Saturday, 2nd June – Dobrinishte and Eleshnitsa (continued) The river meadow had been a slight disappointment as it was a bit of a repeat of the other species seen so far on the trip. So we then drove further up the road opposite where the track opens up to the east side: from here we took a short ...

Saturday, 2nd June – Dobrinishte and Eleshnitsa As Saturday was predicted as another good weather day, we made the two-plus-hours trip down to the foot of the Pirin Mountains near Bankso, where we had stayed in our first trip to Bulgaria at the end of June 2011. I planned to visit several areas her...

Friday 1st June – Golemo Beliowo (Golyamo belovo) - continued... After escaping the incoming thunderstorm, we sat in the car for about three-quarters of an hour as the storm came and went, along with some very strong winds. We watched some Swallows and Swifts above us and they seemed to be a good c...

Friday 1st June – Golemo Beliowo (Golyamo belovo) - continued Following the track further up to the mountain slopes from the village of Golemo Beliowo there were plenty more of wildflowers alongside the dirt path and numerous butterflies, bees and small birds. We could hear several Cuckoos calling ...

Friday 1st June – Golemo Beliowo (Golyamo belovo) On to June and the third day of the trip. The forecast was quite good for the whole day, so we got up early and took the drive further Southwest to the village of Golemo Beliowo (or Golyamo belovo depending on your reference). After passing through ...

HI Bill / David, Thanks for the compliments. Regarding the 'unfinished business' in Bulgaria - it's still unfinished really, because although I saw some more excellent species during this trip - I still missed quite a few that I was trying to see (same old..). So I still think a third trip is needed...

Thursday 31st May – Afternoon South of Velingrad town and thunderstorms... After leaving the forest we headed back to the hotel for a quick break, but soon took the car to the South of the village on the 843 road: at a crossing over the river there was a good spot to park and we went walking from h...

Thanks Charles, next installment on it's way :wink: Hi Neil - nice to be on here again. Thursday 31st May – Velingrad Forest Walk For our second morning in Velingrad we walked to the east again from our hotel. There was light sunshine this morning on our way across the meadow below the hotel, and he...

Wednesday 30th May – Velingrad Forest Walk (continued) By the time we worked our way back to the edge of the Forest it was just after 1pm and there was cloud more cover and storm clouds moving in, so we headed back to the Hotel. In the scrubland on the edges of the road towards the Hotel there were...

Hi David,
too much work during the day-job, unfortunately, for me to post. Plus, to be fair, the weather here has been awful (you don't need me to tell you that).
I hope the trip report lives up to the expectation!
Michael

Return Trip to SW Bulgaria, 30 May-8 June 2012 We had our first visit to SW Bulgaria at the end of June 2011. I had enjoyed the visit but having only spent a week in Bulgaria (with a last day washed out from rainfall) I felt a certain feeling of ‘unfinished business’ about the first trip: Karen and...

Hi David, pretty amazing isn't it? I agree, a lovely (small) butterfly. When I first saw it, I immediately thought of the Levantine Leopard (a butterfly that I could have seen when I visited Cyprus, but never did). According to Steve Woodhall's SA butterflies book (he's working on the second edition...

Last morning at Eshowe and Dlinza Forest (Saturday 17th March) - continued... It was almost time to go and there were two more surprises left. A single Emperor butterfly – this time a Blue-Spotted Emperor – had found a piece of animal scat in the grass and was busily feeding on it. It may have been...

Last morning at Eshowe and Dlinza Forest (Saturday 17th March) - continued... We were due to leave for the airport at Durban around 11:30 am, so I probably had just over an hour to try and scramble some ‘last pictures’ before we left Eshowe. I did quickly check out the fruit bait - we’d left on som...

Last morning at Eshowe and Dlinza Forest (Saturday 17th March) - Continued... I gave my apologies and left breakfast first around just before 9:30am - I headed straight back to the open section at the start of the Dlinza forest walk, seeing some Browns and a healthy caterpillar on the edges of the ...

Last morning at Eshowe and Dlinza Forest (Saturday 17th March) Our guide Bert decided that an even earlier start would be better if we were to see some of the birds during the dawn at the Dlinza forest, so we were up at 5:30am and were to the top of the aerial boardwalk by 6am but with a cup of tea...

Still I'll always remember the Gaudy Commodore :D Have a goodun Wurzel Indeed, that's one of my favourite lines from Casablanca, if memory serves me correct "We'll always have the Gaudy Commodore"' :D You're right, not many more of the diary to come. But I'm making everyone wait for the l...

Eshowe and Mandawe Cross (Friday 16th March) - Continued http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g470/MichaeljField/South%20Africa%20Naturetrek%20trip%2010%20to%2017%20March%202012/IMG_9923editp.jpg This was one of the first butterflies I would photograph at the Mandawe Cross. I've had some problem ide...

Eshowe and Mandawe Cross (Friday 16th March) - continued... When we returned to our Eshowe B&B from our late morning walk in the Dlinza forest, we soon found that Bert’s fruit bait (and hanging net) had caught one of the large species of Charaxinae (South African Emperors). We took several minu...

You must be finding it hard to readjust to the norms of Europe naturewise having had such a great time in southern Africa, Michael? Hi David, a little bit, but it's more the temperature difference that is getting to me - I've realised how much I hate the cold here :shock: :( ! In South Africa I tho...