Greenwings: False Apollo tour, NE Greece, 4th - 11th April 2022

[David M]

Butterflying anywhere in Europe in early April is risky, but I'm pleased to say that weather conditions were largely very favourable during this trip to East Macedonia and Thrace, in the north east part of mainland Greece.

Of the six full days, four were excellent, with sunshine and warm temperatures (reaching 23c). The last day was cloudy at times and cooler, whilst the first was very cloudy and cool until about 3.30pm.

So, after a slow start, there were plenty of butterflies to be found, including several rare and iconic ones, and unless there are any surprises when the group who participated go through their images, the final total was 50 species, which is excellent going for this time of year.

The scenery was lovely, although most places seem over-grazed, and one has to be mindful of the guard dogs used over here to protect the flocks of sheep and goats. Nevertheless, the local knowledge of my co-guide was sufficient to keep us all out of harm's way, and everybody had a wonderful few days.

Here are a few images of the landscape over here:

[David M]

Notable species - False Apollo

No False Apollo tour would be complete without seeing the eponymous butterfly itself, and we observed it at three separate sites.

It flies in the Potamos area to the north of Alexandroupoli, and at two of the sites it was about in small numbers. However, our local guide has a site in the military area which can only be accessed by forest tracks, and these were sometimes difficult to negotiate, with patches of mud causing the vans to temporarily aquaplane and rutted ground where great care was needed not to damage the vehicles.

After a somewhat tricky 20 minute drive up these tracks, we emerged in a clearing and parked the minibuses.

False Apollos were around in fabulous numbers here, and within an hour everyone had filled their memory cards to the point that when lunch was taken, the males flying around the group were largely ignored.

I had imagined the males would be hyperactive and difficult to photograph, but they came down quite regularly:

A handful of females were seen too. They are particularly attractive:

I'd say around 100 were around in this area, including this bizarre situation where a male had captured a female Southern Festoon and was attempting to mate with her:

I have never seen this type of behaviour in any species of butterfly before and I filmed it to capture this extraordinary scene. I'm pleased to say that after around 10 minutes, the False Apollo gave up, let go and the Southern Festoon flew off apparently unharmed:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KH9TrzDBSEU

[bugboy]

Stunning looking butterfly. The females look like their scales have been dusted over them by an artisan pastry chef!

[essexbuzzard]

Allow me to drool over those images, David. What an experience that must have been! Thanks for sharing.

[David M]

Stunning looking butterfly. The females look like their scales have been dusted over them by an artisan pastry chef!

I like that, Paul. It does have a 'cake decoration' look about it.

[David M]

Allow me to drool over those images, David. What an experience that must have been! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Mark. Yes, it was quite an experience to be practically tripping over them. I'd previously envisaged just seeing the odd one.

[David M]

Notable species - Grecian Copper

I was eagerly awaiting seeing my first Grecian Coppers and they were quite common in the first leg of the trip, but vanished once we'd arrived further west on Day 4.

The males are a beautiful, rich copper colour:

The females are quite bedazzling too:

I reckon I saw 60-80 during the first three days, behaving very like our Small Coppers do, with males patrolling small patches of territory and battling with the likes of Grizzled Skippers and Queen of Spain Fritillaries.

[BarrieS]

Hi David
I've been looking forward to reading about your first trip into Eastern Europe for some time. You have started off with a couple of mouth-watering species and I can only guess what you are longing to show us. Looking forward to seeing more exciting pictures over the next few days. I wonder if we have GOT and EGBT to look forward to?

[David M]

Thanks, Barrie. Double figure number of lifers tells you all you need to know. It was a fantastic week.

[David M]

Notable species - Eastern Festoon

This is a butterfly I've wished to see for a long time and I finally got to do so.

I saw two on the second day after the False Apollo extravaganza, but it was the following day when I got my first (and only) serious photo opportunity.

The sun had gone behind quite heavy cloud and we even had some drops of rain. One of the group told me that back near where we'd parked the vehicles was a grounded Eastern Festoon. I rushed back to find a crowd gathered around it and it wasn't going anywhere for a while as the temperature had dropped markedly:

A few minutes later it went into roosting mode:

It remained in situ until the sun came back out, whereupon it opened its wings again:

Soon after, it was on its way, back to its normal behaviour of flying incessantly, making me extremely grateful for the sudden change in conditions.

Only 5 were seen on the trip, so this was a fortuitous encounter.

[petesmith]

Fabulous David -

There are insufficient superlatives in the English Language to describe the beauty of the False Apollo. I saw a handful on Lesvos some years back, but nowhere near as many as you, and I didn't manage to get close to a female, the fairer sex indeed in this case, although the males are almost equally captivating. I am very envious, and suspect you will make me even more so in your next few posts. False Apollo and Eastern Festoon are a great double act!

[David M]

Thanks, Pete. They are pretty special, aren't they?

[Stevieb]

No comments needed from me David, just a big Mr Green

[David M]

No comments needed from me David, just a big Mr Green

Thanks, Steve. It wasn't all plain sailing but 50 species is four times what you'd see in the UK at this time of year.

[David M]

Notable species - Dalmatian Ringlet

I was surprised to see this on the species list, as I had read that it was only present in north west Greece. However, I found a single individual on a rocky knoll along the Nestos Gorge path on transit day.

It came down on a rock and I managed a few shots from below, although those who were stood at the top of the knoll got much better views:

As it's such an unusually marked butterfly species, I hung around looking for it again for a while but sadly it didn't reappear, and was the only specimen we found all week.

[David M]

Notable species - Gruner's Orange Tip

This was one of the top targets on this trip, but none were seen in the area near the first base; we had to wait until transit day to find our first.

We stopped at Nestos Gorge and walked along the narrow pathway, and a handful were seen pottering about the steep slopes. It is a beautifully delicate insect, but it is on the go all the time, meaning that getting images is extremely tricky.

We had better luck when we returned to the car park, with quite a few flying along the bank of the railway line. More were seen at Potamoi the following day, so they are fairly common at the right sites.

They would interact regularly with standard Orange Tips, although Gruner's is about 20% smaller and has an obvious, faint yellowish appearance in flight, although when at rest this is not so apparent.

I was pleased to find one female, as the difference from Orange Tip females is immediately obvious, with the forewing spot being considerably larger in Gruner's and joined to the costa:

[petesmith]

Yep - you got me with Gruner's, and the Dalmation too.

That's a double greenie from me

[David M]

Dalmatian Ringlet is certainly a big one, Pete, but I think Gruner's Orange Tip is a 'given' if you visit the right places at this time of year in that part of Greece.

Nonetheless, it's a great place to see rare, early season butterflies, and I'd recommend it to anyone with a genuine interest in European lepidoptera.

[David M]

Notable species - Eastern Wood White

One for the purist, and it took four days to track down given the propensity of the Wood Whites to remain airborne. Even when they do settle, they rarely hang around long enough for a definitive ID.

One morning though, in the foothills of Mt Orvilos, we spotted one settling regularly in cool conditions and it was obvious that it was duponcheli.

I somehow managed to 'pot' it to ensure everyone got to see how different it was from sinapis, with its heavily marked hindwings and lack of white on its antennae:

We dampened a bit of muddy terrain and released it, whereupon it behaved very accommodatingly, allowing everyone to get images whilst it was taking fluids:

[selbypaul]

You've managed to find more time than me since our return on Monday to post on here about the amazing species we saw!

Despite relatively low numbers of individual butterflies, those we did see were very special, even to someone like me who has visited other nearby parts of Greece twice before, both in June!