Friday 27th July

Vapourer Caterpillar

An interesting few days...

In the garden the hoped-for return of the marsh tit has not materialised.  On investigation of the sudden decline of one of my pot plants I was however able to identify the culprit as a rather pretty caterpillar.  I reckon it to be the caterpillar of the vapourer moth, one of the more spectacular varieties.

I think that if I'd photographed it from the side, there would be more red spots visible on its leg hairs.  It has certainly vapourised a large part of the plant in question.

Dry weather has continued but I had to wait until Wednesday before attempting the Big Butterfly Count.

I put in a couple of sessions at the Spetchells and apart from very many small whites, there was a good head of speckled wood, several meadow brown, a sprinking of small heath and ringlets, four green-veined white, two common blue and a single small copper.

On the other hand dingy skipper did not appear and one other suspected skipper could not be identified. On the way there were a few large white by the river but they didn't show on the hills.

On Thursday I did a long walk in Derwentside Park with a friend, when there were scores of speckled wood and a dozen or so meadow brown.  The two most interesting things we saw though were a male bullfinch close up in the undergrowth and a comma puddling where some dogs had been going in and out of the river.  We were also struck by the number of wild cherry trees.

Meadow Brown

Comma

Today I went on a U3A walk at Watergate Forest Park, Lobley Hill, just as the forecast thundery weather started to move in. Again speckled wood and meadow brown were very prominent but the star siting was a couple of holly blues we saw shambling along the hedgerows. One stopped long enough to enable a couple of us to make a positive identification, and then disappeared. There was also a grasshopper - possibly meadow grasshopper?

I did this time catch up with a few small skippers and also a shaded broad bar moth - or so I gather.

Small Skipper

Shaded Broad Bar Moth

Wednesday 18th July

Since getting back from Bulgaria, I have been out on a couple of bike rides. Two weeks back Route14 had plenty of speckled wood, meadow brown and ringlet but I couldn't much be bothered with them after the surfeit of species in Bulgaria.  And on a ride to Corbridge, there was a nice example of a comma as the peleton passed by.

I did go to a meeting of the local Butterfly Conservation Group.  It seems the small copper has had a particularly good year here, which is interesting since I've only seen a couple.  There was also a chap who has seen some aberrant colouration on a small heath and small tortoiseshell, whereby normal colouration is partly replaced by white, like a form of albinism. I forgot the precise name for the condition.

Marsh Tit?

I had seen nothing interesting on the birds front until yesterday morning, when what appeared to be a willow or a marsh tit suddenly appeared in the plum tree, trying to get to the peanut feeder. Unfortunately, the one shot I got of it doesn't help a great deal in further identification and it didn't hang around, put off I suspect by other visitors.  I've noted before that willow tits in particular are easily put off by the presence of other birds, even blue tits.

In this case, however, it was more likely to have been a marsh tit as the habitat is predominantly woodland rather than the damp marshy areas that willow tits frequent.

Bulgaria Day 8

The last day of the holiday threatened to be a total rainoff.

We set off along another upland track similar to the one on Day 3 but it only lasted for half an hour or so. We had seen a sombre tit and a lesser spotted woodpecker and I got a photo of a brown argus before the heavens opened.

A strange butterfly

It looked like it would be in for the day and so we headed for the nearest town to do a little sightseeing instead.  We did see one butterfly there, though not of the kind we had been looking out for.  One of the group needed some dental treatment so we had lunch in town too, which all took a while.

Out of nowhere it then brightened up and so we headed off again, scouring some roadside meadows.  The butterfly sightings started to come slowly but surely and when we entered a small meadow near a river, there was half an hour when they were turning up in almost the same quantities we had experienced during the middle of the week.

We moved on to another couple of meadows towards the end of the day, but things were already quietening down somewhat.

Most were things we had already seen but there were some additions, notably idas blue, sloe hairstreak and eastern baton blue.  I think though the joy at seeing a good number of butterflies on the wing again that was more important than hunting down new species.

Bulgaria Day 7

It was fortunate that yesterday ended early.  I had been struggling with hayfever for the last couple of days in the Rhodopes and by the end of yesterday, it had developed into a full blown cold and I found I didn't want to do any more wildlife hunts for a bit.

