Les Alpilles–the “baby alps”–are a chain of limestone hills just northeast of Arles, famous above all for the beauty of their rugged cliffs and chasms.

The two major birding sites here are La Caume, a mixed woodland crossed by a wide, disused road, and Les Baux, the notorious hilltop castle perched above a beautifully preserved medieval village.

We started at La Caume, hoping for some forest birding–a scarce commodity otherwise on this itinerary–and found it quiet, as usual. Common Chaffinches shouted at us all morning, giving some very fine views, but otherwise the only notable birds to give themselves up were a few Common Ravens and a small party of Crested Tits, which made up for the ungracious behavior of their Ventoux cousins by giving all of us good looks as they fed nervously in the conifers.

What La Caume never disappoints in, though, are flowers.

This year it was the rockroses that were especially beautiful, their soft violet petals and bright yellow anthers scattered all across the slopes.

This one was growing between what looks like two different species of rosemary.

And La Caume is also traditionally rich in butterflies, giving us something winged to look at even when the birding isn’t exactly fast-paced.

We left La Caume about noon for the quick drive up to Les Baux. The self-styled lords of Les Baux traced their ancestry, somewhat dubiously, to the magus Balthasar:

and so we entered the village through the Porte Mage, where we had a splendid lunch in the restaurant of the same name. Afterwards, some of us wandered the streets of town, and others of us made the assault on the castle ruins.

Up here, where natural stone and human structures merge, we had great looks at Crag Martin and Alpine Swift, while Serins and Black Redstarts sang from the rooftops of the village below.

Butterflying was good in the shelter of the castle walls, too, and my favorite lep image from the entire tour was the sight of an elegant swallowtail sharing its bed of lavender with a dashing little hawk moth.