Having spent the first three months of the year shackled to my computer, researching, co-authoring, co-editing and producing “Butterflies of Lincolnshire – A Modern History”, I was more than ready for some decent outdoor spring butterfly activity. But the weather Gods had other plans, and with the coldest April for years slowing spring down to a near-stall, not much was flying. Then May happened – a quite shockingly poor month, and the most depressing spring for a butterfly enthusiast for many a year was unfolding. Desperation was setting in…
Then hope appeared! The government were opening up some foreign travel. It was no longer illegal to go on holiday. Would we finally get a much needed week in the sun on the fabled Ionian island? It seemed that we might. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office were advising against non-essential travel to Greece, except for Corfu and a handful of other Greek Islands. Our travel agent informed us that the holiday was ON! Excitement mounted as we shared the news with the other couple who were joining us, fellow enthusiast Bob and his wife Veronica. Then things took an unexpected turn. While the FCDO were saying that it was OK to go to Corfu, it was still on the amber list, and a few days before we were due to travel the government changed the wording of their advice elsewhere on the UKGOV website to say that people should NOT travel to amber list countries. However, the FCDO advice remained unchanged, and the travel companies were still saying it was OK to travel, and refusing to refund or rearrange at the last minute. The Prime Minister said that people should not be holidaying in amber list territories and yet some of his own ministers were saying it was fine to do so. Confusion reigned! It appeared that it was being left to individuals to make up their own mind and conduct their own risk assessments – unfortunately, and completely unexpectedly, the risk assessment carried out by me and my wife, and the one carried out by the couple we were due to travel with, produced diametrically opposing results. So, on Monday 24th May, my wife and I boarded a rather empty Boeing 737, flew out from Manchester Airport as a twosome rather than a group of four, arrived at Corfu just before midday, picked up what was now a rather unnecessarily big Peugeout 301 hire car, and drove to a large villa nestling on the mountainside above Nissaki in the north-east of the island. We had a fantastic week!
It was indescribably good to finally once again be walking in glorious scenery, in very warm sunshine, surrounded by clouds of butterflies and other insects. A steep afternoon stroll up from the villa found us walking amongst numerous Balkan Marbled Whites, Delattin’s Graylings, Glanville and Spotted Fritillaries, and a whole host of other welcome sights such as Lulworth and Mallow Skippers, Cleopatras and Scarce Swallowtails.
In the evening as it began to get dark we watched fireflies dancing around the villa, with background sounds of Cicadas, and a Scops Owl calling just down the road. Relaxation was here.
On Tuesday 25th we searched in vain for Eastern Orange Tips along roads and tracks leading up towards Mount Pandokrator. They had been flying unusually late this year, and had been seen just a couple of days before our arrival, but despite finding plenty of the distinctive larval food-plant, Woad (Isatis tinctoria), along the roadside we failed to find this species. However, there were plenty of other diversions to keep us interested, including Southern White Admirals, Southern Swallowtails, and several species of skipper. Corfu is easy territory when it comes to skipper ID – unlike SE France, where I have spent much time butterflying, and where many confusingly similar “Grizzled Skippers” occur, Corfu has just 2 species of Pyrgus (Roger would be on the next flight home!), and one of those has only recently been confirmed. We saw both – Grizzled Skipper and Oberthur’s Grizzled Skipper - and flying along the same mountain tracks we also found numerous Hungarian Skippers, along with occasional Mallow and Oriental Marbled Skippers.
Over the next few days we spent a lot of time walking the tracks of mount Pandokrator, amazed by the sheer number of Southern Swallowtails. Papilio alexanor is my favourite European swallowtail by a long shot, and to see them in such abundance was incredible. It was possible to count over 150 during a walk of an hour or so. NE Corfu must currently be one of the best places in Europe to see this iconic beauty; Scarce Swallowtails were almost as abundant, and yet we only saw 3 examples of machaon all week! Eastern Dappled Whites were also around in good numbers, and Eastern Bath Whites turned up every now and then. The more open tracks where the vegetation was sparser produced the most skippers, and were also popular with Delattin’s Grayling, Wall and Large Wall Brown, Brown Argus, Clouded Yellow, Small Copper, Common and Mazarine Blue, Small and Southern Small White, and we found a single Small Blue (apparently a rare record for the island). By contrast, areas with denser scrub and light woodland yielded more in the way of Southern White Admiral, Ilex Hairstreak and the delightful Lattice Brown.
