A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
This report pens the adventures of a group of four intrepid travellers as they forage for butterflies across a large swathe of remote Macedonia in Northern Greece. The Liverpudlian contingent of Bob Lambert and his wife Veronica met up with the Lincolnshire couplet of myself and my wife, Vicki, in Manchester on the evening of Monday 12th June. Early the following morning we flew out of Manchester Airport and arrived in Thessaloniki shortly after midday.
Our initial plan had been to take in some key sites in the Lake Kerkini area, staying for four nights, then cross over into Southwest Bulgaria for four nights before returning to the Rhodopi mountains, but due to restrictions on taking the hire car across the Greek/Bulgarian border, the Bulgarian leg of this tour had to be amputated at the last minute, and some speedy rearrangements were made to our accommodation and itinerary. I had fortunately read the small print in the hire car contract a week before we departed. It turns out there is only one car hire company operating out of Thessaloniki Airport that will allow you to take their cars across into Bulgaria. This company wanted an extortionate £1958 to take the car into Bulgaria for 4 nights, and we wouldn’t have been insured or had breakdown cover whilst we were there! Needless to say, we declined to take that particular option and ended up with a much more competitively priced Hyundai Tucson which transported the four of us quite comfortably, along with all of our luggage.
I was aware that we were travelling in the wake of the Greenwings Tour, and although we were a week later arriving, we would be seeking a lot of similar species and visiting a few sites that the tour had passed through before us. The timing of this trip was a bit of a gamble, plus, the season was running late, and we would find ourselves battling the weather on two fronts. Firstly, April, May and early June had been uncharacteristically cool and wet out here, as we would be reliably informed by staff at our first, second and third hotels. And secondly, we would find ourselves up against ongoing unsettled weather for the entire first week of our holiday.
But we knew little about this as we picked up the hire car and headed north towards our first base, a lovely hotel near the south of Lake Kerkini. Of course, we had to pause en route for a quick look around, and so began the butterfly action. Our first stop was about a mile south of Lithotopos, at what would normally be a dry riverbed, but this year was in full flow – a sure sign of the recent inclemency. The weather today was overcast but mild, and soon we had seen a few Clouded Yellows, Common Blues, Small Heaths, a Small Copper and a Sooty Copper. A rather different looking vividly coloured copper caught our eyes, a gorgeous male Lesser Fiery Copper! This was a lifer for Bob. I had only ever seen the female of this species before, not the male, so I was trawling around for a term for this experience and decided we needed to coin the phrase “half-lifer”, to denote the first time that you see the other gender of a sexually dimorphic species. Nothing to do with radioactive decay rates, merely a phrase for the first experience of a not-before seen “other-half” of a seasonally or sexually dimorphic insect. Think Map Butterfly or Orange-tip. You get my gist.
Lesser Fiery Copper
Had we known in advance that this would be the only Lesser Fiery Copper of the entire trip, we might have spent longer with it, but after a minute or two it flew off and we left it in peace as we continued our journey to the Hotel Erodius, where we received a very warm Greek welcome and got settled into our rooms. There was time for a local wander before the evening meal, and on our doorstep, we found several interesting species including Lesser Spotted Fritillary, Oriental Marbled Skipper (a lifer for Bob) and, very excitingly, several Little Tiger Blues (a lifer for both of us). I was hoping to bag around half a dozen lifers during this trip, while Bob stood to gain several dozen, so this was a good start. Little Tiger Blues would turn up at a few locations in small numbers over the next week.
Lesser Spotted Fritillary
Little Tiger Blue
We had a fabulous evening meal sat outside looking out across Lake Kerkini. Buffalo is big on the menu in this part of Greece – Buffalo Steak, Buffalo Kebab, Buffalo Sausage – and we all enjoyed it in various forms over the next four nights. As the evening wore on a Lattice Brown flew in from across the way and roosted up in the tree above our heads.
Wednesday 14th June was our first full day in Greece, and we set off for a site close to the Greek/North Macedonian border, a known location for Tessellated Skipper which was high on our “most wanted” list. I knew that the butterfly had been seen a week earlier in good condition, so it was both surprising and disappointing that despite spending four hours there with four keen pairs of eyes, we failed to locate this species. But there was compensation in the form of good numbers of Balkan Marbled Whites, more Little Tiger Blues, Eastern Baton Blues, a good showing of Nettle-tree butterfly, Ilex Hairstreaks, a few Lattice Browns and a phenomenal number of Great Banded Graylings, plus many other butterflies.
Eastern Baton Blue male and female
Balkan Marbled White
Habitat of Balkan Marbled White
The warm weather of the morning gave way to an overcast afternoon which became increasingly humid before rain arrived. This would set the pattern for the next week. We battled with increasingly cloudy but humid conditions for a few more days, and our first weekend was blighted by some significant rainfall. While the UK was basking in a heatwave, we were experiencing an unseasonably cool and dank Greek non-summer. The locals were wearing coats and hats, and quite possibly, although I lack confirmatory evidence, thermal underwear, and they were viewing us crazy T-shirt and shorts-clad imposters with something approaching concern and disbelief.
I think Thursday was probably our worst day for near misses on the butterfly front. We had set off early for the drive up to a wonderful mosaic of meadow and woodland habitat right next to the Greek/Bulgarian border. This was a remarkably beautiful site with some amazing flowers, but the weather remained mostly overcast and humid, with little flying. We had the potential here to find species such as Common Glider, Freyer’s Purple Emperor, Sandy Grizzled Skipper etc, but we found none of the above. Nevertheless we did see almost 50 species here, including Hungarian Skipper, Large Copper, Iolas Blue (quite possibly the same individual seen mud-puddling on the Greenwings tour but now in a rather ragged state), all more lifers for Bob who was racking up ticks at a rapid rate. Also present were Twin-spot, Knapweed, Spotted, Lesser Spotted, Marbled, Silver-washed and Queen of Spain Fritillaries, plus Sloe, Ilex and White-letter Hairstreaks, and the only Eastern Wood White of the fortnight.
