Making it through the winter to the springtime is always a challenge for the UK-based Lepidopterists amongst us, but this year seemed even more painful than usual, with the interminably long run of dank, miserable weather. In early January, I also found myself coming out of retirement and back into full-time employment for a while. Although I had a series of European trips planned for the summer, the first wasn’t scheduled until the end of May, and by the middle of March the ongoing gloom combined with the fatigue of working 40-hour weeks in a busy agricultural laboratory was playing havoc with my psyche! I needed some butterfly action to look forward to, and I needed it sooner rather than later. I had asked Vicki my wife to keep the week commencing 29th April free from commitments in the hope that we might be able to slip away for a last-minute break and get some much-needed sun and winged action. I was just thinking a cheap and cheerful week in the Canaries or something similar.
Then one evening after a particularly gruelling day’s work, I happened to pick up my copy of the most excellent tome “The Butterflies of Greece”, and the work of Lazaros Pamperis set me dreaming of an alternative reality where we could perhaps travel to a “new for us” part of the Balkans and aim to pick up a handful of rather niche lifers. Once the idea had formed, it was hard not to follow through with it, and soon I had booked flights out to Thessaloniki for Saturday 27th April, along with a hire car and a hotel in the small town of Siatista, not far from Kozani in Western Macedonia.
I had five target species for this trip, four of which would be life-ticks, and one of which would be a half-lifer. They were, in order of desirability, the Inky Skipper, Gruner’s Orange-tip, Dalmatian Ringlet, Bavius Blue, and the spring brood of the Eastern Wood White. I had been given no “known site” information for any of these species prior to our trip but of course I had done my research, sifting through a few iNaturalist records, examining the distribution maps in Pamperis, and spending a good few evenings cruising the virtual reality of Google Earth. Our destination was Mount Askio, and I had mapped out half a dozen areas that I hoped would give us a chance to see this rather special array of butterflies. My remaining weeks at work soon flashed past, and we arrived at our Greek hotel at teatime on the Saturday, home base for the next week. The owner was very friendly, but spoke hardly any English, and we were soon settled into our room admiring the view from the balcony across to the sun-lit hills opposite. We appeared to be the only guests staying in the hotel; peace and tranquillity reigned. After a good night’s sleep, the action commenced on Sunday morning…
After a good breakfast of eggs, ham, cheese, bread, tomatoes and olives we set off in the car for the ten minute drive to our first destination, a steep-sided ravine just outside Siatista. We parked the car and walked up a slowly rising gulley with sparsely vegetated limestone sides and lusher vegetation at the bottom.
The very first butterfly to appear on the wing was quite large and dark, flying casually a foot or two above the grass, and as it landed Vicki asked, “Is that one already?” – I got my binoculars onto it and amazingly yes, there was a Dalmatian Ringlet sat just a few feet away from me – a lifer within less than two minutes of searching! It was a little worn, but no less exciting for that. I took a couple of record shots before it flew off. As we climbed further up into the valley, it became apparent that there was a huge concentration of butterflies. In particular, numerous blues of many different species were flying here, along with fritillaries, skippers and others. It felt magical to be walking once again among clouds of butterflies in the warm sunshine, especially after months of cold, wet weather at home. There was so much action that I didn’t know where to aim my eyes or my camera! But ten minutes after my first Dalmatian Ringlet sighting, I found myself looking at an unfamiliar blue which proved to be a second newbie. This was the Bavius Blue, a cracking butterfly with a lovely orange underside hindwing edging and a rather nice upper side hindwing also. Another five minutes further along and a small, slightly yellowish “Orange-tip” appeared on the wing – Gruner’s Orange-tip – a third lifer! Shortly after this I spent a few minutes following a “Wood White” which eventually landed and proved to be a spring brood Eastern Wood White. At this point I had to pinch myself just to check that I wasn’t dreaming – four out of five of my targets hit within half an hour on the first morning of the holiday? Unbelievable!
The Dalmatian Ringlet has a very restricted European distribution, being found only in parts of Croatia and locally in a small area of Greece, (and recently discovered in Albania) but here in the Askio mountain range it occurs in good numbers. We found it at almost every site we visited over the course of our week here, often flying by the dozens. It is a large, dark butterfly, very visible when on the wing just above the vegetation, and it settles frequently to nectar or to bask on stones. It is also a strikingly handsome insect when fresh, with its contrasting hindwing and forewing ocelli colour, the irregular arrangement of the spots, and that unusual attractive faded edge on the forewing giving it a rather unique appearance among the Erebia/Proterebia butterflies. The underside venation is also prominent and distinctive. Who couldn’t fall in love with it?
The Bavius Blue was one of our targets that I wasn’t sure we would find easily. It is very localised in Eastern Europe and usually flies through May and early June – would we be too early for it? And how easy would it be to locate one given the sheer number of other blues on the wing? As it turned out, Bavius was quite clearly different in appearance and not hard to ID in flight. It appears as a darker, richer blue on the wing and once settled is unmistakable. It is somewhat larger than the Eastern Baton Blues with which it flies and subtly different from the Chequered Blues which were also present on this site. The hindwing underside is highly characteristic and makes for an easy diagnosis once you see that infilled contiguous orange marginal band. It is a delightful butterfly, and like the Dalmatian Ringlet, it turned up almost everywhere we went during our stay out here, albeit in ones and twos rather than by the dozens.
Seeing Gruner’s Orange-tip was a great thrill. It is widespread but localised across much of Greece and again was on the wing in many places. Getting photographs wasn’t that easy as the males are rather relentless in flight, but perseverance eventually paid off and I managed a few shots, usually when the sun disappeared behind the clouds.
And getting to see the spring brood of the Eastern Wood White was a pleasure that was long overdue. I have seen occasional examples of the summer brood over the years, but getting a convincing identification photograph of them is not easy, and I was desperate to finally see and capture some images of the spring brood, whose underside markings are so distinctive. I had a good few opportunities; they were widespread out here in the Askio mountains, turning up in small numbers practically anywhere. They are gorgeously coloured, and the males in particular are very delicate and small.
I mentioned the range of Blues at this first site. The numbers were staggering, reminiscent of some of the best days spent at sites in the French Alps some years ago. Mud-puddling was commonplace, and the species list included Small Blue, Osiris Blue, Green-underside Blue, Chequered Blue, Bavius Blue, Eastern Baton Blue, Silver-studded Blue, Geranium Argus, Brown Argus, Blue Argus, Mazarine Blue, Escher’s Blue, Chapman’s Blue, Adonis Blue, and Common Blue.
And so, at the end of the first full day out in Greece we had succeeded in hitting four of our five targets, with just the Inky Skipper left to find. What an amazing day! Celebrations were of course in order, so we walked into town, found a tiny bar, ordered souvlaki and some local wine, then retired happily back to the hotel, where events were about to take a turn towards the bizarre…more to follow in part 2.
and congrats with the inky