Thankfully I felt a fair bit better after 12 hours in bed as we set off into the mountains where it was distinctly cool and very misty.  I needed some exercise and decided to walk on ahead of the group in the murky weather.  It proved a good idea to follow my instincts and I really enjoyed the visual conditions, which more resembled the Highlands than the Balkans, albeit with different vegetation.

Mountain Scenery

I found the visual effects in the eerie light conditions interesting and started particularly to notice some of the trees and branches:

During this period, I didn't notice much wildlife at all but I did get one poorish photo of a nutcracker from below, which is however the best I have ever managed:

Nutcracker

The sombre conditions remained all day and it was amazing that we managed another walk in the afternoon without facing a major downpour.  This time it was in a woodland area that again put me in mind of the highlands.  We managed to see a few things, notably marsh tit, a hill cuckoo bumblebee (new one on me), and a sooty copper.  During the last 40 minutes it looked like it was going to brighten up and bring the butterflies out, but it never did.

On arriving at the hotel again I also got a distance shot of a hooded crow for the first time, although they were seen most days.

Hill Cuckoo Bumblebee

Hooded Crow

This day worked for me in a weird way.  Although it was a bit of a nonentity for spottings, the pace relaxed and I felt much better by the end of it. I did try a bit of a stroll in the evening but all I got was a couple of furtive goats:

Bulgaria Day 6

Unfortunately that was the end of the good weather.  While it sweltered in the UK we found it distinctly chilly at our new base at Moravsko Selo 500 metres higher between the Pirin and Rila mountains.  From here on, our opportunities were increasingly limited by wet weather.  This isn't the complete disaster one might expect as some butterflies simply sit it out with wings closed but remain visible.

Corn Bunting

I ventured out before breakfast and saw a red-backed shrike and, pleasingly, a corn bunting in full song at the rear of the hotel.  Others managed to hear and see a common rosefinch, but it ceased to appear  once the rains set in after the first two days and I missed it.

We visited a fast-flowing river in a deep gorge where numerous short-tailed eagles and several other birds of prey flew by, including a griffon vulture.  At distance it would have been very easy to mistake it for a buzzard.

The accent was a little more on birds here. Great for me was my first sighting of the golden oriole, albeit at distance.  We were to hear them on numerous occasions during the rest of the holiday.  We also tried to tempt a middle-spotted woodpecker to show itself but without real success and a spanish sparrow turned up on a telegraph post.

On the river there was a group of cormorants behaving in typical fashion, but with notably whiter chests than the North European version.

I did manage to photograph some butterflies (see inevitable slideshow video below), of which the most exotic were probably the female chequered blue and Rippart's anomalous blue.  I missed some others - meleager's blue, false eros blue and balkan marbled white, although the latter is apparently hard to distinguish from the normal form.

Also prominent was the appearance of one of the two very large tortoises that live in the Balkans but I forgot the exact name.

We moved not far away to a rather unpromising looking riverside spot where there was a good bit of litter.  Apart from clouded yellows and a few lizards, the scarce swallowtail was sighted but was not settling.

We did eventually managed to catch up with it after following a longish path, nectaring on some large thistles. This area was also quite good for skippers, including lulworth and Oberthür's grizzled skipper (apparently) and we also got a sighting of Lang's short-tailed blue.

On the way back, it was nice to see some common gliders in the low trees at the top of the bank.  Apart from painted lady, this is the only butterfly that I also saw in Sri Lanka where it is known as the common sailer.

We did attempt another expedition but this had to be abandoned quite quickly when the rain closed in and we huddled under a mulberry tree,  As it was in fruit, I got my first ever chance to eat a couple.

Bulgaria - Day 5

As it was our last morning in Tehsel, I decided to take an early morning walk down to the village where it was reported that eleonora's falcon was being sighted daily in pursuit of hirundines.  Typically it only appeared briefly and I didn't see it and also only heard the serin that was calling nearby.  Later in the day we were also to hear a cirl bunting calling.

Hirundines were around in plenty, as there were througout the trip.  Crag martin, pallid swift, barn swallow and red-rumped swallow were all seen often and the house martins were certainly not confined to residential areas.  In the mountains, alpine swifts were also to be seen.

 Transferring to a new location took us through the lowlands in splendid weather and resulted in a bonanza of sightings though I did miss the ilex hairstreak, which was quick to fly off and my great banded grayling was

seriously out of focus.  I was happier with the photographs I managed to get, though not with my recording skills which meant there were again some things I couldn't identify and others where identification may be inaccurate.

