www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

High on my target list during this trip was False Eros Blue. I'm pleased to say we saw a fair few of them, and they are absolutely beautiful lycaenids, with a much richer upperside ground colour than their cousin, Eros Blue:

Another lycaenid that was high on my list of desirables was Blue Argus.

We blanked it the first time we visited the main site for it, but one of our group messaged us a couple of days later when he unexpectedly found it 'off-piste' at a higher altitude location:

Balkan Marbled White gave me a big surprise. It's so big and has such a black suffusion that it can momentarily be mistaken for a Grayling.

They weren't widespread but there were good numbers in their favoured habitat:

Other species I saw for the first time were Orbed Red Underwing Skipper, Eastern Knapweed Fritillary and Anomalous Blue. Sadly, the only image I got of the last of these was as it flew off never to return, but I got record shots of the other two:

Almost forgot...there was another first timer for me, and one I've wanted to see for several years - Iolas Blue.

We only encountered them at one site, a roadside with the lhp bladder senna present. All seen were worn females looking to lay eggs at the very back end of their flight period:

Hesperiidae

A good range seen within this family, including this Mallow Skipper:
1. Small Skipper
2. Essex Skipper
3. Lulworth Skipper
4. Large Skipper
5. Dingy Skipper
6. Safflower Skipper
7. Southern Grizzled Skipper
8. Yellow Banded Skipper
9. Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper
10. Sandy Grizzled Skipper
11. Tessellated Skipper
12. Orbed Red Underwing Skipper
13. Marbled Skipper
14. Mallow Skipper

Glad you managed the Iola's Blue, David. It is absolutely one of my favourite Blue's.

selbypaul wrote: ↑Fri Jul 01, 2022 4:14 pmGlad you managed the Iola's Blue, David. It is absolutely one of my favourite Blue's.

Has to be in anyone's list of desirables, Paul. It had eluded me for years so I was delighted to get a first audience with it.

Lycaenidae - Coppers

We missed out on Balkan Copper, but managed to see all the others. The Small Coppers in these parts are extremely dark (although the occasional 'normal' one pops up too):
The Purple Shot males are also rather darker than those I'm used to seeing in western Europe:
Sooty Copper males are just dark:
The females are brighter:
On the final day, the beautiful Scarce Copper made an appearance:
15. Small Copper
16. Purple Shot Copper
17. Sooty Copper
18. Lesser Fiery Copper
19. Scarce Copper

Lycaenidae - Hairstreaks

The biggest shock was the sheer numbers of Ilex Hairstreaks. It's no exaggeration to say we saw thousands. There were several hundred nectaring on the fragrant herbs along the roadside at one spot, with hundreds more seen at a few other locations:
Somewhat spoiled for choice, I picked out this individual as being amongst the freshest:
Sloe Hairstreaks were fairly common, but not too many Blue-Spots were recorded:
Just one White Letter Hairstreak was seen:
20. Green Hairstreak
21. Sloe Hairstreak
22. Ilex Hairstreak
23. Blue Spot Hairstreak
24. White Letter Hairstreak

That's so interesting the differences in the Hairstreaks you saw in 2022 compared to the same week in 2019. White Letter Hairstreak's were the most common for us in 2019, by far.

Quite surprised by that, Paul. We saw quite a few elms but only that one WLH.

Lycaenidae - Blues

It was difficult keeping up with these such was the range on offer. Lang's Short Tailed Blue was very common:
Eastern Baton Blue appeared in small numbers:
Geranium Argus were very fresh:
25. Lang's Short Tailed Blue
26. Little Tiger Blue
27. Holly Blue
28. Eastern Baton Blue
29. Escher's Blue
30. Osiris Blue
31. Silver Studded Blue
32. Idas Blue
33. Brown Argus
34. Blue Argus
35. Geranium Argus
36. Mazarine Blue
37. Chapman's Blue
38. Common Blue
39. False Eros Blue
40. Amanda's Blue
41. Anomalous Blue
42. Adonis Blue
43. Iolas Blue
44. Large Blue
45. Chequered Blue

Nymphalidae - Aristocrats

We visited a damp, forest track near the Macedonian border towards the end of the trip and saw an Emperor high up in the trees which we thought might be Freyer's.

It was worthy of a second visit a couple of days later and we managed to track another individual down only to realise that it was, in fact, the clytie form of Lesser Purple Emperor, something which I'd never seen before:

Nymphalidae - Aristocrats

I'd heard reports of how common Nettle Tree Butterflies could be in this part of Greece and those reports were 100% accurate. At one site there must have been several thousand along the damp tracks, although I never saw one with its wings open:
Large Tortoiseshells were much scarcer, with only a handful seen, although they were very fresh:
We had one site in a mountain village where we found several Southern Commas:
46. Nettle Tree Butterfly
47. Southern White Admiral
48. Red Admiral
49. Painted Lady
50. Comma
51. Southern Comma
52. Peacock
53. Small Tortoiseshell
54. Large Tortoiseshell
55. Camberwell Beauty
56. Map
57. Lesser Purple Emperor
58. Common Glider

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries

Most pleasing were the decent numbers of Cardinals seen. They have a tendency to be concentrated at lower altitudes where their preferred nectar sources are on offer. I just love the cherry-red unfs:

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries

Heath Fritillary was just emerging on this trip:
Marbled Fritillaries were fresh too:
59. Eastern Knapweed Fritillary
60. Lesser Spotted Fritillary
61. Spotted Fritillary
62. Heath Fritillary
63. Cardinal
64. Silver Washed Fritillary
65. Queen of Spain Fritillary
66. Marbled Fritillary
67. Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Nymphalidae - Satyrids

I got a surprise when this Oriental Meadow Brown turned up on the last day:
Once released, it very helpfully flew onto one of the guests and opened its wings:
Nice to see relatively fresh Northern Wall Browns too:

Nymphalidae - Satyrids

68. Lattice Brown
69. Speckled Wood
70. Wall Brown
71. Northern Wall Brown
72. Gatekeeper
73. Meadow Brown
74. Oriental Meadow Brown
75. Small Heath
76. Pearly Heath
77. Balkan Marbled White
78. Marbled White
79. Balkan Grayling
80. Eastern Rock Grayling
81. Great Banded Grayling
82. Woodland Ringlet

Papilionidae

Just the two from this group, neither of which were especially numerous:
83. Swallowtail
84. Scarce Swallowtail