David M

[David M]

Romania, 18th to 25th May cont…

The main target during this trip was the ultra range restricted Danube Clouded Yellow.

Two sites were visited, with the first having a large sign informing people of the presence of this rare insect:

Having stopped to look at the sign, it was immediately clear that a Clouded Yellow was fluttering almost beneath it, and it didn’t look like crocea.

About 30 were seen in both locations visited, and I confess to having worried unnecessarily as to how I would identify it on the wing. It was quite easy; the butterfly has more of the hue of a male Cleopatra in flight due to the deeper yellow/orange coloration, especially in the female which has an unmistakeable band of rich yellow on the hindwing submargin.

Male and female at a mud patch side by side:

Both sexes in flight:

Female uppersides:

[David M]

Romania, 18th to 25th May cont…

The rest of this second full day was spent largely at medium altitude, where Woodland Ringlets abounded, most of them in excellent condition:

There were plenty of nice Chestnut Heaths too:

This male Adonis Blue on a pale rock looked absolutely lovely:

[David M]

Romania, 18th to 25th May cont…

Highlight of the third full day came within 50m of the hotel.

The local irrigation system was leaking damp trickles along the road surface. There were plenty of butterflies taking advantage of this in the warm, sunny weather.

One in particular caught my eye:

Although smaller than Tessellated Skipper, Spinose Skipper is much more brightly marked and I was delighted to finally see it.

[selbypaul]

Spinose Skipper - what a stunner!

[David M]

Indeed, Paul. A beautiful insect.

[David M]

Romania, 18th to 25th May cont…

Almost beside the Spinose Skipper, there was another butterfly of great interest.

Normally, Cardinals are a major draw, however this one had to play second fiddle for a while. Thankfully, it was in no mood to depart:

Prior to this excitement, a morning stop had been made by a series of dampish meadows where there were good numbers of Marsh Fritillary & Geranium Argus.

There was one drier field a little further into the site which was particularly productive:

Pride of place was undoubtedly this male Large Copper:

[David M]

Romania, 18th to 25th May cont…

The afternoon was just as good, with a 150m stretch of a humid forest track generating ridiculous numbers of butterflies, the majority of which were beautiful Scarce Fritillaries:

Several Clouded Apollos were sharing this same territory:

Reverdin’s Blue was a nice find:

But the biggest surprise was a Poplar Admiral, a butterfly I would never have believed could be out on 21st May!!

[Padfield]

Hi David. It sounds a fantastic trip so far. I've never seen scarce fritillary, though I do see its close relative, the Asian fritillary, every year. I must say, though, it is not unusual for poplar admiral to fly on 21st May. Matt Rowlings and I came across one near Geneva on 21st May 2011 - a date I remember very well because it was the day Harold Camping predicted the Rapture, when Jesus would return and bring in the end of the world. I remarked to Matt in the morning that this might well be our last day butterflying. If it had been, it would certainly have been a day to go out on, with Reverdin's blue, black hairstreaks galore and that gorgeous poplar admiral sitting around docilely while we photographed it.

Guy

[David M]

It was one of the best weeks I've ever had, Guy. It's been a tough old year thus far (as you know only too well), but Romania was notable for everything being aligned perfectly for a real smorgasbord of butterflies.

[Maximus]

A very nice selection of species from Romania, David, especially the Scarce Fritillary. How many of those are lifers for you?

[David M]

Romania, 18th to 25th May cont…

The next day saw the only remotely imperfect weather of the week, with a heavily cloudy morning gradually giving way to sunny intervals in the afternoon.

This didn’t stop the butterflies though; at the woodland site visited first, there were Large Coppers resting on the grasses every few paces:

They were so torpid I managed to coax this one onto my hand:

I also finally came across the first female of this species I have ever seen:

This male Reverdin’s Blue graciously offered an upperside during this overcast period:

Even Small Pearl Bordered and Heath Fritillaries were behaving impeccably:

The next site was notable for Fenton’s Wood White, with the falcate forewing below the wing apex:

The day had been surprisingly successful, but even better was to follow in the early evening.

[John Vergo]

Great read David, too bad I couldn’t attend, looking foreward to the rest

[David M]

A very nice selection of species from Romania, David, especially the Scarce Fritillary. How many of those are lifers for you?

Six were lifers, Mike: Danube Clouded Yellow, Spinose Skipper, Hungarian Glider, Eastern Short Tailed Blue, Fenton's Wood White and, surprisingly, Pale Clouded Yellow.

There were also a few that I was seeing for only the second time in my life, such as Woodland Brown, Common Glider, Reverdin's Blue & Yellow Banded Skipper.