Marbled Fritillary
Twin-spot Fritillary
Sloe Hairstreak
Queen of Spain
At one point as Bob and I wandered along the edge of a meadow next to the river we heard an enormous splash as something large and heavy landed in the water. Bear? Boar? We opted not to tell the girls about this until later! I tempered my disappointment with the lack of Gliders and Emperors by reflecting on the fact that we still had plenty of days left to find them, and we returned to the hotel content with having spent the day in such lovely habitat. As well as the legendary welcome from the local Greeks, we were also being made to feel at home by the local dog fraternity. I made a great new friend in the form of a lovely bitch called Saggi, who would greet me every morning and accompany me on my pre-breakfast stroll.
Arriving back at the hotel tonight, Veronica was just getting out of the car when she exclaimed “Oh, I’ve knocked a dog out!” I wasn’t sure at first if this was a euphemism, or some form of Scouse slang that I was unfamiliar with, but no, she had indeed opened the rear door of the car and whacked one of the local canines in the head, such was their keenness to come and greet us on our return…
Saggi the dog
Friday 16th was earmarked for higher altitude meandering as we drove south-east towards Serres and then ascended towards the Lailias Ski centre, stopping on the way while the sun was still shining to investigate some rich habitat. As soon as we had parked up and got out of the car, we had blues and skippers flying around us. One Pyrgus type in particular grabbed our attention. It was a good size, and we soon had photographs of the first Yellow-banded Skipper of the holiday.
Yellow-banded Skipper
Common Blues were numerous, and other species such as Eastern Baton, Mazarine, Escher’s and Holly Blues were flying around, but there was something rather different on the wing here, a lighter coloured blue that seemed to be hanging around areas where Geranium was growing. They were rather active. Eventually one sat down and enabled us to identify it as the lovely Blue Argus, another all-round lifer! There were plenty of them about and it was good to get to know the Blue Argus quite well and learn to identify it in flight.
Blue Argus
I was surprised that Green Hairstreaks were still flying in good numbers, rather later in the year than I suspect is normal for this part of the world. A couple of Large Tortoiseshells put in appearances and were thoroughly checked to make sure we weren’t misidentifying them – Scarce (Yellow-legged) Tortoiseshell was a distinct possibility in this area (more on that later). Woodland Ringlet was about in small numbers, Vicki found a single Duke of Burgundy, and there was the usual supporting cast of fritillaries, Clouded Yellows and others, including a few Hungarian Skippers.
Large Tortoiseshell
Hungarian Skipper
Clouded Yellow f.helice
Having filled our boots with photos we then continued our ascent to the Ski slope proper, only to find the weather worsening all the time. On arrival at the foot of the slope we just had enough time for a half hour mooch before the cloud descended, but during that half hour we found excellent numbers of fresh Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, a few Woodland Ringlets, Dingy, Grizzled, Hungarian and Essex Skippers and a Northern Wall Brown, plus Queen of Spain Fritillary, Small and Sooty Coppers, Clouded Yellows, Small Tortoiseshells, Common Blues and a Green-veined White.
Northern Wall Brown
Woodland Ringlet
Pearl-bordered Fritillary
We left before the rain began, heading back to the hotel to the usual canine welcome and another superb evening meal, this time sat under cover as the heavens opened. In celebration of Blue Argus and the other delights, we hit the wine quite heavily!
Part 2 to follow...
Our initial plan had been to take in some key sites in the Lake Kerkini area, staying for four nights, then cross over into Southwest Bulgaria for four nights before returning to the Rhodopi mountains, but due to restrictions on taking the hire car across the Greek/Bulgarian border, the Bulgarian leg of this tour had to be amputated at the last minute, and some speedy rearrangements were made to our accommodation and itinerary. I had fortunately read the small print in the hire car contract a week before we departed. It turns out there is only one car hire company operating out of Thessaloniki Airport that will allow you to take their cars across into Bulgaria. This company wanted an extortionate £1958 to take the car into Bulgaria for 4 nights, and we wouldn’t have been insured or had breakdown cover whilst we were there! Needless to say, we declined to take that particular option and ended up with a much more competitively priced Hyundai Tucson which transported the four of us quite comfortably, along with all of our luggage.
I was aware that we were travelling in the wake of the Greenwings Tour, and although we were a week later arriving, we would be seeking a lot of similar species and visiting a few sites that the tour had passed through before us. The timing of this trip was a bit of a gamble, plus, the season was running late, and we would find ourselves battling the weather on two fronts. Firstly, April, May and early June had been uncharacteristically cool and wet out here, as we would be reliably informed by staff at our first, second and third hotels. And secondly, we would find ourselves up against ongoing unsettled weather for the entire first week of our holiday.
But we knew little about this as we picked up the hire car and headed north towards our first base, a lovely hotel near the south of Lake Kerkini. Of course, we had to pause en route for a quick look around, and so began the butterfly action. Our first stop was about a mile south of Lithotopos, at what would normally be a dry riverbed, but this year was in full flow – a sure sign of the recent inclemency. The weather today was overcast but mild, and soon we had seen a few Clouded Yellows, Common Blues, Small Heaths, a Small Copper and a Sooty Copper. A rather different looking vividly coloured copper caught our eyes, a gorgeous male Lesser Fiery Copper! This was a lifer for Bob. I had only ever seen the female of this species before, not the male, so I was trawling around for a term for this experience and decided we needed to coin the phrase “half-lifer”, to denote the first time that you see the other gender of a sexually dimorphic species. Nothing to do with radioactive decay rates, merely a phrase for the first experience of a not-before seen “other-half” of a seasonally or sexually dimorphic insect. Think Map Butterfly or Orange-tip. You get my gist.
Lesser Fiery Copper
Had we known in advance that this would be the only Lesser Fiery Copper of the entire trip, we might have spent longer with it, but after a minute or two it flew off and we left it in peace as we continued our journey to the Hotel Erodius, where we received a very warm Greek welcome and got settled into our rooms. There was time for a local wander before the evening meal, and on our doorstep, we found several interesting species including Lesser Spotted Fritillary, Oriental Marbled Skipper (a lifer for Bob) and, very excitingly, several Little Tiger Blues (a lifer for both of us). I was hoping to bag around half a dozen lifers during this trip, while Bob stood to gain several dozen, so this was a good start. Little Tiger Blues would turn up at a few locations in small numbers over the next week.
