Bordeaux Day 3

With day time temperatures scheduled to hit a maximum of 36C I was a bit cautious about my plan of heading towards the sea at Lacanau and reckoned to do about half of the approximately 120km round trip.  In the event, thanks to an early start and a good day in the saddle I managed about three-quarters of it, turning back a good way past St Helene.

It was quite a long way to the National Park I wanted to suss out and the main thing I noticed meanwhile was the abundance of some yellow flowers on the outskirts of Bordeaux.

Common Evening Primrose?

Suggestions by AI favour Common Evening Primrose, though this sighting was actually timed at 8.31 a.m. Hmmm?

Meanwhile also a sign advertised the presence of a rare mammal, the 'genet commune' in the Parc des Jalles  Apparently it's totally nocturnal so i didn't look for it.

Anyway there was an early success on reaching the Park when I came across one of the target species - a pearly heath, not a great discovery but it's as near to the UK as I've ever seen one. 

Pearly Heath

Other heaths seen were decidedly common.

After that things frankly got a bit frustrating.  I stopped at a promising looking spot a few miles South of Salaunes, where there was clearly a lot of action.  A number of brown butterflies were fluttering around and arguing with some speckled wood but they refused to settle properly.  I wondered distantly about gatekeeper but could not prove my hunch.  After a while an impressive marbled white spent a long time working the path edges but without landing at all.

So the only ones things I captured on camera were small skippers and, a bit later on, some burnet moths.

Small Skipper

? spot Burnet Moth

I think all the several skippers I saw on the day were small.

From this point on it got even more frustrating.  I notice that the photos I tried to take tended to be poorly focused just as the butterflies' behaviour got extremely skittish and now wonder if these factors were the result of the increasing heat which duly exceeded the 35C mark as promised.

Having just passed Salaunes (where there was thankfully a water pump) I noticed a number of blues zooming around but couldn't manage to get anything like a decent view.  They definitely weren't commons, having a brighter shade of upper wing and dark spots on the underwing.  I wondered about nazarine blue but I think they were smaller than that.

So I rode on thinking to stop at St Helene, seeing continued brimstone, the odd clouded yellow and occasional annoying marbled white until I could smell the sea air and eventually realised I'd overshot the turnaround point.

It was worth it though as my last stop was for another group of fast-flying blues.  After much patience, 

I finally did see one settle for several minutes.  So I managed to identify it as I sat sprawled in the roadside grass with the thing virtually between my feet!  

In the end it was nothing special or new - a short-tailed blue and my only disappointment now was that I didn't get a better shot of it.

Short-tailed Blue

So mystery solved - always assuming that they were the same as the ones at Salaunes! We will never know.

Slovenia Day 7

Our last day in Slovenia was slightly curtailed by the need to get back to Llubljana but still proved productive.

Starting the trail back east we stopped off at a location where there were a series of upland meadows.

The first one was the one where we saw the most, managing to add chalkhill blue to our somewhat diminished list of blues, and Amanda's blue was also active.  Something of a nuisance was a scarce copper that kept flying around without settling much. It turned out there were several of them in the area and so were hard to miss.

Chalkhill Blue

Scarce Copper

The pearly heath was seen so many times we had more or less started to ignore them! A mountain green-veined white was also seen, looking even darker that the example seen yesterday.  Silver-washed fritillaries were present in good numbers and the lesser marbled fritillary was also observed again.

Pearly Heath

Mountain Green-veined White

Throughout the trip we also saw some small heath. One omission I thought we might see but never did was the bath white.

On the bug front, these four-banded longhorn beetles seemed determined to boost their own population:

Four-banded Longhorn Beetles.

We stopped at another place but saw no butterflies we hadn't already seen. by a river I did however find this bee, which we think to be a carpenter bee - possibly the violet carpenter bee.

Violet Carpenter Bee

Scarlet Tiger Moth

The yellow appearance of the thorax is actually a heavy dusting of pollen.

Then as we got back to the van, a scarlet tiger moth was literally on it, just above the wheel hub.

Also seen is the nine-spotted moth, which in the last couple of days became prolific.  At our last woodland stop, it was the only thing we saw but in massive numbers.

Nine-spot moths

Here they have formed a weird crucifix shape.

After that we headed for the airport through a heavy thunderstorm...

Slovenia - Day 1

Another year, another summer so obviously time for another butterfly holiday, this time to Slovenia with Greenwings  which is where I was last week.

By way of a prelude, I think all the group I was with were impressed with the cleanliness and friendliness of Slovenia.  Although a small country, it contains large tracts of natural countryside attractive to those of many forms of wildlife.  The locations we visited were in the West and North West of Slovenia.

Day 1

The first few days were spent near the town of Rakov.  We got in a reasonable session  at a meadow near our hotel but the rains came down while looking round a second area by the River Reka, so we ended up settling for a birdwatching session near a farm.

It wasn't all about butterflies anyway.  By the river there were numerous damselflies, of which the banded demoiselle tends to catch the attention.

Banded Demoiselle

White-legged Damselfly

On the pm birdwatch, a good number of species turned up, including whinchat, white crane, fieldfare, spotted flycatcher, tree sparrow, and black redstart.  Awaiting eye test, I didn't manage to photograph all that was seen.

Spotted Flycatcher

Black Redstart

Fieldfare

Tree Sparrows

We scored well on butterflies in the first field, but not so well by the river, which at the time we attributed to deteriorating weather conditions.  As often the case on my nature trips abroad, there are so many I made them into a short video, including a couple of moths:

I hope I haven't misidentified anything.  My notes suggest we also saw marbled and twin spot fritillaries.