[David M]

Romania, 18th to 25th May cont…

It’s very rare for me to be rendered speechless during a wildlife encounter, but on the evening of the fifth day I was briefly frozen to the spot when I spotted this female Carpathian Brown Bear ahead of me on the pathway leading up to the local hide:

Once inside, I expected any bears to be some distance away. Instead, they were right next to the window:

There were two adult females there the whole time (2 hours):

There were also two cubs from last year and these two little ones which were born this year:

The whole experience was breathtaking.

[Padfield]

It looks like a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience, David. The bears especially - wow!

I have to say I'm sceptical of the Reverdin's upperside, which really doesn't look like Reverdin's. I know Plebejus species are very variable across their range, but that would certainly be an outlier in Switzerland or France. Do you have any underside shots of the same butterfly?

Guy

[David M]

Great read David, too bad I couldn’t attend, looking foreward to the rest

It was a fabulous trip, John, easily the best for a long while.

[David M]

Romania, 18th to 25th May cont…

The last day of the trip was again spent in the glorious Rimetea Valley.

The highlight was undoubtedly finding this pair of Spinose Skippers in cop:

The rather scruffy male flew off shortly afterwards, though the fresh female hung around for a few minutes:

Another nice find was Yellow Banded Skipper, although it was awkward to approach as it came down in a marshy area that was inaccessible:

[David M]

..Do you have any underside shots of the same butterfly?

I don't, Guy, sorry. The reason why I photographed it was because it was posing with wings open in the overcast conditions.

Silver Studded Blues had wide black margins (as they do almost everywhere) and the small, black 'lumps' extending into the white hw fringes rule out Mazarine.

There were several of them around that morning.

[Padfield]

..Do you have any underside shots of the same butterfly?

I don't, Guy, sorry. The reason why I photographed it was because it was posing with wings open in the overcast conditions.

Silver Studded Blues had wide black margins (as they do almost everywhere) and the small, black 'lumps' extending into the white hw fringes rule out Mazarine.

There were several of them around that morning.

Hi David. Thanks for your response. We'll never know, and fortunately it doesn't matter, as you had other definite argyrognomon. Re your two points: I have some photos of semiargus with a slightly chequered inner fringe - dark on the veins, paler between; and in Switzerland at least, the variation in argus border even at a single site is from much narrower than this to rather broader. All I can say is that that individual is extremely anomalous for argyrognomon as it presents in France and Switzerland - and therefore of great interest to me if it really is that !

Guy

[David M]

Romania, 18th to 25th May cont…

In summary, this trip was an absolute joy, with the warm weather and early season being in stark contrast to events further west in Europe this year.

This meant that both the numbers and the range of butterflies was quite superb. Here’s the full list of species seen:

1. Dingy Skipper
2. Mallow Skipper
3. Tufted Marbled Skipper
4. Marbled Skipper
5. Orbed Red Underwing Skipper
6. Spinose Skipper
7. Safflower Skipper
8. Yellow Banded Skipper
9. Grizzled Skipper
10. Oberthur’s Grizzled Skipper
11. Large Grizzled Skipper
12. Chequered Skipper
13. Large Skipper
14. Clouded Apollo
15. Scarce Swallowtail
16. Swallowtail
17. Wood White
18. Fenton’s Wood White
19. Orange Tip
20. Black Veined White
21. Large White
22. Small White
23. Green Veined White
24. Clouded Yellow
25. Danube Clouded Yellow
26. Pale Clouded Yellow
27. Berger’s Clouded Yellow
28. Brimstone
29. Duke of Burgundy
30. Small Copper
31. Violet Copper
32. Large Copper
33. Sooty Copper
34. Green Hairstreak
35. Black Hairstreak
36. Sloe Hairstreak
37. Small Blue
38. Osiris Blue
39. Eastern Short Tailed Blue
40. Holly Blue
41. Eastern Baton Blue
42. Chequered Blue
43. Green Underside Blue
44. Large Blue
45. Silver Studded Blue
46. Reverdin’s Blue
47. Brown Argus
48. Mountain Argus
49. Geranium Argus
50. Mazarine Blue
51. Turquoise Blue
52. Chapman’s Blue
53. Common Blue
54. Adonis Blue
55. Queen of Spain Fritillary
56. Pearl Bordered Fritillary
57. Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary
58. Scarce Fritillary
59. Marsh Fritillary
60. Glanville Fritillary
61. Knapweed Fritillary
62. Lesser Spotted Fritillary
63. False Heath Fritillary
64. Heath Fritillary
65. Cardinal
66. Red Admiral
67. Painted Lady
68. Peacock
69. Comma
70. Map
71. Common Glider
72. Hungarian Glider
73. Lesser Purple Emperor
74. Poplar Admiral
75. Speckled Wood
76. Wall Brown
77. Large Wall Brown
78. Woodland Brown
79. Pearly Heath
80. Chestnut Heath
81. Small Heath
82. Meadow Brown
83. Woodland Ringlet