Report on a trip to Verkhoyansk 2010

2. In search of the Eneis (2.07)
Even on the first day, our geological management was offered to go on a tour of the tin ore deposits in the vicinity of Batagay (while waiting for the queue for the helicopter), and at the end of the week the offer was implemented. The main object of the tour is the settlement of Yanlaga, not far from the spent Kester field. The place is really interesting, although not very pleasant. It is said that there were several other camps in the vicinity, but not a trace of them remained. The road to those places really doesn't give you a chance to leave the camp. There are no rock formations as such, but the terrible floating kurums do not allow you to move more than 2 km per hour. The camp itself is preserved only in the form of a barbed wire fence, several almost destroyed log sheds and a couple of observation towers. The atmosphere is truly Gulag-like. On the site of the entrance to the camp is a small memorial, oddly enough, there are relatively fresh flowers, apparently a popular place in terms of excursions. After viewing the surrounding buildings with the tour organizers, we moved on to the next part of the trip - helping to select beautiful stones from the dumps of the deposit for the flowerbed at our Batagai office. Only there you can see how stones are sent to the Urals for 60 km along a broken road in the mountains. Although adamelites are really beautiful. After completing this part, our friends, after drinking tea with us, left us, leaving 40 liters of drinking water. In the vicinity of edible water is not in principle, 1200-1300 meters and scree all around, to the nearest stream 400 meters in excess!))It was just the four of us. The heat only increased, and the number of blood-sucking creatures did not decrease.
I will note about Kestra, or it is also called the Arga-Ynny-Khaya array.
The area is located about 60-65 km from Batagay, in the direction of the Billakh exploration site, where I spent three days that year. The height of the quarry is 1200 m, compared to Batagai (167) - a solid excess. The road is broken, but quite straight, or rather absolutely straight, as the prisoners built it, with only a few serious serpentines at the very end. The area is covered everywhere with floating kurums, with blocks up to 2 m. Vegetation is sparse, larch in the stream valleys, small willow undergrowth, blueberries and lingonberries everywhere, the smell of wild rosemary pleasantly complements the atmosphere of the mountain tundra. The slopes and peaks of the hills are bare and almost lifeless.

On the same day, hoping that the quarry has scree and overgrown slopes, I went in search of Tenedis and Eversmann. The disappointment was not particularly surprising, the quarry was abandoned only 30-40 years ago, rock ledges, piles of scrap metal reminded of the past past of the former power of heavy industry in our country. I took a walk around the quarry, beat up a couple of pegmatid veins, gave up on this case and returned to the camp. Even while walking around the camp, I noticed quite large Erebia ssp, in wetlands that turned out to be E.Disa, (but I didn't catch it right away, so that the management, who doesn't know me very well, doesn't start twisting a finger at my temple, everyone in their squad has long been used to it and actively helped in collecting it). After an unsuccessful search for Parnassus, I decided to walk along the road that rose from the bottom to our parking lot. There was no limit to the surprise, erebia flew in abundance, in fact, this is due to the fact that thin streams flowing down from the slopes (the results of seasonal defrosting) formed some oases overgrown with sedges and located directly on the road. This is where they lived. Most of them are broken, only 2-3 of them are of good quality. The wind was always blowing from the north, in the direction of the road. On the wind, oncoming me flew, quite a large number of P. Callidice. The number of females and males was 60 to 40 in the direction of the stronger sex. But also, most of them were broken. Finally, I noticed the rapid flight of a fairly large butterfly, the front wings translucent-the butterfly hid in the stone scree. I never found it. Soon luck was on my side and Oeneis was in my hands, it's hard to tell who it is, whether Panza, or something else. The next day (3.07) passed for dolovom everything that came in the first, and a tour of the rudospusk and the DALSTROEvskaya crusher took place. After passing through the ore ramp down (about 300 meters in excess) to the stream. Agate followed the valley to the crusher, noticed that the broken narrow-gauge railway is made of American rails with Carnegie markings. Near the stream, dead Slossiana ssp. flew into the trash, rare eneis, but more frequent than at our camp. There were rare hyperboreans, but in terrible condition. After going down to the crusher (processing plant), we examined the rotten sights, collected fresh water and began to climb up to the camp. On the way, I caught a couple of small mother-of-pearl fish that were not very broken.


