After a couple of hours at the side of the Batak Lake we ventured back to the car with very soggy feet and boots – nevertheless we persevered with the area and drove further along the road, finding another spot further away from the lake, which had some larger dirt paths moving up into the meadows that edged the higher forest slopes. Nearer the top of this path there were several fresh Cardinal and Queen of Spain Fritillaries: it was really surprising to see the difference in size of the females and Male of the latter – the males seemed to be only the size of a smaller fritillary, the females another size completely – nearer the size of male Silver-Washed Fritillaries. Working our way up the slopes near to the forest edges, there were Chequered Skippers, Mazarine Blues, Woodland Ringlets, More Queen of Spain Fritillaries, some Sooty Coppers and Grizzled Skippers. There were also a number of larger and smaller birds of prey in the skies here so we sat for a while watching these overhead – some were likely to be Buzzards, but there were also Kestrels and possibly Honey-Buzzards.
The view up towards the higher slopes along the dirt track. Pines and decidious trees are in the distance on the further edges.
Cardinal Fritillaries are the first butterflies to greet us, feeding on the path minerals.
It's easy to get good views of the Cardinals and they are all in fresh condition.
A much understimated butterfly in terms of beauty, in my opinion!
One of the many Ringlets also on the path, presumably a Woodland Ringlet.
A lovely view of one of the Mazarine Blues, only spoilt slightly by the grass in the way...
Another of the Grizzled Skippers on the higher grassy slopes.
A Queen of Spain Fritillary - no wonder there were so many with that many Violas and Pansies amongst the grass.
A view amongst the grass of one of the Ringlet butterflies.
After a while it started to cloud over a little so we left this spot, and working across the top meadows I came across (possibly) a lone Eastern Baton Blue amongst the many Orchids on the slopes. We were about to head down to the car when a very big, bright orange butterfly passed me – stopping on the mud track, this turned out to be a very fresh Large Tortoiseshell (I had noticed that the deciduous trees on the way up seemed to be Elm and Poplar). I felt quite lucky as the LT stopped on the mud and was quite happy for me to take photographs as it basked in the sun breaking through the clouds. This made up for the previous visit to Bulgaria when all the Large Tortoiseshells seemed to be too flighty for any close shots – I was also glad as this could only be the very start of their new emergence.
The single Eastern Baton Blue, stopping on the grass stems during the cloud break.
Another of the many Orchid flowers on the higher slopes above the Batak Lake.
First view from a distance of the fresh Large Tortoiseshell..would I get closer to this beauty?
Indeed I would be allowed nice and close to the Large Tortoiseshell as the sun came out again.
Looking down the slopes towards Batak Lake just before leaving to go to the car.
We left Batak Lake just as a thunderstorm came over, and went back to the hotel. After the sun came out later that afternoon we did a quick walk in the hills next to the hotel in Velingrad, visiting a pretty church on the mountain slopes – the church also had a lovely range of wildflowers growing next to it which attracted some Pearl-Bordered Fritillaries and a few Whites and a Pale Clouded Yellow. Walking through the Pine forest we came across our second Fire Salamander of our trip, and this one could even be seen burrowing into the forest dirt for the night. Unfortunately the weather forecast for Tuesday for SW Bulgaria was due to be the worst of the week so my hopes weren’t high for the next day regarding butterflies...
The slopes above our hotel back at Velingrad - a beautiful spot with a very small church.
A good spot for a frog on the slopes of the local river.
As with other days near our hotel in Velingrad, Pearl Bordered Fritillaries were normally on the Bugle flowers.
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- regarding the larval webs - I made the mistake earlier in the week due to the glossy look of the younger stages, to my untrained eye much closer to Black-Veined White caterpillars. I'll go through my posts a bit later this week to update the ID's. If the blues are Plebejus sephirus I'll see if I can re-name those shots and will have a look again in my European guides - I also have several Blues from later the same day which may be the same species.