Lesser Spotted Fritillary
Little Tiger Blue
We had a fabulous evening meal sat outside looking out across Lake Kerkini. Buffalo is big on the menu in this part of Greece – Buffalo Steak, Buffalo Kebab, Buffalo Sausage – and we all enjoyed it in various forms over the next four nights. As the evening wore on a Lattice Brown flew in from across the way and roosted up in the tree above our heads.
Wednesday 14th June was our first full day in Greece, and we set off for a site close to the Greek/North Macedonian border, a known location for Tessellated Skipper which was high on our “most wanted” list. I knew that the butterfly had been seen a week earlier in good condition, so it was both surprising and disappointing that despite spending four hours there with four keen pairs of eyes, we failed to locate this species. But there was compensation in the form of good numbers of Balkan Marbled Whites, more Little Tiger Blues, Eastern Baton Blues, a good showing of Nettle-tree butterfly, Ilex Hairstreaks, a few Lattice Browns and a phenomenal number of Great Banded Graylings, plus many other butterflies.
Eastern Baton Blue male and female
Balkan Marbled White
Habitat of Balkan Marbled White
The warm weather of the morning gave way to an overcast afternoon which became increasingly humid before rain arrived. This would set the pattern for the next week. We battled with increasingly cloudy but humid conditions for a few more days, and our first weekend was blighted by some significant rainfall. While the UK was basking in a heatwave, we were experiencing an unseasonably cool and dank Greek non-summer. The locals were wearing coats and hats, and quite possibly, although I lack confirmatory evidence, thermal underwear, and they were viewing us crazy T-shirt and shorts-clad imposters with something approaching concern and disbelief.
I think Thursday was probably our worst day for near misses on the butterfly front. We had set off early for the drive up to a wonderful mosaic of meadow and woodland habitat right next to the Greek/Bulgarian border. This was a remarkably beautiful site with some amazing flowers, but the weather remained mostly overcast and humid, with little flying. We had the potential here to find species such as Common Glider, Freyer’s Purple Emperor, Sandy Grizzled Skipper etc, but we found none of the above. Nevertheless we did see almost 50 species here, including Hungarian Skipper, Large Copper, Iolas Blue (quite possibly the same individual seen mud-puddling on the Greenwings tour but now in a rather ragged state), all more lifers for Bob who was racking up ticks at a rapid rate. Also present were Twin-spot, Knapweed, Spotted, Lesser Spotted, Marbled, Silver-washed and Queen of Spain Fritillaries, plus Sloe, Ilex and White-letter Hairstreaks, and the only Eastern Wood White of the fortnight.
Marbled Fritillary
Twin-spot Fritillary
Sloe Hairstreak
Queen of Spain
At one point as Bob and I wandered along the edge of a meadow next to the river we heard an enormous splash as something large and heavy landed in the water. Bear? Boar? We opted not to tell the girls about this until later! I tempered my disappointment with the lack of Gliders and Emperors by reflecting on the fact that we still had plenty of days left to find them, and we returned to the hotel content with having spent the day in such lovely habitat. As well as the legendary welcome from the local Greeks, we were also being made to feel at home by the local dog fraternity. I made a great new friend in the form of a lovely bitch called Saggi, who would greet me every morning and accompany me on my pre-breakfast stroll.
Arriving back at the hotel tonight, Veronica was just getting out of the car when she exclaimed “Oh, I’ve knocked a dog out!” I wasn’t sure at first if this was a euphemism, or some form of Scouse slang that I was unfamiliar with, but no, she had indeed opened the rear door of the car and whacked one of the local canines in the head, such was their keenness to come and greet us on our return…
Saggi the dog
Friday 16th was earmarked for higher altitude meandering as we drove south-east towards Serres and then ascended towards the Lailias Ski centre, stopping on the way while the sun was still shining to investigate some rich habitat. As soon as we had parked up and got out of the car, we had blues and skippers flying around us. One Pyrgus type in particular grabbed our attention. It was a good size, and we soon had photographs of the first Yellow-banded Skipper of the holiday.
Yellow-banded Skipper
Common Blues were numerous, and other species such as Eastern Baton, Mazarine, Escher’s and Holly Blues were flying around, but there was something rather different on the wing here, a lighter coloured blue that seemed to be hanging around areas where Geranium was growing. They were rather active. Eventually one sat down and enabled us to identify it as the lovely Blue Argus, another all-round lifer! There were plenty of them about and it was good to get to know the Blue Argus quite well and learn to identify it in flight.
Blue Argus
I was surprised that Green Hairstreaks were still flying in good numbers, rather later in the year than I suspect is normal for this part of the world. A couple of Large Tortoiseshells put in appearances and were thoroughly checked to make sure we weren’t misidentifying them – Scarce (Yellow-legged) Tortoiseshell was a distinct possibility in this area (more on that later). Woodland Ringlet was about in small numbers, Vicki found a single Duke of Burgundy, and there was the usual supporting cast of fritillaries, Clouded Yellows and others, including a few Hungarian Skippers.
Large Tortoiseshell
Hungarian Skipper
Clouded Yellow f.helice
Having filled our boots with photos we then continued our ascent to the Ski slope proper, only to find the weather worsening all the time. On arrival at the foot of the slope we just had enough time for a half hour mooch before the cloud descended, but during that half hour we found excellent numbers of fresh Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, a few Woodland Ringlets, Dingy, Grizzled, Hungarian and Essex Skippers and a Northern Wall Brown, plus Queen of Spain Fritillary, Small and Sooty Coppers, Clouded Yellows, Small Tortoiseshells, Common Blues and a Green-veined White.
Northern Wall Brown
Woodland Ringlet
Pearl-bordered Fritillary
We left before the rain began, heading back to the hotel to the usual canine welcome and another superb evening meal, this time sat under cover as the heavens opened. In celebration of Blue Argus and the other delights, we hit the wine quite heavily!
Part 2 to follow...