(4.07.) On Sunday, the heat reached a maximum of 42-45, there is nowhere to hide, as we are standing on the top, in a tent it is unbearable as in a greenhouse. Considering that this is the last day, I decided to take a walk to the west. A couple of kilometers away was an abandoned village of the same name Kester, which existed until the mid-late 70s. A small ridge with a relatively flat top and eluvial kurums extended north from it. I went there in search of the main habitat of the Eneis. On the way there was a nasty riding swamp, on which flew unknown to me (in fact, like most) Erebia, which had a large brown patch on the forewings, are otherwise similar to Dis. 2-3 caught, failed again. When I came out to Kurumi, I noticed one eneis, who was safely at my place. Then a couple more and all in excellent quality. I caught a couple of dozen and was satisfied. To be honest, eneis fishing turned out to be the most sporty, jumping and running on blocks for butterflies is a very frisky activity, which left a memory of itself in the form of good abrasions on my knees and shins, I returned to the camp burned, bitten and barely stood on my feet. It looks like it was very overheated in the sun. I swam in a flooded quarry, the water there as we were warned with an excessive amount of cadmium and was forbidden to drink, it tasted salty and bitter, but it didn't stop me from taking a dip and cooling down a little. This was the end of our excursion to Arga-Ynn-Haya. In the morning, fake drivers arrived from the office, and we went to Batagai.


(5-13. 07) After returning to Batagai, I left for a couple of days, my hands were terribly burned, the swelling was just terrible. But for his birthday on 7.07, he resumed access to the terraces. There, at this time, the Clossiana ssp, which I had not known for a year, flew out. As well as C. Viluensis. By the way, I do not mention zhuchye at all, apparently because I am very little interested in it (all beetle fees are booked). In the heat, gold coins flew everywhere, but in small numbers, so I had to ask all my friends in Batagai to catch them and give them to me.
13.07. early in the morning, the call of the boss informed us that we were hurriedly flying to the field with an additional board, for an hour of fees I managed to forget almost all the accessories in the hotel (bags, mattresses, box, pins, etc.). We went to the site called Luch, geographically it is the upper reaches of the Adycha, the area of the Dzhelakag massif. This is where all the fun started.
3. Under the flag of Eversmann. (13.07)
The area was pleased with its natural landscapes. During the flight, instead of the ground, a grandiose blanket was spread out in folds. Up to this point, all the sites were located in low-mountain areas, and here were the most that neither is the mountains. The helicopter dropped us off at one of the streams called Staratel. The places are truly paradisiacal, I would even describe them as "Alpine Yakutia". Indeed, the rocky peaks in the vicinity reached 2400 meters , the excess between the hills ranged from 500 to 1200 meters, with a complete change from the low-mountain taiga in the river valleys, with powerful larches, to the high-mountain vegetation-free tundra with small bald patches of poor yagel. Clean streams, fabulously fragrant air, a polar day – this is mountain Yakutia. On the first evening, several white-assed deer, startled by the sight of people, ran almost through the camp. But the carbine hadn't been unpacked yet, so there wasn't much meat in the field. In the first hours, after wandering around the area, I noticed a tufted bush, which gave me optimism. And as soon as the helicopter flew away, I noticed a lot of flying butterflies on the spit, C. Viluensis and C. Tyche immediately caught my eye. The evening passed behind the equipment of the camp, so there was no time to fish, in fact, half of the night was also spent in setting up.
On the trail. day got up late, breakfast was delayed, it was three in the afternoon and I noticed a large butterfly flying in my direction. The net was not far away, but the butterfly suddenly turned around and flew in the other direction. After running about a hundred meters, I caught up with her and caught her. And found that in the net P.Phoebus!!!, male. The truth is beaten to obscenity, but its very presence joyfully responded in the soul! After finishing off the butterfly, I went to finish my tea. Picking up a mug, I saw on a carnation flower two or three meters away-the dream of life-P. Eversmanni!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (photo ) Joy knew no bounds, I don't know what my colleagues thought about it. After breakfast, I walked 200-300 meters from the camp, found a scree on which another P. Phoebus was spinning, and caught it. And after walking for another half an hour, I was replenished with four more Eversmann. But work is work, routes, boots, hills....
An interesting thing is the polar day, until ten o'clock in the evening, until the coolness comes, the butterflies continue to fly, which is why after the routes I caught butterflies if I had any strength left. We were on the site until 3.08. during this time, I caught a little yellow fish, the parnassus disappeared after a couple of days, as soon as the heat began. In one of the routes, I met an interesting mother-of-pearl on the wet moss, I hadn't seen such things before – the front wings are light brown, almost gray, the rear wings are bright, orange, I thought it was flown, but as it turned out, it was completely fresh (photo undergarments). I wonder what people will say. A couple of times I met Erebi, similar to Pavlovsky, but on the front wing one extra spot in the center. There were also erebia similar to Disa. I met females a couple of times.Phoebus (photo ) both times they sat on rocks and refused to fly away. Another discovery for me was a meeting with the bedstraw hawk moth, I did not know that they live here. Everything else was familiar. Fishing on the site turned out to be just wonderful, in streams with a depth of 30-50 cm there was, I emphasize , there was a large grayling up to 500-700 grams, so the angler's excitement was also satisfied. Maybe this will make someone angry, but grayling takes a female hyperborea just fine, although it's harder to catch hyperborea than the fish itself))) As for the beetles, there was nothing special, there was only one carabus, there were rarely goldfish and weevils. Barbels flew in abundance. Our chief mineralogist, O. B. Ryzhov, caught more beetles, and at my request, I can't help mentioning him, since he collected two-thirds of the beetle while he was in the camp all the time. By the end of July, nasty beetles flew, similar to goldenrods, only small. But they did not just fly, but actively bit, it was quite painful. The local population calls them seeds (photo ). 30.07 a dense fog settled down and stood for 4 days without interruptions, the butterflies disappeared, the beetles disappeared, the insect season ended, the first frosts began at night. On August 3, a helicopter finally arrived, and we were transported 200-250 km to the west, near the Nelgese River. There were a couple of nocturnal butterflies, like moths. I also found two cocoons on cranberries, now I don't know what to do with them. From 23.08 we were moved to another site on the San-Yuryakh River. There we worked on our season, and the yellow autumn came, and nowhere is there such a bright autumn as in Yakutia. Then the helicopters broke down, and 3.09. as in Shevchuk's song: "...and in the morning it snowed....." and we sat waiting for 10 days. They spent whole days in tents drowning their bourgeoisie, so in fact I wrote a report from the lack of work))). By the tenth, the weather returned to normal, the helicopter was adjusted and the season ended))))((
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Pictures:

