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Hi everyone. Volcanos permitting, we fly off to the Greek Island of Santorini in just over a week. I've been doing a bit of Googling, but can find absolutely nothing to give any clue as to what, if any, kinds of Butterflies there might be to see. Anyone here been?

No one's replied, and it's getting close to your departure, so a few thoughts, despite the fact I've never visited Greece or its islands in May.

The Greek islands have some wonderful butterflies, but like all islands often disappointingly few. Don't expect millions of species but do expect to see things you've never seen before. These might include the yellow Greek female Cleopatra (looking like a male brimstone but with much less scalloped wings) and the Eastern baton blue, Pseudophilotes vicrama. Any Bath whites you see will be Eastern Bath white (Pontia edusa) and if dappled whites are still flying they will be Eastern Dappled white (Euchloe ausonia). I would definitely keep my eyes peeled for southern swallowtail, Papilio alexenor. For the rest I won't speculate - every island is different - but do make a point of exploring all around the coast and different habitats on the island. Some interesting species will be extremely localised.

You will see several species of blue and quite possibly some interesting skippers. If you take photos for later ID, do also make some field notes describing aspects not visible in the photos! I often find myself trying to identify things for people from photos, knowing that if I'd seen the butterfly in the field there would have been no question at all about ID!

Guy

Hi, and thanks for the reply. At the moment, we're just keeping our fingers crossed that the damned ash keeps clear, and that the unrest in Greece doesn't cause problems with air-traffic controllers and the like! We paid a brief visit to the island a few years ago (a day trip from Crete) in September. It is every bit as beautiful as everyone says it is, and we're looking forward to having a week to discover more of it. We're also hoping that in May, being Spring/early Summer, it will be greener and less parched dry, so hopefully there will be some butterflies to be seen, though I am aware that small islands are often not great for butterfly spotting. I hope to be able to report back in a couple of weeks!