Last edited by petesmith on Sat Jul 01, 2023 1:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Part 2
Due to the rearrangement of our itinerary and the cancellation of Bulgaria, we had to move to another hotel on Saturday, so we packed up and went for a last breakfast at Hotel One. The weather had taken over our thoughts. This wasn’t Greek weather. I pressed Bob for the latest forecast over breakfast. He wasn’t firing on all cylinders this morning, possibly due to the sheer volume of wine consumed last night. “It’s going to be 17 degrees today, 18 tomorrow, then 19 the next day, then 20 then 21”. This didn’t sound promising, “Oh hang on, no, those are the dates”. Hmmm…
We had a bit of brightness and a few hours to kill before we checked into our next hotel at the northern end of Lake Kerkini, so we investigated an area up in the wooded hills north of Mandraki, where we found huge numbers of Nettle-tree butterflies, all freshly emerged and landing all over the floor. We must have seen over 50 along one particular 100 metre stretch. They were everywhere!
Nettle-tree butterfly
I also nearly trod on a very large light brown snake. Later that afternoon, having checked into the Hotel Villa Belles for the next two nights, we found similar numbers of Nettle-tree butterflies all along the roadsides leading from the hotel to the local taverna (the hotel restaurant was closed, so we walked the mile to and from the nearest village both nights to eat). The larval foodplant was growing in abundance along the hedgerows. We also found a roosting Large Tortoiseshell. The area around the hotel looked good but, all in all, the weekend weather was pretty dire, and the butterflies were disappointing. We even risked a return visit to the Bulgarian border in one last attempt to find Gliders and Emperors but were defeated again by the overcast humid conditions.
On Monday morning we left the Kerkini area behind us and moved further east towards our next base in the Rhodopi mountains. On the way we stopped off at the famous mount Falakro, where again we were plagued by low hanging cloud. However, we did disturb a rather interesting blue near the top. It appeared much like a Common Blue, but significantly larger than any Common Blue I have ever seen. It led us a merry chase over some low grassland and rocky areas before I eventually managed to get a couple of underside shots. Getting it to open its wings up was another matter, but eventually, after breathing warm breath onto it and attempting to simulate sunshine and cloud with some judicious positioning of hands, it opened. Without genitalia examination I am not sure how reliably this can be identified, but I am putting it out there as a putative Phalakron Blue, with a heavy dose of reservation. I think the location may be adversely affecting my judgement! I am now even contemplating it as a particularly large Adonis with a worn fringe...
?Phalakron Blue
Mount Falakro
Our hotel in the Rhodopis was out of this world. The owners spoke no English, but the wife was adept in her use of google translate, and we got along very well. It wasn’t long before she had our entire life histories, and the welcome was as warm as any we have ever had in Greece. She and her husband looked after us as if we were kings, and the food over the four nights was to die for. The local dog, Lulu, was also gorgeous and she became a great friend, joining us for dinner every night and accompanying Bob on his early morning meanderings/cigarette breaks. The location wasn’t half bad either; we spent several days walking in the lower part of the hills here, including getting up into “bear country”.
Lulu
Rhodopi habitat
Bear Country
Ilex Hairstreakswere around in plague proportions, literally hundreds every twenty metres or so, and one morning Vicki spotted a mating pair of Southern White Admirals, a species I have not seen in cop before.
Southern White Admirals in cop
On Wednesday we decided to make a return visit to mount Falakro, hoping for better weather conditions. We visited a known site for Dil’s Grayling halfway up, but as expected, we were too early in the season to stand any chance of finding it. There were more Blue Argus on the wing here, again seemingly magnetically attached to the Geranium plants, where they were also joined by fair numbers of Geranium Argus. A female Chequered Blue provided a lifer for Bob and a half-lifer for me. Skippers here included Large, Small, Mallow, Dingy, Grizzled, Safflower, Olive and Hungarian Skippers. Mountain Small Whites were common, and as we moved higher up so too were Turquoise Blues.
Geranium Argus
Female Chequered Blue
Mountain Small White
At 1650m above sea level we had the unexpected pleasure of seeing three Clouded Apollos; they weren't stopping for photographs but more excitement was to come. I was keen to find Eastern Large Heath, and sure enough we did find a handful on the wing, but they too weren’t settling. This was a lifer for me, and I needed photographs. After considerable effort I managed a couple of record shots when one finally alighted in front of me.
Eastern Large Heath
The four of us had split up at this point. I had eyes only for Eastern Large Heath. Bob meanwhile was lower down by the road and had photographed a “Large Tortoiseshell” on a rock face. Only after getting home to the UK did he get chance to examine the shot and find out that it was actually a Scarce (Yellow-legged) Tortoiseshell! I missed out on this one, much to my dismay, but have seen the photographic evidence and it is conclusive. Vicki had been chasing two Duke of Burgundy butterflies in the most unlikely location I have ever seen this species, a damp gully at 1700m altitude, with little scrub or shelter, but plenty of primula. She managed to fall on a rock and make a right mess of her leg whilst up there, simultaneously smashing up her camera to the point of no repair, a salutary reminder of the hazards of mountain terrain, and also a reminder to myself that a first aid kit, however basic, really should accompany me in my rucksack for future forays. Bleeding was stemmed and we returned to the car to regroup as a four. At this point Bob pointed out a small, yellow butterfly that was flying up the hillside at great speed. It was less than half the size of the Clouded Yellow it was chasing off, and realistically there was only one species it could be, one of Europe’s rarest Pierids, but it wasn’t giving us a chance to confirm its ID. We had two further brief glimpses of it before leaving, but more on this subject to follow later…
On Thursday we spent the best part of the day walking along a canyon to the northwest of Drama, where we found excellent numbers of Eastern Festoons. There were several dozen on the wing here, and also good numbers of mud-puddling whites, amongst which were Mountain Small, Southern Small, Green-veined and Wood White; this provided a great opportunity to appreciate the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in markings and flight patterns of these closely related insects. A Cardinal, a species high on Bob’s hitlist, finally appeared, the first of the holiday, and gave us a fabulous aerial display, flying up and down the canopy and along the canyon for several minutes. It was joined by a second one later. Common, Adonis, Osiris and Eastern Baton Blues were also mud-puddling at this site.
