COVER N.42 - Switzerland

Postmark: 6442 GERSAU 17SEP21
Posted on the 17th September; received on the 6th October
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Same as Germany, Switzerland chose to focus the limelight of the EUROPA 2021 stamp emission on the often forgoten and even maligned insects, dedicating the two se-tenant stamps that comprise the set, issued on 06MAY2021, to two beautiful butterflies that have endangered status in Switzerland.

These are the stamps that grace the cover I received from the land of the cheese with holes and evergreen pastures. Thank you so much, Rosmarie!

The woodland brown (Lopinga achine), a member of the Nymphalidae family rests on the stamp on the left side of the pair. It can be found in warm openings of damp unmanaged mature forests. The scarce large blue (Phengaris teleius) is the subject of the right side stamp. Like other Lycaenidae butterflies it relies on a parasitic association with a specific species of ant to thrive.

Both of then cannot be found in my own country.

The very clear postmark tells us that the cover was posted in Gersau, a city in the canton of Schwyz, on the shores of Lake Lucerne.