www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Neil, Bill and Guy - thanks again for your comments. Guy - I will try and see if I have some underside photos to check whether that is a lesser-spotted Frit.

Meanwhile, only two days to go..


Thursday 30th June – Village of Pirin

I had planned on Thursday to visit Trigrad, but after a long drive across the mountains (the only route possible, which included about a 2 mile section of the motorway that was being dug-up) I decided that this might be a bad idea (we’d already been in the car for about 2 hours and were still nowhere near our destination) so I changed the plan slightly and we decided to visit the village of Pirin. I knew which rare species might be seen over the Pirin Mountains (our first stay at Bansko was in fact, the other side of this mountain range). The village of Pirin turned out to be a picturesque version of dilapidated ramshackle houses, and a small village centre with a bunch of old wizened men sat on a bench clearly astonished at the site of a woman driving a car (and not covered head to foot in dull clothing). Most of the still-active residents of the village seemed to be out on the land with their donkeys either gathering shrubs, grasses or unidentified herbs. Half the men we passed seemed to have gone crazy in the heat and spending too much of their lives with only a donkey as company.

We found a nice walking route just above the village, a dirt path right alongside the worked stone crevices with plenty of wildflowers growing along the path which sometimes looked like marble. Karen spotted our first Large Tortoiseshell of the morning, this time out of reach on a small Elm away from the path. I managed however to finally get a couple of photos with my longer lens of this butterfly that had eluded me several times already during the holiday. There were still plenty of Black-Veined Whites, Silver-Washed Fritillaries, Sloe Hairstreaks, Common Blues, Commas and Spotted / Lesser Spotted Fritillaries at the start of the route. As we walked further up into the mountains we weren’t sure if the weather would hold out, as again the clouds were forming over the mountain. Again we would see Scarce and Purple-Shot Coppers, Heath Fritillaries, Marbled Whites, Eros Blues and the usual range of Ringlets, Clouded Yellows, Meadow Browns and common Nymphalids. Continuing to follow the path which also led further up the mountain, we would see Scarce and European Swallowtails, our first Cleopatra of the trip, a single White Admiral and again plenty more Silver-Washed Fritillaries, Lulworth Skippers and a few Pearly Heaths. I hoped that walking further up into the mountains I would see some Apollos, but I was to be disappointed on this front.


Black-Veined White at the start of Pirin Village. Note the droplets from the nights rain or dew.


Another Marbled Fritillary stops on the flowers as the sun decides to come through.


Large Tortoiseshell on the smaller bushes at the side of our walk from Pirin. A long lens was needed to get a 'half-decent' shot.


The outskirts of the Pirin village.


Possibly Heath Fritillaries - just before the start of our walk opens into the wilder mountains.


There were plenty of flies greeting us on the walk from Pirin village.


Silver-Washed Fritillaries could be seen at the side of the walks on the local stone surfaces and mountain crevices.


Purple-Shot Copper at the side of the road. Some had very changeable colouration.


Marbled Whites were common nectaring on the many wildflowers.


Possibly an Eros Blue.


An identified Blue - not sure about this one...


Another fresh Scarce Copper on the higher section of the mountain walk.


Always a pleasure to see Scarce Swallowtails. This one nectaring on what looks like Salvia flowers.

Hi Michael,

Lovely pictures once again.

I think your unidentified Blue is a male Meleager's.

Cheers

Lee

Hi Michael, great report and some superb photos.

Like Lee, I'm confident the Blue is Meleager's. I saw several of these in the Cévennes and am now familiar with their patterning,particularly the scalloped edges of the hindwing.

Hi Lee and David,
Thanks for the help and comments. I did see Meleager's Blue further up the walk, I will put some photos up a bit later. I'm not convinced on this one yet though - the Scalloped edges were much more noticeable in the Meleager's Blues seen further up, regardless of colour changes in individuals.
Michael

The females are particularly scalloped and are marked more like aberrant Chalkhill Blues.

Hi Michael, yes that is undoubtedly a male Meleager's blue. Nothing else looks like that. The other blue, that you suggest might be eros, is probably silver studded. It is definitely either that or idas and what can be seen of the upperside border suggests it is not idas. The definitive feature of these variable butterflies is on the upperside hindwing and not visible.

Guy

Thanks all...I guess there's always plenty to learn. The fact I'd seen a Meleager futher up - obviously a female - had rather set my opinion on what the underside would look like.