Eastern Festoon
Cardinal
Adonis Blue
Mountain, Southern Small, Green-veined and Wood Whites
I think we all fell a little in love with the Rhodopis, the scenery, the authentically rural Greekness of our hotel and tiny village base, and the lovely couple who hosted us. We were gifted bottles of wine and some wildflowers “for tea” during our stay. So, it was with a tinge of sadness that we left the Rhodopis behind us on Friday 23rd and headed towards the coast just west of Kavala for our final four nights.
Part 3 to follow…
Due to the rearrangement of our itinerary and the cancellation of Bulgaria, we had to move to another hotel on Saturday, so we packed up and went for a last breakfast at Hotel One. The weather had taken over our thoughts. This wasn’t Greek weather. I pressed Bob for the latest forecast over breakfast. He wasn’t firing on all cylinders this morning, possibly due to the sheer volume of wine consumed last night. “It’s going to be 17 degrees today, 18 tomorrow, then 19 the next day, then 20 then 21”. This didn’t sound promising, “Oh hang on, no, those are the dates”. Hmmm…
We had a bit of brightness and a few hours to kill before we checked into our next hotel at the northern end of Lake Kerkini, so we investigated an area up in the wooded hills north of Mandraki, where we found huge numbers of Nettle-tree butterflies, all freshly emerged and landing all over the floor. We must have seen over 50 along one particular 100 metre stretch. They were everywhere!
Nettle-tree butterfly
I also nearly trod on a very large light brown snake. Later that afternoon, having checked into the Hotel Villa Belles for the next two nights, we found similar numbers of Nettle-tree butterflies all along the roadsides leading from the hotel to the local taverna (the hotel restaurant was closed, so we walked the mile to and from the nearest village both nights to eat). The larval foodplant was growing in abundance along the hedgerows. We also found a roosting Large Tortoiseshell. The area around the hotel looked good but, all in all, the weekend weather was pretty dire, and the butterflies were disappointing. We even risked a return visit to the Bulgarian border in one last attempt to find Gliders and Emperors but were defeated again by the overcast humid conditions.
On Monday morning we left the Kerkini area behind us and moved further east towards our next base in the Rhodopi mountains. On the way we stopped off at the famous mount Falakro, where again we were plagued by low hanging cloud. However, we did disturb a rather interesting blue near the top. It appeared much like a Common Blue, but significantly larger than any Common Blue I have ever seen. It led us a merry chase over some low grassland and rocky areas before I eventually managed to get a couple of underside shots. Getting it to open its wings up was another matter, but eventually, after breathing warm breath onto it and attempting to simulate sunshine and cloud with some judicious positioning of hands, it opened. Without genitalia examination I am not sure how reliably this can be identified, but I am putting it out there as a putative Phalakron Blue, with a heavy dose of reservation. I think the location may be adversely affecting my judgement! I am now even contemplating it as a particularly large Adonis with a worn fringe...
?Phalakron Blue
Mount Falakro
Our hotel in the Rhodopis was out of this world. The owners spoke no English, but the wife was adept in her use of google translate, and we got along very well. It wasn’t long before she had our entire life histories, and the welcome was as warm as any we have ever had in Greece. She and her husband looked after us as if we were kings, and the food over the four nights was to die for. The local dog, Lulu, was also gorgeous and she became a great friend, joining us for dinner every night and accompanying Bob on his early morning meanderings/cigarette breaks. The location wasn’t half bad either; we spent several days walking in the lower part of the hills here, including getting up into “bear country”.
Lulu
Rhodopi habitat
Bear Country
Ilex Hairstreakswere around in plague proportions, literally hundreds every twenty metres or so, and one morning Vicki spotted a mating pair of Southern White Admirals, a species I have not seen in cop before.
Southern White Admirals in cop
On Wednesday we decided to make a return visit to mount Falakro, hoping for better weather conditions. We visited a known site for Dil’s Grayling halfway up, but as expected, we were too early in the season to stand any chance of finding it. There were more Blue Argus on the wing here, again seemingly magnetically attached to the Geranium plants, where they were also joined by fair numbers of Geranium Argus. A female Chequered Blue provided a lifer for Bob and a half-lifer for me. Skippers here included Large, Small, Mallow, Dingy, Grizzled, Safflower, Olive and Hungarian Skippers. Mountain Small Whites were common, and as we moved higher up so too were Turquoise Blues.
Geranium Argus
Female Chequered Blue
Mountain Small White
At 1650m above sea level we had the unexpected pleasure of seeing three Clouded Apollos; they weren't stopping for photographs but more excitement was to come. I was keen to find Eastern Large Heath, and sure enough we did find a handful on the wing, but they too weren’t settling. This was a lifer for me, and I needed photographs. After considerable effort I managed a couple of record shots when one finally alighted in front of me.
Eastern Large Heath
The four of us had split up at this point. I had eyes only for Eastern Large Heath. Bob meanwhile was lower down by the road and had photographed a “Large Tortoiseshell” on a rock face. Only after getting home to the UK did he get chance to examine the shot and find out that it was actually a Scarce (Yellow-legged) Tortoiseshell! I missed out on this one, much to my dismay, but have seen the photographic evidence and it is conclusive. Vicki had been chasing two Duke of Burgundy butterflies in the most unlikely location I have ever seen this species, a damp gully at 1700m altitude, with little scrub or shelter, but plenty of primula. She managed to fall on a rock and make a right mess of her leg whilst up there, simultaneously smashing up her camera to the point of no repair, a salutary reminder of the hazards of mountain terrain, and also a reminder to myself that a first aid kit, however basic, really should accompany me in my rucksack for future forays. Bleeding was stemmed and we returned to the car to regroup as a four. At this point Bob pointed out a small, yellow butterfly that was flying up the hillside at great speed. It was less than half the size of the Clouded Yellow it was chasing off, and realistically there was only one species it could be, one of Europe’s rarest Pierids, but it wasn’t giving us a chance to confirm its ID. We had two further brief glimpses of it before leaving, but more on this subject to follow later…
On Thursday we spent the best part of the day walking along a canyon to the northwest of Drama, where we found excellent numbers of Eastern Festoons. There were several dozen on the wing here, and also good numbers of mud-puddling whites, amongst which were Mountain Small, Southern Small, Green-veined and Wood White; this provided a great opportunity to appreciate the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in markings and flight patterns of these closely related insects. A Cardinal, a species high on Bob’s hitlist, finally appeared, the first of the holiday, and gave us a fabulous aerial display, flying up and down the canopy and along the canyon for several minutes. It was joined by a second one later. Common, Adonis, Osiris and Eastern Baton Blues were also mud-puddling at this site.
