This post includes a potentially annoying photos of various exotic species, so perhaps make a good tea first
I visited two best mountains on butterflies - White Carpathians (maintained orchid meadows, former farm woodlands) and Vsetinske Mts. in Wallachia (extensive sheep pastures, often in heavy terrain), and I got excited as ever. Although I initially want to focus on niobe, daphne, hecate and arion, and found either worn individuals or the species didn't yet emerge.
Later, I've been mapping some rather "debutterflied" lowland squares and I wasn't that excited, especially at those temperatures (a thread of overheating). I love sun and so on, but 30-35 C every day is just too bloody much.
Large Chequered Skipper seemed to be reasonably fresh in Čertoryje, White Carpathians. Overlooked but fine butterfly, I didn't even know its English name.
Dark Green (and
High Brown)
Fritillaries were a different story. Later, I had to go for the fresh ones to a colder mountains, where were absolutely common.
Great Banded Graylings were immidiately my favourites. I rewarded one of them with my precious sweat, some
Painted Ladies,
Marbled Whites and
Ringlets joined the feast too. I even couldn't get rid of two hungry galatheas.
Lušová Valley, Halenkov, Wallachia, 6 a.m.
Marbled White, first activating butterfly, pretending to be a moth. Most of the valley was still hidden in the dark. On preserved places like this they may be literally on every flower, but they're scarcer around my village.
A Burnet of unknown origin slept longer, but the spider surprisingly didn't try anything stupid.
High Brown Fritillary from an abandoned sheep pasture (called "polana") right under the top. Those are wonderful biotopes but under imminent threat of abandonment - nice to see, but horrible to climb up on. Argynnises can be quite dominant in there.
It's rather silly idea to chase both (relatively common) Emperors in places like this, but I couldn't resist.
After shooting this one I had a feeling of a well made work. But who knows...
Egg-laying
Holly Blue from the neighbourhood of my village. I must say I have been chasing this relatively common but tiresome animal for ages.
Now, some commoners:
Small Copper taken during my transect...
...
Meadow Brown buying the stairway to heaven made of thistles...
...and
Large White (kicked in the ass?!)
No time left for the biotope and other species photos, perhaps later. Čau
EDIT: regarding my very first post, this is my new casa.
![Image](http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/9434/casa1nt.jpg)