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This is the end of it, I hope this is not the last trip to Verkhoyansk and I will be able to entertain you once again with my report of a geologist with an entomological hobby.
Thanks for your attention! I apologize if I tired you with my writing.))))
Alexander K.

Hayloft - Coenonympha tullia

Great report, beautiful! thank you!

Excellent report, wonderful places! I've always wanted to go there! I read it with pleasure. Thank you very much!

The report is a miracle! Thanks! By the way, it is very interesting, what are these biting beetles - "seeds"? If the ones on the right (out of two) photos are collected by beetles, those that are in a pile in the upper-left corner of the picture, then these are clearly zlatki. Why would they bite? Can't their photos be bigger and more detailed for identification?

I'm feeling nostalgic. He himself lived in Yakutia for a year at one time... True I didn't collect insects then But the report is just excellent! Keep it up !

I am very glad that you liked the report! Indeed, this year I devoted a lot of time to butterflies, even kept a diary on this case. As for small goldfish, they fly from the end of July to the beginning of September, just in huge numbers. They fly to the sun-warmed tree trunks, willingly fly to the dishes warming on the fire. Open areas of the body are also very popular. In general, everything is warm. I myself did not believe that they bite, but in July I cursed everything, only the mosquitoes disappeared, a massive invasion of these beetles began. I honestly think that they just taste it, they are hardly carnivores themselves. Well, here they are:
To be honest, I am more interested in mother-of-pearl, those that are photographed from the underside, one of them I identified as Boloria alaskensis (Holland. 1900)? is it so?. And eneis, is this panza or not?

One is Alaskansis, the other is banghaasi,
and eneis is not panza.

yes, even from mother-of-pearl - euomiya

and freya (at the top, left)

eneis is probably Melissa.

As for small goldfish, they fly from the end of July to the beginning of September, just in huge numbers. They fly to the sun-warmed tree trunks, willingly fly to the dishes warming on the fire. Open areas of the body are also very popular. In general, everything is warm. I myself did not believe that they bite, but in July I cursed everything, only the mosquitoes disappeared, a massive invasion of these beetles began. I honestly think that they just taste it, they are hardly carnivores themselves. Well here they are actually:

In my opinion, it is Melanophila acuminata.

well, it seems to be her, in any case similar)) I remembered that the second local name is firefighters, as they willingly fly to the fire, in any case, several dozen of them gathered around the fire))

well, it seems to be her, in any case similar)) I remembered that the second local name is firefighters, as they willingly fly to the fire, in any case, several dozen of them gathered around the fire))

Well, definitely Melanophila acuminata! She loves burning-not for nothing and the Russian name-zlatka pozharishch.