Walk from Pirin continued..

Further up the walk from Pirin the weather would move from cloud to sunny periods, we could see plenty of low cloud over the mountains, luckily for the moment it was staying off us. Near the top of the walk there was a wonderful flat section absolutely covered with wild flowers that was one of the prettiest spots of our whole visit. We could tell that we were quite high due to the high numbers of Painted Ladies (they seemed to be abundant near all the higher parts of the Pirin Mountain). There was also a beautiful coloured moth – similar to a Tiger moth. There was also the first sight for me of a Meleager’s Blue, a beautiful and unmistakeable butterfly which was probably the highlight of the day. The clouds at this point looked quite ominous so we started back to the village of Pirin.


Another view of the lovely Male Scarce Copper.


A Skipper - possibly Lulworth - nectars close to the Scarce Copper.


This Marbled Fritillary is very settled between the cloud break.


One of the few Pearly Heaths in the area.


The very vibrant day-flying moth.


The moth shelters in the low-grass, waiting for the next bit of sun.


Plenty of other insects about, including this large green Cricket.


The lovely Meleager's Blue near the top section of the walk.


It's nice to finally see a Blue that I don't have trouble ID'ing (at least with the females!).


Underside of the Female Meleager's Blue.


The Marbled Whites at the top of this mountain track have very large dark bands.


Lulworth Skipper? I can see the dark underside of the antennae.


One fo the many local lizards.


The beautiful meadow at the top of the Pirin mountain walk.


The wildflower meadow. I've posted this as a large picture as it's one of my favourites.

Great report and photos Michael. My favourite photo so far is the back-lit Queen of Spain, but I will continue to pay attention in case there's a test at the end

Cheers,

Vince

Thanks Vince - if there's a test afterwards I doubt I'll get much right!!

Pirin Village (part 3)

On the route back to Pirin village we would again see various Fritillaries, Clouded Yellows, Painted Ladies and a recurrance of a Small Copper that looked similar to the aberrant individual from Tuesdays drive to Melnik.

Back at Pirin we looked at the map and decided that there may be a route through the mountains from Pirin village to our hotel in Melnik. This was shown on our map but not on our Sat-Nav. Anyway, we followed the route out from Pirin for about 45 minutes before eventually passing a section that was cleared for logging, which eventually gave way to just a dirt track which we decided might be too much for the car (it was now late afternoon and we didn’t fancy getting stuck out in the mountains). The road through the mountains was surprisingly good up to that point apart from the sections with very big pot-holes.

After about 10 minutes of driving back towards Pirin village we stopped the car to watch a very large Black butterfly swooping round the middle of the road. I got out of the car and watched the butterfly make several swoops around me before confirming this was a newly-emerged Poplar Admiral. I’d probably never been entranced by such a beautiful butterfly as much as this one since I was a kid. However, due to the indifferent weather conditions of the late afternoon sunshine the butterfly just wouldn’t stop. We drove on for another couple of hundred yards and again there was another adult Poplar Admiral. We stopped the car again but to no avail. I’d consigned myself to driving back when again we saw about three Poplar Admiral adults on the road sharing a spot with Comma around some white salts left on the road. Again the adults flew off and although we stayed at the side of the road for about ten minutes though the butterflies didn’t come back. Again we decided to drive back to Pirin. We probably passed another four flying individuals as we made our way back to the village (leading to a total of about 8 Poplar Admirals in a space of half a mile of road.


This Silver-Washed Fritillary was out even during the cloud spells.


Small Copper similiar to the unusual individual seen earlier in the week.


Dirt track back down the mountain trail to Pirin village.


The ever-present Queen of Spain Fritillaries on the walk back from the mountain.


Painted Lady on the path back to Pirin village.


Possibly a female Lesser-Spotted Fritillary.


Possibly a male Lesser-Spotted Fritillary. Nice blue eyes!


The view to Pirin Village coming back from the mountain path.


One of the Large Ringlets (?) on the aborted drive back from the Pirin Mountain.

Friday, 1st July – Last day

After finding Poplar Admirals the previous day, my dilemma for our final day in Bulgaria was whether to try another area or go back to try and photograph the Poplar Admirals near Pirin village. Given that the PE’s flight period was so short (and even for experienced Lepidopterists they could be rare species to see) there really wasn’t that much of difficult a decision. The big problem as soon as we left Melnik was that the weather was cloudy and the prospects for the day didn’t look good.