Corfu during a pandemic was a rather different experience to the last time we visited the island back in 2012. It was sad to see so many businesses closed. With the beleaguered Greek economy already under great pressure, COVID was the last thing they (or anyone else) needed. Olives and tourism are the main sources of income, and while the olives are still there in abundance, the tourists are very much less so. All of the local tavernas were closed, along with many supermarkets, and those shops that were still open had frequent bare shelves. We stopped off to buy wine, water and food at a small supermarket in Kalami one afternoon, not far from the Durrell Family House, and ended up spending around 90 Euros, as I had selected some top-shelf bottles of Nemea wine. The owners were so friendly and welcoming. As we were leaving with our bags full of produce, the owner came rushing after us, saying “wait, wait!”, then proceeded to give us a large chocolate cake as a gift – “from my wife, on the house, for after your tea”. After loading the shopping into the car, we drove past the supermarket, where both the owner and his wife had come out to wave us off like old friends! It was humbling to see that even during times of great adversity, that famous friendly Greek welcome and hospitality was alive and well. Of course, such bonhomie is good for business, as later in the week when we needed to restock we drove out of our way to revisit the same shop, but the welcome and hospitality is as genuine as ever as these families struggle to keep their businesses afloat.
I wasn’t really expecting to get any life-ticks from this trip, but there was one butterfly species that I hoped I might possibly see. Krueper’s Small White occurs on Corfu, although it is highly localised and not often seen. We had seen a couple of “possible” Krueper’s earlier in the week, but nothing definite, and as the days of the holiday gradually burned out in the sun, chances of finding this Balkan speciality seemed to be evaporating into the hot air of the mountainsides. Late Saturday afternoon I got a phone call from Dan Danahar of Corfu Butterfly Conservation. He had been out with a few fellow enthusiasts searching for this very butterfly, and they had found a couple just outside a remote mountain village in the north of the island. I immediately resolved to go out the following day, Sunday, our last full day on Corfu, and visit the spot. We arrived just after 10am and spent quite a while searching, but the weather was overcast and not much was moving about, other than a few Southern White Admirals and Ilex Hairstreaks. One or two whites were taking occasional flights but they all turned out to be Southern Small, Small, or Large Whites. Eventually, having spent time watching several whites drifting up and down a tall rock face, I got my binoculars on to a potential candidate, and focused onto the distinctive forewing markings of a definite Krueper’s Small White. Great joy! A life tick! The butterfly was a long way away though, about 40 feet down a sheer rocky drop, and was merely a small image temporarily burnt onto the back of my retina – there was no chance of a photograph. We persevered for another hour with no more luck, then decided to go off for lunch up the top of Pandokrator and return later in the afternoon for another attempt. We got back to the site at 2pm, as thicker and thicker clouds gathered around the top of Pandokrator. Then the rain arrived. Defeated by the weather, we returned to the villa, happy to have seen a definite krueperi, yet unfulfilled by the lack of closeness and photographic opportunity.
Our flight home on Monday was an evening one. We managed to negotiate a late checkout from our villa, as there was no new guest party lined up for the following week, and set off back to the Krueper’s site for one last-ditch effort at getting close up and personal with the beasts. What a great decision that turned out to be. We arrived soon after 1pm and spent two very exciting hours watching around half a dozen Krueper’s Small Whites as they flew relentlessly up and down the sheer rock faces either side of the road. They were settling only occasionally, but only a long way up or down the slopes, on nectar. Eventually, one decided to drop down for a moment right near me by the side of the road. My heart racing, I managed to fire off one shot before it was up and airborne again. Wow! Between 2pm and 3.30pm I had several more opportunities to get close enough for a few more photo’s. What a gorgeously subtle beauty this species is! I was thrilled to be able to get a small series of images, and make no apology for including several of the best ones here. Highlight of the holiday? Definitely! Highlight of my butterfly year? Indisputably! Pure magical moments dodging occasional traffic on a remote mountain road, getting to know a new butterfly species and recognising its jizz. It doesn’t get better than this in my humble opinion. This was my most adrenaline-fuelled entomological action since I saw my first ever Poplar Admirals in the Ubaye valley back in 2018.
We flew home tanned and happy, with some great new memories, arriving in Manchester late Monday evening and finding that the British weather had finally got its house in order. Now there is the small matter of the ten day quarantine. Fingers crossed that we can get a day 5 test-to-release escape route planned. Failing that –at least we now have a lush garden full of wild flowers in which to relax until we are deemed to be free of potential “leper” status!
So, was it worth it? Rhetorical question, clearly. Yes, there was additional expense of PCR tests, both here and in Greece. Yes there were many extra bureaucratic hoops to jump through, passenger location forms to complete, face masks to be worn, but once out in the Corfiot countryside it was business, and butterflies, as usual. 43 delightful species seen during the week. Truly the stuff of dreams…
I'm so happy for you. The Krüper's especially - what a butterfly!