Of course there is a lot of variability between genders and amount of wear.  I got one shot of the map butterfly that looks nothing like as it should and this black-veined white is a good example - so worn that it has become semi-transparent.                   
The grizzled skipper is  a good example of an identification problem in another way.  In the Balkans there are something like twenty different varieties as opposed to our one, so at times you have to give up unless there is an expert to hand. 

It was a day of headlines and star acts.  There were numerous beautiful scarce coppers in the morning, and even when we settled down for a picnic lunch, there was a giant beetle almost the size of my brown rat scurrying around. Unfortunately I forgot the name but it only occurs within the Southern Balkans in Europe.

We caught up with both eastern festoon and in the afternoon swallowtail, the latter being first recorded on video before it finally came into land:

In one meadow, the elusive large blue was spotted.  It disappeared, hard to track because of its dark pattern, but I hung around and felt quite proud when it reappeared and I managed to follow it for thirty or forty yards before it landed. Just afterwards, we came across a male cardinal fritillary, the biggest fritillary in the Balkans.

This was quite exciting but I think that the best photograph I took at the riverside location was this shot of the beautiful demoiselle as the detail has come out so well:

The whole group was excited when, further upstream, we found a group of whites and blues 'puddling' i.e. absorbing salt from the muddy banks.  As you can see there was a whole mass of them, including some of the rarer species like escher's blue and chapman's blue, all in a great profusion:

Apparently only male butterflies do this.

Then further along, we found a couple of bushes that were swarming with silver-washed fritillaries, including the grey female form (valezina).

It was quite a day indeed:

               

Bulgaria Day 4

A brighter start to the day meant we saw a nettle tree butterfly on the front wall of the hotel as well as the black hairstreak I reported yesterday.

Today we visited a number of meadows, a small river valley and did an upland forest walk mainly for those interested in orchids.

At one point a number of large birds turned up flying high above the crags- short-toed eagle, honey buzzard and black stork.

In the meadows it was business as usual chasing the fritillaries and blues.  The black-veined white was increasingly abundant.  In one of the meadows, an elderly lady was seemingly out collecting herbs, though I wasn't quite clear what for.  In some areas herbs are cultivated to make herb teas.  Sometimes it was hard to get good shots of the butterflies.  However I rather like this one of a fritillary below, which makes the butterfly look some kind of weird early aeroplane with a massive wingspan.

Heath Fritillary

The second wee valley was interesting as there were mostly small shrubs next to the stream. here the white admiral came into its own and we saw several.  We also caught up with southern small white, comma, green-veined white.

By now I had decided to play it quiet on the flowers to avoid confusing myself even further but tagged along on the orchid walk as I was starting to get quite bad hay fever.  I thought I'd look out for birds but there was nothing much of note apart from some red-rumped swallows.  We did see a ghost orchid but I thought the red helleborine more attractive.  A signpost indicated the existence of wildcats and apparently they are far from extinction in Bulgaria.

As yesterday, I've left a couple of gaps in the slide show for you to guess at because I'm not sure of them:

Bulgaria Day 3

We walked along a path that traversed a mixed hillside, so that there were good views into the trees on one side and opportunities to forage for butterflies on the other. Initially the sun refused to show its presence and the early talk was about whether we would see any butterflies.

Eventually the sun did oblige and by the end of the morning, we had in fact seen quite a profusion of butterflies. I was greatly exercised by the difficulties of identifying the blues and fritillaries and can only hope that I have called them all correctly.

A couple of early sightings were of rock bunting (new to me) and a nutcracker, which was induced to take up position in a nearby treetop by reproducing its call on a mobile phone.

A relatively early appearance again was the alcon blue, which has an interesting modus operandi.  Its caterpillars issue a sweet liquid that induces a species of red ant to carry them into their nest, which the caterpillars duly parasitise much in the same fashion as the cuckoo. Who'd have thought it of such a pretty butterfly?

On the blues side I was very pleased to spot and identify a holly blue, as I have never tracked one down in the UK. After that a slight complication arose when we came into an area frequented by the nickerl's fritillary as it greatly ressembles the heath fritillary.  By my reckoning and from what more experienced people were saying, I did see and photograph it but looking back on the images I downloaded I wasn't convinced.*

Everyone was also impressed by the brightness of the owlflies that appeared from time to time.