Eastern Festoon
Cardinal
Adonis Blue
Mountain, Southern Small, Green-veined and Wood Whites
I think we all fell a little in love with the Rhodopis, the scenery, the authentically rural Greekness of our hotel and tiny village base, and the lovely couple who hosted us. We were gifted bottles of wine and some wildflowers “for tea” during our stay. So, it was with a tinge of sadness that we left the Rhodopis behind us on Friday 23rd and headed towards the coast just west of Kavala for our final four nights.
Part 3 to follow…
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Despite the poor weather and injuries, I'm loving this write up Pete!
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Thanks Paul - I hope you will enjoy part three!
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Part 3
On the way to our final base we decided to pay a visit to Mount Pangaion, and here for the first time since arriving in Thessaloniki the Sat Nav made a bit of an error. Me and Mrs Nav had been getting on quite well this time. I mean, no budding romance or anything, but certainly we hadn’t fallen out at all yet, and to her credit she had done some sterling work getting us from alpha to beta to gamma and beyond. However, it appears that to get up Pangaion, she wished us to off-road it through a gated monastery and along some highly dubious dirt tracks. I had to defer to Bob and the map and go analogue.
We found the right road, and what a road it was! In disrepair, narrow, winding, falling apart and pot-holed in places, grass growing up through it. And it went on forever! We saw no other traffic for over an hour, other than a group of mules being led by a presumed local to God only knows where. At one point two figures appeared on the road ahead of us, two dark-skinned men with large rucksacks on their backs. As soon as they heard and saw our car, they legged it at great speed across the road and quite literally dived into the vegetation to get out of sight. They really did not want to be seen. When we drove past the point where they had dived there was no sign of them. What their story was we can only guess, but the fear on their faces was palpable. On reaching the top of Pangaion, the weather had once again done its clouding over thing and we saw very little of interest other than a few Southern Small Whites and the odd Painted Lady, Adonis and Common Blue. It was a long drive home to our final coastal base at Nea Peramos; once again, kudos to my passengers for tolerating all of my driving with very few screams of terror or pleas to deities.
Our apartment here on the coast was situated in a rather more touristy place than our previous accommodation. I had a bit of motion dizziness from the drive, which only cleared after a good bottle of wine. We had a small collection of bottles of red, including 4 with appropriate images on the front.
wine
Being based at the seaside for the end of our trip gave the girls a chance to unwind after days of intense and relentless butterflying, and it also gave me a chance to do a bit less driving. Bob and I did a couple of morning trips out, firstly to the Nestos Delta where we caught up with the only Grecian Copper of the trip so far – a lovely female - and also a few more Cardinals. Our second morning trip was to a dry stream bed where we had the only Eastern Bath White of the fortnight.
Grecian Copper female
Eastern Bath White
But the unexpected highlight of the entire holiday was to take place on our penultimate day, Sunday 25th June. We had no idea when we got up for breakfast that this day would find us getting up close and personal with two of Europe’s rarest and most difficult to approach Pierid species. After a good breakfast of ham, eggs and Greek yoghurt at our two-bedroomed apartment, we drove up to the viewpoint overlooking the Nestos gorge and river. The road was winding and very narrow in places. Mrs Nav had taken us on a slightly less direct route than she might have, but it was a fun drive and fortunately, even though it was Sunday, there were no other cars on the road. As we pulled into the viewpoint and parked up, I had barely opened my door and got out of the car before a very fast, small, aggressive yellowish butterfly screamed past me in rapid pursuit of a Clouded Yellow, in a repeat performance of the scene by the roadside up Mount Falakro some days ago. Unmistakeably an Eastern Greenish Black-tip!
I didn’t have time to change into my walking boots. I grabbed my camera just as the butterfly came back towards me, having seen off the much bigger Clouded Yellow. It looked like it was about to land when another of its own kind came up the hill. Two Eastern Greenish Black-tips! They engaged in a vicious dogfight, spiralling up into the air for about a hundred feet, almost disappearing from view. While they were so engaged, a further two appeared. I had four in one vista for a brief moment. Incredible. This is a very rare and localised butterfly, seldom seen and the males must be one of the most aggressive, energetic butterflies on the European list. We spent several hours watching them. The males rarely sit down – rather, they patrol vigorously and continuously, chasing off any other butterfly that appears, especially their own kind, desperate to take control of their hill topping area and thereby give themselves the best chance of pairing up with any female that should happen to appear on the scene. It was mesmerising to observe them, but very difficult to get photographs. Whilst I couldn’t tear myself away from them, Bob was busy finding more Grecian Coppers up there, this time males, and there were plenty of Ilex Hairstreaks, plus a few very fresh Blue-spot Hairstreaks, alongside the usual mix of blues, fritillaries, skippers, Balkan Marbled Whites, Marbled Whites, Scarce Swallowtails and others.
Blue-spot Hairstreak
Eastern Greenish Black-tip
Eastern Greenish Black-tip habitat
After lunch we opted to descend to the gorge itself and have a walk alongside the Nestos River. It was exceedingly warm down here. The heat from the sun was hitting us directly, but also bouncing off the limestone at us as well. There were a few whites knocking about, including Southern Small and Mountain Small Whites, but I was looking for one in particular, and I reckoned I would know it in flight if I saw it.
