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