www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

For those of you that can't wait for the "formal" publication, an initial draft report of a butterfly trip to Bulgaria that I was on this year can be found at:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/temp/

*** Update *** This report has now been published at http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_bulgaria.php

There are currently some major items to resolve:

1. It only contains the butterfly sightings. We saw moths, birds etc. too!

2. It only contains a subset of images available!

Cheers,

- Pete

Just read the report of the trip...me, jealous?...oh yes!

Martin.

What a stunning trip !

I got 'error - page not found'

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_bulgaria.php
I thik you may have tried to access it via the temp link.
Roger

p.s. Amazing report - high on my list of places to visit

Yes, I just followed the link in the post above. Thanks for the redirection, and well worth browsing through too. I wonder, is coming back to the UK a bit of a let down after seeing so many new species?

It's quite difficult to describe the feeling to be honest! A week of intense butterfly-watching is a highlight of my year, but I'm absolutely shattered by the end of it! It's almost like getting a year's-worth of butterflies in a week! It's also fair to say that, while the atmosphere is fairly relaxed when abroad, in that you can do what you like most of the time, you don't really get a chance to study anything in detail.

Comparing with the UK, I get as much enjoyment from seeing something new here as I would a new species abroad. For example, this year I saw my first ever Small Skipper laying eggs in a grass sheath. This gave me as much pleasure as seeing my first Apollo! Then again, as most people know, I'm as fascinated by the immature stages as the adults, which is why I rear various critters at home most years.

If there is any negative feeling on returning to the UK, it's desperation at the state of an over-populated Britain that is seeing more and more of its heritage disappear under concrete. Not long now, eh Gordon?

Cheers,

- Pete

I quite agree with you Pete. Mr Brown is doing his utmost to see off any remaining wilderness places left here. This has to stop!

Although I am fairly new to butterflies, I find it so much easier on the continent. Butterflies are everywhere, even for a novice like me. At the rate that the UK is going, all butterflies will be on the endangered list and disappear before I have the chance to see them.

What a sad thought, when we tell our grandchildren that we used to have butterflies in this country too.

I really enjoyed reading your trip report Pete. I aspire to be able to recognize and ID British species first (while they're still around) and then to move on to Europe, but I just have to look in amazement at the sheer number of species and the knowledge of many of the people on this site including yourself.

Looking forward to meeting you all at the UKB workshop in March

Denise

Likewise Denise - it should be good

Anyway - I'm sure others will consider you an expert before the year's out, given how keen you are

Cheers,

- Pete

It sounds like a great trip to Bulgaria.

I’m not trying to put in a plug for France, but 99 of the 107 species seen are likely to be encountered (most quite easily) in France, which has something like 240 mainland species (and a few more endemic to Corsica). My species count, albeit over a six month period, is 189. In many places there is so much flying you just don’t know where to look.

The number of species increases quite sharply south of Lyon and it would not be difficult to visit lowland areas, the pre-Alpes and the Alpes proper in a week in July and see 100 species. There are special places, but I have found that you can stop off almost anywhere that looks suitable and expect to see good numbers in the flower meadows that abound in France. Hotels are far cheaper in France than the UK – we stay at Etap hotels (mostly just off motorways) for £35 for the two of us, en suite and including breakfast.

OK, so it appears I did put in a plug for France, but only because it’s a terrific (and fairly cheap) way to get an excellent butterfly holiday. My guess is that most visitors to this site would be amazed and delighted, not least because many rare UK species – e.g. Swallowtails and Heath, Marsh and Glanville Fritillaries - are common in France.

Hi Roger,

Are numbers of butterflies higher generally throughout France, or like numbers of species higher in the south? When passing through north-east France, that did not look promising for butterflies at all - huge areas of arable monoculture.

Hi Matzukaze,

Much of the far north-east of France is heavily agriculturalized, as you say, and it seems as if the first 150km going south from Calais is through farmland (not very encouraging for anyone on their first trip to France, I agree!), but there are large green areas on the map after that, and increasing as you go south. Around Dijon it starts to get really interesting and this increases as you continue south. I mentioned that below Lyon (around 45 degrees latitude) the number of species really increases, although in the far south, May and June are the best months (especially May in Var) as the season in Var is almost over by July as everything is so baked.

July and August are the best months in the Alpine areas, and in fact not much is flying at altitude before then. The Alpes Maritimes is a superb area in July at altitudes of between 1000 and 2000m.

Areas such as the National Parks of the Vercors, the Luberon, the Queyras, the Ecrins, the Cevennes, the Auvergne, are all superb.

Tim Cowles, who Guy mentioned, lives near Lyon and has researched the Rhone departement around Lyon quite thoroughly and his species lists and 2007 diary can be found here:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/felixthecatalog.tim/

If you’re thinking of visiting any particular area, or want to know what areas to visit and when, I’m happy to pass on some suggestions, but I’d be reluctant to post this publicly (there is still a threat to the rarer species from commercial collectors), so I suggest you drop me an email.

Hi Roger,

Thanks for the offer - we are still trying to work out where and when - will drop you a mail nearer the time. We are not looking for butterflies, especially, but if some good places are near our route we wouldn't mind checking them out!

Chris.