After walking for half a mile or so there was no sign of the near-mythical beast, so, feeling the heat, we turned around and headed back but just before we left the limestone sides of the gorge a white appeared and started flying up and down the rock faces. I recognised this behaviour. It eventually landed at rather an awkward angle, but I got my binoculars onto it. I was seeing more black markings than on the average white. “Bob, you might want to photograph this!” Bob hadn’t even got his camera out at this point, so a rapid panic ensued, and the butterfly moved on, only to land again at nectar in a far more amenable position. Moving in close, we beheld the marvellous sight of a fresh, summer brood Krueper’s Small White.
Krueper’s Small White
Krueper’s Small White habitat
Two great lifers for Bob. One lifer and one half-lifer for me. One hell of a day out!
We saw a lot of Greece during this fortnight, from lakes to mountains, tiny villages, big towns, many different habitats, lots of amazing wildlife (I am no birder, but the bird life around Lake Kerkini was phenomenal), many tortoises (usually crossing the road), a fantastic range of butterflies, including a handful of lifers for me and a sock-drawer full for Bob, plus weird spiders, mantids, spoon-tailed lacewings and many other fascinating insects. The flora was beautiful and diverse, especially in the hills. Coastal areas were already beginning to get that burnt-off look about them in places. The company was splendid, and there were many laughs along the way. The hire car did us proud over the 1958 kilometers travelled. The Greeks as always were the epitome of the welcoming host, and the food was superb. Even the dogs were friendly, which has not been my experience elsewhere in Greece in the past. If we missed out on some of our main target species, it wasn’t for the lack of trying, and as always it just means a return visit will be required in the future!
Crickets
Preying Mantis
Spoon-tailed Lacewing
Spider
The Crew
Thanks are due to Dave P and Simon S for help and advice, special thanks to David M for the same, and for a real-time update while we were out there. And huge thanks to our respective wives for their enduring tolerance of their respective husbands’ ongoing relentless obsession with all things Lepidopterous!
On the way to our final base we decided to pay a visit to Mount Pangaion, and here for the first time since arriving in Thessaloniki the Sat Nav made a bit of an error. Me and Mrs Nav had been getting on quite well this time. I mean, no budding romance or anything, but certainly we hadn’t fallen out at all yet, and to her credit she had done some sterling work getting us from alpha to beta to gamma and beyond. However, it appears that to get up Pangaion, she wished us to off-road it through a gated monastery and along some highly dubious dirt tracks. I had to defer to Bob and the map and go analogue.
We found the right road, and what a road it was! In disrepair, narrow, winding, falling apart and pot-holed in places, grass growing up through it. And it went on forever! We saw no other traffic for over an hour, other than a group of mules being led by a presumed local to God only knows where. At one point two figures appeared on the road ahead of us, two dark-skinned men with large rucksacks on their backs. As soon as they heard and saw our car, they legged it at great speed across the road and quite literally dived into the vegetation to get out of sight. They really did not want to be seen. When we drove past the point where they had dived there was no sign of them. What their story was we can only guess, but the fear on their faces was palpable. On reaching the top of Pangaion, the weather had once again done its clouding over thing and we saw very little of interest other than a few Southern Small Whites and the odd Painted Lady, Adonis and Common Blue. It was a long drive home to our final coastal base at Nea Peramos; once again, kudos to my passengers for tolerating all of my driving with very few screams of terror or pleas to deities.
Our apartment here on the coast was situated in a rather more touristy place than our previous accommodation. I had a bit of motion dizziness from the drive, which only cleared after a good bottle of wine. We had a small collection of bottles of red, including 4 with appropriate images on the front.
wine
Being based at the seaside for the end of our trip gave the girls a chance to unwind after days of intense and relentless butterflying, and it also gave me a chance to do a bit less driving. Bob and I did a couple of morning trips out, firstly to the Nestos Delta where we caught up with the only Grecian Copper of the trip so far – a lovely female - and also a few more Cardinals. Our second morning trip was to a dry stream bed where we had the only Eastern Bath White of the fortnight.
Grecian Copper female
Eastern Bath White
But the unexpected highlight of the entire holiday was to take place on our penultimate day, Sunday 25th June. We had no idea when we got up for breakfast that this day would find us getting up close and personal with two of Europe’s rarest and most difficult to approach Pierid species. After a good breakfast of ham, eggs and Greek yoghurt at our two-bedroomed apartment, we drove up to the viewpoint overlooking the Nestos gorge and river. The road was winding and very narrow in places. Mrs Nav had taken us on a slightly less direct route than she might have, but it was a fun drive and fortunately, even though it was Sunday, there were no other cars on the road. As we pulled into the viewpoint and parked up, I had barely opened my door and got out of the car before a very fast, small, aggressive yellowish butterfly screamed past me in rapid pursuit of a Clouded Yellow, in a repeat performance of the scene by the roadside up Mount Falakro some days ago. Unmistakeably an Eastern Greenish Black-tip!
I didn’t have time to change into my walking boots. I grabbed my camera just as the butterfly came back towards me, having seen off the much bigger Clouded Yellow. It looked like it was about to land when another of its own kind came up the hill. Two Eastern Greenish Black-tips! They engaged in a vicious dogfight, spiralling up into the air for about a hundred feet, almost disappearing from view. While they were so engaged, a further two appeared. I had four in one vista for a brief moment. Incredible. This is a very rare and localised butterfly, seldom seen and the males must be one of the most aggressive, energetic butterflies on the European list. We spent several hours watching them. The males rarely sit down – rather, they patrol vigorously and continuously, chasing off any other butterfly that appears, especially their own kind, desperate to take control of their hill topping area and thereby give themselves the best chance of pairing up with any female that should happen to appear on the scene. It was mesmerising to observe them, but very difficult to get photographs. Whilst I couldn’t tear myself away from them, Bob was busy finding more Grecian Coppers up there, this time males, and there were plenty of Ilex Hairstreaks, plus a few very fresh Blue-spot Hairstreaks, alongside the usual mix of blues, fritillaries, skippers, Balkan Marbled Whites, Marbled Whites, Scarce Swallowtails and others.
