www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I am a school teacher.....so there are restrictions: This is your brief:

1) Holiday must be in school holidays.
2) Must be near a beach
3) Must be in Europe and reasonably cheap (ie Greece)
4) I want to be able to leave my partner and child to play on a beach whilst I go butterflying,hopefully seeing as many different species as possibly.
5) Must be hot and sunny (obviously)

I would have thought that the best holiday to do it would be the May 1/2 term (23-31 May).....or should I do the Summer hols - August???

Danny

Hi Danny,

I have been to Kos a few times with

http://www.mastihari.co.uk/

1. Either May holidays or summer. I have been there in May, June, July and September and there are always butterflies on the wing.
2. You stay on the beach!
3. Reasonable I think, have a look.
4. Totally safe and very friendly. I wander around at all hours on my own and never feel intimidated.
5. Can be very warm.

I would recommend this holiday to anyone. It is quiet, friendly and has great wildlife. see my blog

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/b ... 1337&b=214

Just an idea to be going on with.
Cheers
Denise

If you plan to be staying at sea level, and if you head south, you will maximise your species count by going in May (or earlier) to a mainland site. By high summer, at low altitudes, many places have dried up too much and you really have to know where to go to get the butterflies. Islands stay cooler longer and often have easy access to highland but it is worth noting that there are generally fewer species on islands. Having said that, they are often very special species. And what counts as relatively few species on a Greek island like Kos may actually be a fantastic haul to someone coming from a cloudy island complex like the UK!!

Further north, the summer option may be better. Brittany in August is lovely. I used to go every year to Camaret with my parents and got brown hairstreaks every time. The beach can be searing hot while blues and graylings and swallowtails fly over the heather. And large wall browns right down on the beach.

The Oslo Fiord is wonderfully warm in high summer - perfect for swimming - and the butterflies are great. But Norway is very expensive and I once wandered over 10km from my village looking for somewhere that served beer.

Guy

padfield wrote: And what counts as relatively few species on a Greek island like Kos may actually be a fantastic haul to someone coming from a cloudy island complex like the UK!!


Guy

I can't wait to go butterflying on mainland Europe.
If Kos was just OK, I can't even imagine how many I will see there.

Denise

I’d like to echo what Guy has said. It’s hard to imagine that July and August is not a good time to go butterflying to the Mediterranean region of France (and I guess elsewhere), but it isn't. Everything gets baked by the heat from about the third week in June and butterflies only return in September. There are a few heat-loving species around but they seem to spend most of their time staying in the shade. Some species even aestivate. Flowers largely disappear and I suspect even birds do, too. In July and August you need to go inland, to an altitude of at least 500m or so, in order to see butterflies in good numbers.

May is a great time in the Mediterranean region. Flowers and butterflies abound everywhere. I get down to Var by 10 April and have usually seen 60 species by the end of April. By travelling back to the UK via the Alps, I get to see many of the altitude specialists. Butterflies are abundant at high altitudes at that time, and in fact July and August is about the limit of their flight season. There’s not much point in going to altitudes of 1500m much before July. And of course the species you see in the mountains include many that only occur above a specified altitude, as well as those that are found everywhere else – like Small Tortoiseshells at 2000m+ in the Pyrenees.

OK so - The Med in May/June sounds like the best bet and mainland (more species).....Denise I've been to Kos (saw 2 tailed Pasha there in August - fab..but I've been there and bought the t-shirt).

So May/June Mainland.

Spain?
France? (bit costly)
Italy? (also costly)
Greece? Any specific place...remember the beach clause!
Portugal? (I like the beaches in portugal!)
Turkey Lurkey? (Yes I know not Europe..but it is sort of)

How's about Croatia? Are the beaches sandy?

Danny

Hi Danny,

Croatia for the month of May is good for butterflies but it is quite an expensive destination to go to.
You may consider Slovenia (Portoroz has sandy beaches) which is cheaper (Easyjet have flights to Llubljana). I went to Slovenia a couple of years ago and was based near a village called Stanjel (not too far from the coast), butterflies were plentiful in middle of June and the country is still fairly unspoilt.
Other ideas you may consider is the black sea coast of Turkey which has some nice beaches and is boarded with a fairly high mountain range especially in the east. You can find butterflies there in the months of July and August (North East of the country) although sunny weather is not always garanteed. The south west coast of Turkey should be excellent for butterflies in May !! You may also consider Bulgaria.
When I plan for holidays, I rely mainly on the internet and books. It is worth spending a great amount of time to make your own research and to make sure you choose a destination which will meet your expectations.
Best of luck,
Sylvie

Thanks Sylvie....Slovenia sounds interesting....I've been there but it was 25 years ago!

I wasn't in my butterflying phase then, more into getting pissed and shagging women..sigh, them were the days...now I've returned to my childhood and have mere nature to entertain me.

I went to Turkey Lurkey in August this year and it was utterly crap for butterflies. A butterfly desert in fact, devoid of life completely save for the odd tatty lizard (and there were only two of those)...but the Black Sea coast sounds interesting, could you suggest any resorts?

Danny

Hi Danny,

Unfortunately I can't recommend any good seaside resorts in Northern Turkey. I am planning a trip over there in the next 2-3 years and would like to stay somewhere between Rize and Erzurum (Kackar mountains) for butterflies, flora and birds so I have not looked into seaside resorts.
Sylvie