What about those two cocoons you found on the lingonberry tree?Saturnia pavonia?

I doubt it, cocoons in the form of pupae in a paper wrapper, small - about 2.5 cm. Light gray. One cocoon for interest, I opened, there is a small pupa, actively moving))) They don't want to be displayed, I don't know what to do with them yet))

Inspired by

I decided to read old topics, and I remembered these reports - this is the right place!
The place, at the mention of which I have a direct religious awe, I and my "colleagues" who are afraid of cold weather )))
Verkhoyansk, Oymyakon and the surrounding area - the center of the deepest core of the Siberian anticyclone, a place where the cold of Eurasia "lives", at the pole, as in Antarctica, there was no place for it.
Frost on the ground up to-60C is quite normal there. It is even surprising that there are plants and insects there
And so, this year we have the opportunity to "visit Verkhoyansk". Journalists write about some "invasion of cold from the Kara Sea", but in fact the air that we now breathe, and have been breathing for the last eight days - Yakut!
I am interested in meteorology, and back in early January, when I saw on the maps how a huge mass of air still "collapsed" from Verkhoyansk-Oymyakon to the south, I already shrank, in principle, everything was already a foregone conclusion

This is the first time in all my observations-before the cold weather came from the Baltic Sea or Scandinavia - it was cold and humid air, everything happened abruptly and ended just as quickly.
And the North, it turns out, does not like to rush, But this air is drier, frost is much easier to bear.

This phenomenon is rare, the Siberian anticyclone regularly visits Europe and the European Arctic, but the Far East-Siberian air breaks through here very, very rarely, and even in such volumes.

In general, I will once again express my surprise at how life still clings to these territories, it would seem-why all this suffering and the annual expectation of cold heat, when there are tropics, subtropics, no, and you need to get to Siberia, lie down and wait eight months under the snow for the sake of three or four weeks of temperature optimum)))
Although, all these butterflies, beetles, animals of all kinds, plants-they just don't know what can be different, they think that this is nada

Inspired by

I decided to read old topics, and I remembered these reports - this is the right place!
The place, at the mention of which I have a direct religious awe, I and my "colleagues" who are afraid of cold weather )))
Verkhoyansk, Oymyakon and the surrounding area - the center of the deepest core of the Siberian anticyclone, a place where the cold of Eurasia "lives", at the pole, as in Antarctica, there was no place for it.
Frost on the ground up to-60C is quite normal there. It is even surprising that there are plants and insects there
And so, this year we have the opportunity to "visit Verkhoyansk". Journalists write about some "invasion of cold from the Kara Sea", but in fact the air that we now breathe, and have been breathing for the last eight days - Yakut!
I am interested in meteorology, and back in early January, when I saw on the maps how a huge mass of air still "collapsed" from Verkhoyansk-Oymyakon to the south, I already shrank, in principle, everything was already a foregone conclusion

This is the first time in all my observations-before the cold weather came from the Baltic Sea or Scandinavia - it was cold and humid air, everything happened abruptly and ended just as quickly.
And the North, it turns out, does not like to rush, But this air is drier, frost is much easier to bear.

This phenomenon is rare, the Siberian anticyclone regularly visits Europe and the European Arctic, but the Far East-Siberian air breaks through here very, very rarely, and even in such volumes.

In general, I will once again express my surprise at how life still clings to these territories, it would seem-why all this suffering and the annual expectation of cold heat, when there are tropics, subtropics, no, and you need to get to Siberia, lie down and wait eight months under the snow for the sake of three or four weeks of temperature optimum)))
Although, all these butterflies, beetles, animals of all kinds, plants-they just don't know what can be different, they think that this is nada

Well, just like that Gogol coachman, no matter what we talk about, he will always turn the conversation around, as he once drove the queen. You don't talk about the weather all the time, most likely without even noticing it.

I was impressed, so I say

Inspired by

I decided to read old topics, and I remembered these reports - this is the right place!
The place, at the mention of which I have a direct religious awe, I and my "colleagues" who are afraid of cold weather )))
Verkhoyansk, Oymyakon and the surrounding area - the center of the deepest core of the Siberian anticyclone, a place where the cold of Eurasia "lives", at the pole, as in Antarctica, there was no place for it.
Frost on the ground up to-60C is quite normal there. It is even surprising that there are plants and insects there

I'll throw in some horror stories, especially for the Novel. Bad words are blinded.