www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks Mikhail,any ident corrections are gratefully recieved!

Thanks Wurzel,i've never seen R.R.S. before,seeing so many so close was a treat-one of many!

GR DAY 5

A pre breakfast walk produced several Walls,a Large Wall and a nice black-eared wheatear,as well as another tortoise.

Today,we headed up to the lower slopes of Parnassos,and then up to the ski station. Our first stop was a bramble patch,where Southern White Admiral,Lattice and Meadow Browns,a Large Tortoiseshell and Ilex and White-letter Hairstreak were seen,with Brown Argus and Essex Skipper on the road verge nearby. At the edge of some gardens,cotton lavender was attracting Anomolous Blues and dark Small Coppers. We spent some time here,then made our way up to a grassy woodland clearing,which was home to good numbers of red heleborines-such an extreme rarity in GB. Also present were several British butterflies,including Silver-studded and Common Blues,Large Skipper and our first Marbled Whites of the trip.
We ate our pick-nik lunch here,then made our way up to the ski station. It was much cooler up here,and a much better collection of alpine flowers,including various bellflowers,catch-flies and daphne. Butterflies included Zephyr Blues,Clouded Apollos, Olive Skipper and our only Balkan Coppers of the trip.
Birds included alpine chough at the ski station,and black redstart,ortalan bunting and a distant blue rockthrush,with hoopoe and red-back shrike lower down.

Morning Essex, I have friends who have just moved to Greece and they keep asking me what the various butterflies are that they have spotted. I shall refer them to your lovely diary.

Fantastic shots of fantastic butterflies Essex I'd love to see Southern White Admirals although I don't think the name does them justice Also your Small Copper doesn't seem to have much orange on the fore wing - is this a regional variant, within usual realms of variation or an aberration?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

More brilliant shots, Buzzard! I don't know if clouded Apollos behave differently in Greece but in the Alps they're one of the hardest butterflies to photograph, as they are very wary, fly quite strongly and don't seem to sit around defending territories. That's a really good picture of this butterfly.

Guy

Thanks Pauline! Your diary isn't too bad either! I'm most impressed with your photgraphy,which has come on leaps and bounds.
Thanks to you to,Wurzel,as always. Yes,these 'black' Small Coppers are a variant, and appear to only occur in the later generations,the spring ones are normal. They are a response to the great heat of southern Europe,i saw them in Croatia last year as well. Another picture coming up in the next batch.

GR DAY 6

Our final full day started with a bit of history,with a visit to the world famous Temple Of Apollo,Delphi. Even here,great wildlife was seen,with rock nuthatch,black-eared wheatear,subalpine warbler and my first ever woodchat shrikes. It can get busy here,so an early start meant we were leaving as most tourists arrived!
A nearby grassy slope,although looking rather tired,is home to a small colony of the tiny Gress Jewel,and guess who spotted the only one? Sadly,as the last of the group arrived,it shot off,never to be seen again.
It was now very hot,so we headed higher,where the vegetation was more green and some flowers were found. Here we made several roadside stops,seeing several kinds of blue,and many more fritillaries than before. Heath,Dark Green,Marbled,Niobe and Silver Washed were all seen here. These verges were so productive that we had lunch right here, by the mountain road. In all the time we spent here,we saw about 3 cars!

Then,on again,to the other side of Parnassos,where we found Wood White, black Small Coppers,Clouded Yellow,Scarce Swallowtail,Great Sooty Satyr,White Banded Grayling and more fritillaries,including Queen Of Spain,many feeding on danewort booms.
Lower still,our last butterfly stop was a hot,dry grassy field with scabious and yellow thistle blooms.Balkan Marbled Whites, Clouded Yellows,Great Banded Grayling and Lesser Spotted Fritillary were among many others. And so concluded our final full day.
Birds of the day included hoopoe,black redstart,wheatear and black-eared wheatear and alpine chough.

Thanks Guy! Clouded apollo are indeed dificult to get near in strong sunshine,but up here it was cooler with patchy cloud. I managed to follow this one until the sun went in. Then,after a couple of minutes,it went to ground,but from a distance,i didn't se exactly where it went,fortunately,i found it. A couple of minutes later,the sun returned and it was off. Bingo!

GR DAY 7-LAST DAY!

We were heading home today,but there was still time to get some morning butterflies in,before our late afternoon flight.

So we headed back to have another look at the roadside stops we visited yesterday,which we felt held more treats for us-and we were right!
On the way,a lovely close little owl on roadside wires gave a great view.

We arrived at the first site,soon clocking up Meleagers Blue,Black-veined White,helice Clouded Yellow,Cleopatra and several fritillaries. In the air,a big flock of alpine swifts flew over. I took a photo of what at the time i thought was another Bath White,but looking back at it when i got home it is,i believe,a Krueper's Small White-the only one of the trip!

Further on,Tuequoise Blue,Small Copper,Brimstones,Southern Comma and a very fast Southern Swallowtail were seen and,at last,having seen them all week,a Cleopatra stopped long enough for photo's!

Before i knew it,it was lunch time,but,with so much going on, i didn't have time to eat! Fortunately they saved me some.

Adonis Blues,Pearl-bordered Fritillaries,Southern White Admiral,White Banded Grayling-a steady stream of butterflies continued to cause excitement. But all to soon it was time to tear ourselves away,pack our cameras and binoculars away for the last time,and make our way to Athina for our flight back to good old Blighty!

Special thanks go to Guy,Nikolay and others who have helped with identification of those butterfly pics that were causing me a few problems!
And to the rest of you who have been so kind with your comments regarding my photo's. I hope you have enjoyed them,maybe they can inspire one or two of you to sample the delights of Europe yourselves! Thank you.

