Intoxicating stuff, Ian. 146 species in 13 days is as good as you can realistically expect in Europe, and you have seen some quality species amongst that tally. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Thanks David. It was a great trip with excellent weather. Only one downpour which meant we lost a couple of hours butt...

Great diary of your visit to CR. My wife and I went with a small group to visit the Fairtrade producers in November 2018.The wildlife was stunning, and I would love to return.

Day 3 butterflies etc.

Day 2 photos.

Some more photos from day 1 of the trip on the way from the airport to Melnik.

Although our group only had a fleeting view of a Camberwell beauty, I thought you might like to see one I photographed in the Spanish Pyrenees on October 1st several years ago. Quite a special moment as it was feeding on yew berries for over 20 minutes!

Excellent report. Thanks for sharing your trip.

On our third day we set off to the Pirin mountains to try to find the elusive Bosnian blue butterfly (Agriades/plebejus dardanus) which is similar to the Gavarnie blue but limited to Bulgaria and the Balkans. On the way we saw a fleeting Camberwell beauty and various other species including many Que...

On our way from the airport in Sofia to our first hotel in Melnik in southern Bulgaria close to the Greek border we stopped at a small track just off the main road to see what we could find. We saw the following in about 90 minutes: scarce swallowtail, black-veined white, small white, green-veined w...

selbypaul wrote: ↑Wed Aug 03, 2022 7:35 pm Hi Ian
Sounds like an excellent trip. Which tour company did you travel with?
Best Wishes
Paul

British Bulgarian Society. Check their details online.

Well over 1000 chalk hill blues at Arreton Down Isle of Wight last week, possibly up to 10,000.

I returned home from a 13 day trip to western Bulgaria just over two weeks ago. Our group saw 146 species of butterfly, and well over 100 species of bird, in addition to many flower species. The highlights for me were purple emperor, lesser purple emperor, cynthia's fritillary, Apollo, clouded Apoll...

An enormous number of chalk hill blues on Arreton Down today, including this unusually marked male. Is this a known aberration? Also, about 50 butterflies feeding on dog poo!!

Just back from a wonderful 12 day trip to Bulgaria with 146 different species of butterfly seen. I can recommend this book for identifying European butterflies.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Butterflies-Br ... 147296053X

I am finding that the odonata are very thin on the ground this year. Is that the same experience of others?

Is this a small or Essex skipper, please? Hi, Ian. My guess is that this is an Essex Skipper: it is a male butterfly by the shape of its abdomen, and the sex brand on the forewings is very faint and what you can see looks parallel to the forewing edge rather than angled inwards (as in Small Skipper...

David M wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:15 pm

millerd wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:09 amHappy to be corrected - I've been wrong a few times on this one!

No need for any correction this time, Dave.

100% Essex.

Thank you.

Some silver-washed fritillaries seen yesterday.

Is this a small or Essex skipper, please?

Pauline wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 7:58 pm Fabulous underside shot Ian. You've certainly done justice to that gorgeous butterfly

Thank you.