Blue-spot Hairstreak
Eastern Greenish Black-tip
Eastern Greenish Black-tip habitat
After lunch we opted to descend to the gorge itself and have a walk alongside the Nestos River. It was exceedingly warm down here. The heat from the sun was hitting us directly, but also bouncing off the limestone at us as well. There were a few whites knocking about, including Southern Small and Mountain Small Whites, but I was looking for one in particular, and I reckoned I would know it in flight if I saw it.
After walking for half a mile or so there was no sign of the near-mythical beast, so, feeling the heat, we turned around and headed back but just before we left the limestone sides of the gorge a white appeared and started flying up and down the rock faces. I recognised this behaviour. It eventually landed at rather an awkward angle, but I got my binoculars onto it. I was seeing more black markings than on the average white. “Bob, you might want to photograph this!” Bob hadn’t even got his camera out at this point, so a rapid panic ensued, and the butterfly moved on, only to land again at nectar in a far more amenable position. Moving in close, we beheld the marvellous sight of a fresh, summer brood Krueper’s Small White.
Krueper’s Small White
Krueper’s Small White habitat
Two great lifers for Bob. One lifer and one half-lifer for me. One hell of a day out!
We saw a lot of Greece during this fortnight, from lakes to mountains, tiny villages, big towns, many different habitats, lots of amazing wildlife (I am no birder, but the bird life around Lake Kerkini was phenomenal), many tortoises (usually crossing the road), a fantastic range of butterflies, including a handful of lifers for me and a sock-drawer full for Bob, plus weird spiders, mantids, spoon-tailed lacewings and many other fascinating insects. The flora was beautiful and diverse, especially in the hills. Coastal areas were already beginning to get that burnt-off look about them in places. The company was splendid, and there were many laughs along the way. The hire car did us proud over the 1958 kilometers travelled. The Greeks as always were the epitome of the welcoming host, and the food was superb. Even the dogs were friendly, which has not been my experience elsewhere in Greece in the past. If we missed out on some of our main target species, it wasn’t for the lack of trying, and as always it just means a return visit will be required in the future!
Crickets
Preying Mantis
Spoon-tailed Lacewing
Spider
The Crew
Thanks are due to Dave P and Simon S for help and advice, special thanks to David M for the same, and for a real-time update while we were out there. And huge thanks to our respective wives for their enduring tolerance of their respective husbands’ ongoing relentless obsession with all things Lepidopterous!
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Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Pete
What a trip, so many memories!
Here's my Yellow Legged Tortoiseshell picture.
I only got the one. To be honest I didn't give it too much attention as I was looking for Clouded Apollo's at the time. Wish I had now.
What a trip, so many memories!
Here's my Yellow Legged Tortoiseshell picture.
I only got the one. To be honest I didn't give it too much attention as I was looking for Clouded Apollo's at the time. Wish I had now.
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
You saw the Eastern Greenish Black-Tip at exactly the same location as I did in April 2022. They are a fab species aren't they.
And very jealous about the Kreuper's Small White. It's a bit of a bogey species for me, having been where it should be four times now, in different locations and different years. Every time, the season has been early, late etc. One day!
Thanks again for sharing such an entertaining trip report.
And very jealous about the Kreuper's Small White. It's a bit of a bogey species for me, having been where it should be four times now, in different locations and different years. Every time, the season has been early, late etc. One day!
Thanks again for sharing such an entertaining trip report.
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Paul - I had the same experience for years with krueperi! I searched many times in the Peloponnese and elsewhere for it, only seeing it for the first time, eventually, in Corfu at the end of May 2021. It was a great pleasure to see it again during this trip. Keep searching - it is a fantastic species!
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
It's what keeps us going back for more!
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Another huge effort from you, Pete. So disappointing that the weather caused problems as it did for our group not long before you arrived. It really has been an appalling season thus far in much of southern Europe.
Still, you found some wonderful stuff, especially kreuperi and penia.
Still, you found some wonderful stuff, especially kreuperi and penia.
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Bob - it was tremendous! I've just finished collating all of the records. We had 101 species in total, including 5 lifers for me.cecropia117 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 01, 2023 1:11 pm Pete
What a trip, so many memories!
Here's my Yellow Legged Tortoiseshell picture.
I only got the one. To be honest I didn't give it too much attention as I was looking for Clouded Apollo's at the time. Wish I had now.
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Thanks David. You could just imagine how incredible it could have been, given better weather! But as you say, we had plenty of great stuff anyway!David M wrote: ↑Sat Jul 01, 2023 3:56 pm Another huge effort from you, Pete. So disappointing that the weather caused problems as it did for our group not long before you arrived. It really has been an appalling season thus far in much of southern Europe.
Still, you found some wonderful stuff, especially kreuperi and penia.
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Thoroughly enjoyed this report, as I do all your reports Pete. Brilliant stuff, thanks for sharing it.
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Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Hi Pete
Thanks for a splendid report Pete, it is always interesting to read your reports, I am at the movment in Northern Italy and the weather here is really up and down.
john
Thanks for a splendid report Pete, it is always interesting to read your reports, I am at the movment in Northern Italy and the weather here is really up and down.
john
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Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
My best efforts from an unforgettable fortnight
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Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
The flora was amazing. My personal favourite was the Lizard Orchids.
I think the attached is Balkan Lizard Orchid Himatoglossom calcaratum subsp.jankae but may be wrong!
For such a striking plant, you could easily walk past without seeing them. They were over 2 feet tall and had no smell.
I think the attached is Balkan Lizard Orchid Himatoglossom calcaratum subsp.jankae but may be wrong!
For such a striking plant, you could easily walk past without seeing them. They were over 2 feet tall and had no smell.
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
And you got the only shot of a Southern Comma all fortnight!
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Thanks Steve - as always it is a pleasure writing these reports and reliving the highs and lows, thrills and disappointments - glad you enjoyed it!
Re: A Greek Meze: lifers, half-lifers, and near-misses in Macedonia
Thanks John - I hope you get some good results in Italy!John Vergo wrote: ↑Sun Jul 02, 2023 5:31 pm Hi Pete
Thanks for a splendid report Pete, it is always interesting to read your reports, I am at the movment in Northern Italy and the weather here is really up and down.
john