In the afternoon the sights were enhanced by the addition of a slow worm and a small grass snake on an area of rough heathland.

Once again, I've pulled all the photos into a video because of the large number available.  The ones I haven't titled at the end are those I couldn't identify to my satisfaction, so perhaps you would like to have a try?

*Note  After reviewing the photos with a new guide book, I am now convinced that the shots were of Nickerl's  fritillary.  Here's an example that gives a good view of the markings:

Nickerl's Fritillary

Bulgaria Day 2

It was suggested that a forage around the hotel area before breakfast might be fruitful and several of the group ventured forth for a look. Hotel Orfei lies in a deep gorge so it was too early for butterflies but someone heard a black redstart calling and I managed to pick out the silhouette on the rock face, though I would never have managed to identify it. A black woodpecker flew over the valley briefly, plus a couple of other sightings.

Probably the main wildlife feature of Bulgaria is the large amount of unspoilt meadow land.  Things really started to take off at our first destination, following a path through just such country.  I wasted a fair bit of time trying to get a clouded yellow to settle but in the end I settled for a video as it fluttered around incessantly:

The species count quickly began to mount. We saw some of the rarer blues, including chapman's, alcon and

Apollo

amanda's. I enjoyed my first glimpse of a balkan copper as well as my first sightings of green hairstreak, grizzled and tufted marble skippers plus heath and marsh fritillaries.

We saw woodland and bright-eyed ringlets, both of which were new to me and got nice views of the red-backed shrike, often to reappear on succeeding days.

A particular star was the apollo.  After a few sightings of them, one was finally netted and persuaded to settle on a rock.

Looking back, I am a bit disappointed with some of my photographic efforts during the session, but here are a few further impressions I managed to capture, rolled into a video Nb there is a correction.  Simeon our group leader has identified that the one captioned as grizzled skipper is in fact a tufted marbled skipper.  I f you pause the video and look closely, you can see the two white hair tufts.:

Later in the day, we visited a roadside lake where we saw a number of dragonflies, including azure damselfly, white-legged damselfly and blue emperor.  Here we also saw a black-tailed skipper, of which I unfortunately have no memory, southern small white and some crag martins - amongst others it has to be stressed.

Bulgaria Day 1

I signed up for thje "Flowers and Butterflies of Bulgaria" with Greenwings, looking to relive some of the excitement of last year's holiday in Sri Lanka with less strain and travel.  I knew that I would keep up with the flowers even less than in the UK but that interesting bird and insect sightings would also follow.

Short-tailed blue

After arriving at Sofia airport we stopped off at a nearby river and meadow in sunny weather and the sightings began immediately as clouded yellow and marbled white were quickly seen and were to remain a feature at virtually every location.  Lesser fiery copper and scarce swallowtail soon followed as did short-tailed blue and pearly heath.  These were all first sightings for me but somehow I was most pleased with the blue, which does occur rarely in the UK - irrational, I know.

Nearer the river we heard a nightingale and a green woodpecker, got a good view of an essex skipper (the one I didn't find at Birkdale Forest last year) and our guide Simeon captured a banded demoiselle damselfly in his butterfly net.  Unlike Sri Lanka, it is allowed in Bulgaria to net butterflies. We also had much more freedom to stray from the established paths.

Amongst other butterfly species to turn up at this location were comma, ringlet, meadow brown and common blue.

Banded Demoiselle

Large Skipper

Pearly Heath

Our next stop was at an area of upland heath meadow surrounding a quarry and the commonest species was the rosy starlings that whizzed around all over the place.  They didn't seem quite as pink as the one I saw in Sri Lanka last year but this may have been explained by seasonal differences in colouration and the bright sunlight.

Adonis blue at rest

This was the only time we saw a bee hawk moth, an impressive imitation indeed and I was very pleased to see the adonis blue in flight, as I had heard how beautiful it is.

Other butterflies I saw were the nyobe and spotted fritillaries, great banded grayling, bath white, small heath and small skipper.  More adventurous members of the party got some good bird sightings but easier was the bee eater on the telegraph wires directly next to the road.

We also had some dragonfly sightings including common darter and broad bodied chaser as well as a huge unidentified wasp.

After that we headed off on a rather long and windy journey to our first base at Tehsel in the Western Rhodopes.