Slovenia Day 6

On an early morning walk I got an interesting shot of a green-veined white, looking rather darker than its British counterpart.

Green-veined White

We also got a brief sighting of a grey-headed woodpecker, a species I thought I had seen when I cycled round Lake Constance but hadn't totally convinced myself I'd got it right.

But mainly this was the day we took a long ride over 25 hairpin bends and past many cyclists to find a mountaintop site very close to the Italian border.

Unfortunately the top of the mountain was shrouded in misty cloud and we had to wait for brief outbursts of sunshine to get any butterfly action.

However it did produce a couple of specialities, notably in the form of an asian fritillary that settled down for a good while and a mountain small white.

Asian Fritillary

Mountain Small White

There were more ringlets turning up from time to time but so fleetingly I typically did not get a decent shot of them though I didn't think they were scotch argus.  Otherwise there was another mazarine blue.

Eventually we moved on and tried in vain to find a sunny spot further down the mountain. 

However someone had the idea of trying a small wetland near the hotel before our evening meal and this paid off nicely when amongst others we came across two more new species in the shape of Nickerl's fritillary and lesser marbled fritillary.

Nickerl's Fritillary

Lesser Marbled Fritillary

There were more good views of a purple shot copper and a bonus moth - a gold spangle apparently.

Gold Spangle

Apart from the moth, the asian fritillary and - somewhat to my surprise - the mountain small white were first-time sightings for me.

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