A couple of specimens I struggled with were one bee I couldn't get anywhere with - possibly some sort of mining bee but could be a lot of things - and this cricket that could perhaps be a dark bush cricket.

Mining Bee?

Dark Bush Crcket?

Trip to Tübingen

This wasn't a dedicated nature holiday, the main aims being cultural and relaxation in various forms.  Some of the sightings I did make were annoyingly fleeting, making identification tricky.

One day though, I visited the University Botanical Gardens with its impressive array of gardens and trees.  On the way from the nearest bus stop there were a couple of butterflies and an elusive black redstart.

Once there, I had my first sighting of a common blue in an area of rewilding and a spectacular stripey bug on an exotic plant.

Common Blue

Minstrel Bug

Apparently it's an Italian Striped Bug or Minstrel Bug.  Also fleetingly sighted for the first time this year were common darter and marbled white.  On some steps a nomad bee was so active that I couldn't get a picture of it.  This was a pity as all the bees I saw afterwards were honey bees or obvious forms of bumblebee.

On the way to a bike hire place, I had a couple of forays along the River Ammer, where there were a few trout rising and this slightly puzzling duck with a blue sheen on its head feathers.

There is a thing called the Blue-headed Mallard in America and the beak certainly looks mallardy but on balance I think this is probably some sort of hybrid.

Mallard Hybrid?

Another teaser occurred during my one bike ride on a decrepit city bike.  At the edge of a farm field I happened on a couple of large pipits of a long thin body shape and a palish chest marking.  Of course, they moved on soon after I stopped.  It was hard to make them out properly against the light but I reckoned that tawny pipit was likely.

A couple of days later, I caught sight of a butterfly flying along the hedgerow that had all the signs of being a brown hairstreak, my first ever, but of course it did not land.  Later on I was amused to find a pair of Egyptian Geese casually surveilling the punts and  sunbathers by the Neckar.  

Egyptian Goose

I ended up in a Biergarten by the river, feeding fragments of bread to a decent sized carp - almost as satisfying as catching one.

The last day of my holiday was a dedicated nature outing.  I took a bus to Bebenhausen, which offers a number of walks on the southern tip of the Naturpark Schönbuch.  

The first thing I saw, before even leaving the village was a small white butterfly - except something about it struck me as unusual.  I think in fact it was a Southern Small White.  If so it was pretty much right on the Northern edge of its established range but I'm pretty confident about this one.  The giveaway is that the black edging extends slightly down the outer edge of the upper forewing.

Southern Small White

Although the forecast was for very hot weather, it took a while for the clouds to disperse.  When they did, another white appeared by the side of the Fohlenweideweg - a fair number of wood whites, always nice to see as they do not occur in the North of Britain.

Wood White

Their weak, erratic flight means that wood white sites are very precious as the butterflies are unlikely to relocate over any distance.

Ironically the real fun butterflies started when I took a wrong turn and went down a wee overgrown lane.  I was surprised to find that the dominant butterfly here was the pearly heath.

Pearly Heath

I'd seen the pearly heath several times when I was in Bulgaria but did not know it extends across mainland Europe.  

Several expected items turned up including another common blue, and, looking smart, meadow brown and ringlet.

Meadow Brown

Common Blue

Ringlet

I also spent some time confirming that the small skipper I saw was a small skipper, as Essex or Lulworth Skipper were also feasible.  Anyway, it is.

Small Skipper

More troublesome was a very small and worn female blue that kept fluttering around the path track without settling more than briefly.  My feeling is that it may be a Silver Studded Blue but without better images, it's hard to be sure, 

Silver Studded Blue?

Then there was the one that completely defeated me, as I couldn't find anything that resembled this rather smart-looking black moth.  Or maybe it's not even a moth at all?

Unidentified Flying Object

It almost looks like the translucent wing tips are reflecting the treetops above.

Last of all. the most joyful appearance went completely undocumented when a massive purple emperor came down and flattered briefly in front of my midriff.  I waited around for half an hour for it to return but there was no further sign.

Dolomites Days and 5 and 6

Day 5 comprised two walks in the Sella Pass, the second of which finished on the scree at our highest elevation of around 2,300 metres.  Day 6 comprised two main stops at Predazzo and the Park Natural Paneveggio, which also ended up on scree.

The photos are in no particular order and reflect a little my guilt at having largely failed to do much justice to the many flowers.

After an early success with a mountain fritillary at Sella Pass, most butterflies were on the wing apart from alpine heath, which was definitely the most seen butterfly throughout the six days.  However the compensation was a rarity later on in the morning - Warren's grizzled skipper, which was found ovipositing on its main food plant.  

Ring ouzels and nutcrackers were spotted on the way up to the scree and I saw the "mysterious" fly.  It had a clear red band on its waist the likes of which I've never seen before but I couldn't find any shots of similar flies on the internet.

The scree itself was a disappointment as the sun disappeared soon after we arrived and only one butterfly was sighted in passing.  However a few from the group did manage a close encounter with a marmot.

Day 6  was notable for the repeated appearance of a couple of apollo butterflies at a layby en route.  Perhaps even more striking for me was the fleeting sighting of a purple emperor at the same location and the carnelian burnet was arguably the star rarity.

Large ringlet was seen a lot at Predazzo with some other wetland species and large grizzled skipper (in numbers) was a first sighting as we moved uphill.  I again found some bug interest in the form of the rose chafer.

There was a lone sighting of a pearly heath (last photo) showing its similarity to the alpine version.

Once more today, the scree was not yielding any major sightings but we probably saw most of the target sightings elsewhere on the trip except for dewy ringlet.  And the marmot was far more obliging this time, turning up near the refugio during our last refreshment stop.

It seemed like a fitting end to a great holiday.

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.