We got to the same mountain path as on the previous day for about 9:15 am, several miles drive from the village of Pirin. Wandering up and down the same track of about 800-1000 yards length (there were about 3 good butterfly spots from the previous day along the same path) it was obvious that the sun was going to have difficulty breaking through. The temperature climbed a little and we saw a few butterflies in the form of Black-Veined Whites, Marbled Fritillaries, a Large Wall Brown. Soon there were again a few Poplar Admirals – this time flying around the rock crevices, but only coming down briefly to the path. Unlike the woods in Britain and Purple Emperors, here there were no animal scats to catch their attention and the temperature wasn’t warm enough for the butterflies to stop. Occasionally the Admirals would land briefly at the edges of the path where the remains of the streams were. Unfortunately the butterflies would fly before I got close enough for a photograph.

After several trips walking up and down - further down the track I found another two Poplar Admirals, and this time one flew around me several times and then decided to stop on my boot . I managed a few photographs and then it was off again. I would spend another twenty minutes wandering up and down the track but the weather started to deteriorate and soon the Admirals flew up into the trees bordering the road. Just after 10 am the rain started and we left for the car, where we stayed for almost another two hours watching the rain come down! Eventually after a short walk up the track to check that nothing was flying - we decided that the clouds and rain would not clear. In fact, all we could see were layers of low mist over the mountains . Driving out of the mountain range it was evident that the rain was over the whole of South-west of Bulgaria: we returned to our hotel in Melnik and eventually went for a last walk up the end of the village – the sun only came through between 5:30 and 6pm and the most exciting thing we were to see there was a couple of mating tortoises – they do make a very strange sound!

As we were flying home early the next day we were hoping for an early night’s rest in our hotel but it turned out that Friday night was the equivalent of ‘Karaoke’ night for the guests, so there was much raucous singing and stamping on tables that night (not by us) . The next day as we drove back to Sofia the weather was back to sunshine, which was slightly irritating – it would have been great to have had good weather for our last day on Friday! Bulgaria was a real eye-opener as a trip, but we always knew that a week wouldn’t be long enough, and so it proved.

Michael


A Large Wall Brown on the mountain track.


A few Black-Veined Whites were still flying even in the dull wet weather of the Pirin Mountains.


The wet weather meant that even a good picture of the Pirin Mountain track was unlikely.


One of the Poplar Admiral decides to stop on my shoe.


Little did I know these would be the only photos I'd get of the Poplar Admirals.


He's a coming this way!


Last view before the Poplar Admiral flies off into the woodland.


Driving back to Melnik we stopped to photograph the White Storks that had built a nest next to one of the villages.


Last view of our hotel 'Despot Slav' in Melnik.


The walk at the end of Melnik that provided a lot of good spots for the local butterflies.


Ruins at the very back of the path taken from the Melnik Village.


Butterfly bush under the Sandy Gorges at Melnik that were host to many of the Hairstreaks and Blues.

Hi Michael

Some great shots. Looks like you had a fantastic time. I'm quite envious of the Poplar Admiral.

The two skippers on the Pirin walk continued I think are Essex and Small, looking at their sex brands. Something I learned from Guy. If I remember correctly, broken in Essex Skipper and not so in Small Skipper. Lulworth is darker and has the horseshoe mark on the upper forewing. I think you were referring to Essex with the mention of black under the antennal tip.
All great stuff with the usual excellent scenic shots and equally great insects and butterflies.

Hi Paul,
thanks - I wouldn't be too envious of the Poplar Admiral considering I didn't really get any good pictures - perhaps a bit of HD filming would have been good on the Thursday to show how many there were about - even at a distance . The site I visited in the mountains was excellent (even though the weather didn't play ball) and I just wish I'd had a couple of more days or at least a day extra of sunshine - I'm sure there would have been a good chance of some other big species. I won't have any trouble remembering which day we saw the PA's as the thursday was my wife's birthday! Thanks very much for the ID's. I'm glad you had a good time abroad though I've missed your input.

I did a count of the species seen and it came to around 78 species and that was for, in reality, about 4 and a half days walking. If I was a better ID'er it would have probably been more! I think it shows great diversity for the area (though admittedly Bulgaria is like 4 countries in one). I'd love to go back for longer for next year as I didn't really have time to either take panoramas or to go and visit some of the bird sites, or indeed take any shots of the locals who were interesting in themselves .

thanks again,

Michael

Smashing report Michael and lovely photos.

