This is the first part of a report of my visit to Olu Deniz on the south-western coast of Turkey between 16th and 22nd May 2010. I have tried to positively identify all of the butterfly species of which I am posting photos, relying mainly on a Field Guide to the Butterflies of Turkey by Ahmet Baytas as my reference. However I still found myself referring to Tolman/Lewington and also the excellent European websites of Guy Padfield, Roger Gibbons and Matt Rowlings for some further concise guidance. As always, if anyone can offer any corrections or further information, this would be appreciated.
Until I arrived, I did not realise just how mountainous and rugged the country is, often with mountains coming straight down to the sea. This means that a lot of the coastal areas are inaccessable except by boat, but in any event my impression was that the coast in general and the coastal resort areas in particular are not very good for butterflies. I did not really encounter much in the way of wildlife, or even birds around the resort. Butterfly Valley, just down the coast to the south-east is an exception because of its particular geography and micro-climate (see later comments).
This was not a butterflying trip, but the best places I found for insects were in the mountains and areas of wild flowers. Coming across such a site I was impressed by the sheer number, diversity and size of insects. You could have put a saddle on some of the crickets and I was absolutly fascinated by the adult antlions and lacewing that I encountered.
The coastal resort of Olu Deniz is hemmed in by mountains. It has a salt water lagoon at one end, part of which is fenced off as a nature conservation area for which there is a small entry charge to access its beaches. Here on 16th May I found 2 Lattice Brown around a clearing dominated by a pine tree. They were still in exactly the same place on 18th May.
- Lattice Brown
An aborted day trip to the mountains on 19th May (the coach never turned up) gave us an unexpected free day. While the wife chose to go to a Turkish Bath, I arranged to share transportation up nearby Babadag mountain in an open truck with some paragliding people to watch them jump off. 45minutes later, at 1700m I found 4 Lesser Spotted Fritillary and a Wall Brown.
- Male Lesser Spotted Fritillary
- Male Lesser Spotted Fritillary
- Lesser Spotted Fritillary country
A self-guided tour using local minibuses on 20th May took us to the nearby site of Kaya Koy, a small hillside town vacated by the Greek residents in the 1920's, which the local Turks subsequently refused to inhabit. It has thus remained deserted and the stone buildings have gradually been reclaimed by nature. This has now become an absolute haven for wild flowers and insects of all kinds, but especially butterflies, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, wasps and, my favourates, the antlions and lacewings.
- Kaya Koy
It is close to the coast and only a few hundred metres above sea level at its highest point, but even with this small difference in height, I found that the further up the site you went, the better things got. One of the highlights for me was a good colony of Loew's Blue on the slope behind the church at the top. I hope I have arrived at this identification correctly. All of the diognostic features seem to fit, but the clincher for me was that the males had a metallic sheen on the uppersides.
- Male Loew's Blue
- Male Loew's Blue
- Female Loew's Blue
- Female Loew's Blue
- Loew's Blue Pair
To be continued................................
Vince
