds tend to have a short tail and small head.  In flight it holds its wings in a shallow V, spreading its primary feathers.  It has a pale stripe under the wing (along the shoulders/front of wing), so can often be identified by this. 

Orchids: many different species of the Ophrys group

 
                                                                          photo James Thompson

In late spring and summer there is much Orchid hunting to be done, with many varieties around, from the early purple orchid, the Greater and lesser Butterfly orchid and the common orchid seen above.  As the spring emerges at different times in the valley to on the slopes of the mountains, there is never a shortage of areas to explore.

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