Popular Admirals!

Cheers

Lee

Michaeljf wrote:Hi Paul,
thanks - I wouldn't be too envious of the Poplar Admiral considering I didn't really get any good pictures

No matter. Getting any kind of picture is a notable feat. Even Guy had a history of failure with this species until recently if I recall.

What is it about Emperors and shoes? (and Graylings and shorts for that matter)

Loved your Star Trek analogy. It sure doesn't look like Planet Earth does it?

David M wrote:No matter. Getting any kind of picture is a noteable feat. Even Guy had a history of failure with this species until recently if I recall.

David,
I know you're right - I could have come away with no pictures of the Poplar Admiral - they were only stopping on the ground briefly, and certainly weren't keen on my approaching them. If I'd had a longer distance Macro (180mm) that would have enabled me to get the sort of shots I was after, but I really don't need that sort of lens most of the time so why invest another thousand pounds that I haven't got for one or two times when I'd need it? I've spent enough on my gear as it is

Incidentally, I missed out on most of my favoured 'target' species for the trip (apart from the Coppers) and believe it or not I still haven't seen an Apollo. I can empathise with you for your similar feelings of not having made the most of things in France, but I think it's in the nature of our trips to Europe where we look forward so much to a trip we are bound to come away feeling 'should've done better'. The fact is we normally do pretty well.

A few mop-up shots: I didn't get to take many Panoramas, but I did get this one of the Melnik main street.

Plus - a few shots taken from the car of the main road (198) to Gotse Delchev. Remember that this is the only main road between the South-West and South-East villages in Bulgaria, equivalent to the M4 etc. There was at least 2 miles of these roadworks (possibly more that we didn't venture along) and it was part of the reason we gave up on visiting Trigrad: however, if we return next year they'll probably still be doing these roadworks.

Michael


Panorama of the main Melnik street looking from one of the wooden bridges that crosses the dry river bed.


View of the roadworks on the 198 main road (this road leads to Trigrad eventually).


we turned off after this and headed to Pirin Village after deciding it would take too long, if the car would survive...


Remember that there's a nice sheer drop down the mountain-side if you fancy it!

Hi Michael

A real enjoyable report and I reckon plenty more species with better weather or more days travelling around.

If you're serious about going back for a longer break Helen and myself would be happy to join you and share car costs etc. I won't be offended if you prefer your holiday time alone either.

If you fancy it though please let me know.

Hi Paul,
that would be perfectly fine idea (Karen has no problem with it either). The only problem that initially comes to mind is getting 4 peoples luggage and ourselves in one car from Sofia to the hotels . But apart from that, I'm sure it could work. We are thinking that we will probably go back next year around the same time for slightly longer if we can - say about 10 or 11 days, presuming we are all still employed next summer...!
Email me sometime soon and we can discuss some more. I guess you'd like to go to Trigrad at some point which is fine by us. We have no problem doing a few bird-spots as they are normally pretty good for wildlife.
Michael

I'm so impressed with this report that I've now added it as a permanent feature on the reports page at:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports.php#tripreports

It will be tweeted and on the UKB facebook page in the next few minutes too! The Meleager's Blue (female) shots are just amazing.

If anyone else feels there are topics being posted that are worth promoting, then please let me know (I miss an awful lot these days!).

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Pete,

Thank you, that's very kind!

If you do have a spare five minutes, maybe you could PM me how you got to the Kresna Gorge reserve when you went on your earlier trip to Bulgaria? I didn't find it while we were in Kresna and if I do go again I would like to visit it.

Or you could post a quick link here. It may have been right at the start of the Kresna village, or it may have been up one of the minor roads to the North-East of the village - admittedly that was the day we had a flat-tyre, which didn't contribute to our search...!

Thanks

Michael

Hi Michael

I reckon we'd manage to get four plus luggage in a car. May need a slightly bigger car but cost would be shared.

Trigrad Gorge would be nice but not entirely necessary as I found and filmed Wallcreeper in Switzerland this year. A male bird feeding a youngster at the Feschelbach Gorge.

I'll PM you over the weekend.

Enjoyed the whole of your report. Must get Helens pictured sorted out but have three weeks worth to go through.