That's certainly krueperi! Well done!

I'm really impressed with the species you found on this trip, Buzzard. And you've got amazingly good pictures of them too.

Guy

Couple more pics from last day in GR.

Hi everyone,i've been working extra hours/late etc,i'm afraid i have got a bit behind on my diary!

Frirstly,thanks Guy,as always,for the confirmation on krueperi,as well as for your kind comments. I can't believe i photographed it without knowing!
On 24 July,we went to Hatfield Forest. This is probably the best place in Essex to see Silver-washed Fritillaries,but the sheer number of butterflies of many kinds is impressive in this great summer! We did the big butterfly count here,simply by watching two bramble bushes!
Large,Small and Essex Skippers,Green-veined,Large and Small Whites,Brimstone,White-letter Hairstreak,Comma,Small Tortoiseshell,Peacock,Silver-washed Fritillaries,old Ringlets,Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns all seen easily,many in high numbers.

Friday 2 August.

Overnight thunderstorms were more vigourous and longer lasting than expected,and we didn't get out untill lunchtime. Then we went to Devil's Dyke,a narrow chalk dyke which runs several miles alongside the racecourses at Newmarket. This is one of the sites our BC group,as well as other volunteers,look after-with great success! Before we started,Chalkhill Blues had almost died out,they were hanging on for dear life! Now they can be seen in hundreds,or even thousands,with a supporting cast,at the right time of year,of Dingy Skipper,Brown Argus, Dark Green Fritillary,Marbled White and Green Hairstreak.


Indeed,we saw many hundreds of Chalkhill Blues on the day,including plenty of females,even though time was limited. Common Blues,Large and Small cabbage Whites,Peacocks,Meadow Brown and Gatekeepers also seen.

Great shots Essex and a great turn around in fortunes for this cracking butterfly

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Fantastic pics Essex, and all those different varieties, I'm surprised you had time to get any sleep! I've never been to Greece but I'm now thinking about it.
I'm off to the PYRENEES in a couple of weeks, driving through France from Calais, hoping to call in at Temple Ewell again as usual.

Regards Russ.

Hi everyone,just back from a two-centre holiday in west Cornwall and the Isle of Purbeck,in Dorset. Good food and drink, excellent weather and a truely great show of butterflies combined to make it a trip that will last long in the memory!
More to come on that in due course,but i've got a bit of catching up to do first!

DENBIES HILLSIDE

On 6 August,i went to Denbies hillside,in Surrey. The numbers of Chalkhill Blues here was truely staggering,a fantastic emergence! The turf shimmering with silver,as the pale blue butterflies hovered over the down. Clouds of blues,rising from clumps of marjoram when disturbed. Although males were the most showy,plenty of brown females were present too.Tens of thousands perching,head down, to roost, catching the last rays of the sun.

Wow,what a sight!

One...two...three...er...many...er...LOTS!

Lovely photos, Buzzard!

Dave

I lost track at 18 Great shots Essex, I'm really looking forward to the Alners post

Have a goodun


Wurzel

Thank you for the 'Guy-type shot'!

I made a discovery some time ago. If you cover one eye with your hand and stare with the other eye at a picture like this, with a butterfly in sharp focus against a discernible but slightly blurry scene, it soons springs into 3D! It's a very good way of recovering the feeling of 'being there' when you browsing back through your pictures in the depths of winter. I think it happens because in the absence of normal stereoscopic clues that tell you you are looking at a 2D image when both eyes are open, the mind uses other features of the picture to generate depth - in particular, the relative focus of different areas, and of course perspective cues.

Guy

I think I can see 33 CHBs including a couple of blurry ones in the back that I am not too sure of.

Great report and photos looking forward to the rest, especially interested in the Dorset report as I will be there myself next week

Cheers,

Neil F.

Thanks to you all for the comments,i'm grateful!

If you multiply all those Chalkhills over large sections of the Down,you get some idea of the numbers we are talking about here,i don't think i've seen so many butterflies,of any kind!

You are right again,Guy-i've just tried it! Thanks for sharing your discovery,something i probably would never have thought of. I thought of you when i took this shot,so i'm pleased you think it is worthy!

No preassure then, Neil! I will do the report just as soon as i can...
What i can say is,given reasonable weather,you're in for a cracking time in Dorset,if you like blues,Walls,coppers, Clouded Yellows...but i'm not giving any more away!

ASTON ROWANT

Thursday 8 August. Today,we went out for our annual trip to Aston Rowant,in Oxfordshire. Another good days' weather meant we soon saw our target-Silver-spotted Skippers. Hundreds were seen at the best site i know for this species,which is excellent,as they give me great pleasure. Courtship and copulation were observed,too. We enjoyed these for quite a while, as they were most entertaining but,eventually our attention turned to simply enjoying the sheer abundance and variety of butterflies this brilliant summer at this superb site.

Chalkhill Blues were again abundant,and over the more flowery areas,Large Whites filled the air. Clouded Yellows were seen scattered accross the Down,including a Helice female. Ther were so much part of the landscape here,they seemed to belong,they should be present every year.

High numbers of Small Whites,Common Blues,Brimstones,Brown Argus,Meadow Browns,Gatekeepers were enjoyed,with Small Coppers,Small Heaths,Small and Essex Skippers,Peacocks,Small Tortoiseshells and Commas providing the supporting cast. Another super day.

Kestrels,buzzards and kites seen throughout the day.

A few of my favorite Silver-spotted Skipper pics below,more to come...

A few more pictures from Aston Rowant.