NOTE
My ID skills are notoriously poor.
I welcome corrections (there will be some!!!!!)
- Balkan Skipper (formerly Orbed Red Underwing Skipper)
Hi
- Stunning Yellow Banded Skipper
You may recall that, last year, I went on a butterflying trip to Bulgaria led by the redoubtable Nick Greatorex-Davies.
- Gruners
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7356
- BVW
So enthused was I by the whole experience that I immediately booked myself on a similar trip for 2014.
- Gruners
This latest trip was planned for early May. There were going to be substantially fewer species possible than the amazing 147 from July, but many would be species only found early in the season, and the trip was also planned to concentrate on the area around the Greek/Bulgarian border – substantially further south than the previous trip.
- Chequered Blue
Communications prior to the trip agreed that we should see around 80 species in this area, and at this time of year.
- Gruners
As it happened, Bulgaria had suffered some unseasonal weather, and the butterfly season was thus a little “late”. This became obvious when a fairly random stop produced just a handful of species when, later in the season, over 30 could be expected on any reasonable looking rural stop.
- Chequered Blue
To further illustrate this “Late Season”, we visited one site twice, on Days 7 and 11. The weather was very similar on both trips, but the site counts were very different – 26 on the first visit, and 31 on the second just a few days later.
- Gruners
Having established that we were early in a “late” season, I must stress that we were in no way disappointed with either the quantity of species, or the quality. We managed 82 species for the trip, and a handful were firsts for many of the participants.
- Cream Spot Tiger
Incidentally, of the 17 people on the trip, only one had not been on a N G-D trip to Bulgaria before. A testament to the quality of these trips I think.
- Eastern Festoon - make sure you get my good side
We lost very little hunting time due to poor weather, thanks to the local knowledge of our local guide – Tisho – (pronounced “tissue”).
- Iolas Blue
Tisho was an excellent birder and dragonfly expert, he spoke excellent English, and was great company.
- Large Copper
You can’t help but warm to someone who has “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath as his ring tone!
- Eastern Festoon - tart
His knowledge of butterflies was, to be fair, only reasonable, but with the wealth of experience and knowledge of the participants (close to 1,000 years of butterfly chasing between us!) we didn’t let much get away un-identified.
- Little Tiger Blue - charming animals
With his help we also saw 177 species of birds, half a dozen lizards, two tortoises, a couple of snakes and countless other invertebrates, flowers and other wildlife.
- Little Tiger Blue
Moths were very disappointing, we did get a massive Peacock Moth, Spurge Hawk, and Cream Spot Tiger, but the traps were not overly troubled by moths!
- Magnificent beast - the Peacock moth
- EGBT !!!!
We travelled in a very comfortable bus driven with extraordinary skill by Ivan our driver.
- EGBT !!!!
The three hotels we stayed in were small and comfortable, with the Greek one being the best, run by a charming (and gorgeous) young lady assisted by her mum doing fabulous work in the kitchen, and dad doing a bit of front of house.
The other two were a little less personal, but clean, and food that ranged from adequate to excellent.
- Eastern Knapweed Frit - note the crescents
The only downside to the trip was, on our last day, one of our lady participants got bitten by a Horned Viper. After a while analysing what had happened (she didn’t see the creature, and wasn’t sure it was a snake bite) Tisho decided it was a snake bite, and then we saw another side to Ivan.
His expert slow manoeuvring on mountain roads and impossibly narrow village streets was not his only skill. He turned into a rally driver skilfully driving his huge bus at very high speeds to the nearest hospital.
- One of the 5 tortoise I found
A short period after arrival the diagnosis confirmed a snake bite, and she would be kept in for a few nights. As it happened she spent over 10 days in two Bulgarian hospitals, and returned last week to the UK, still in some pain and discomfort.
To put this in perspective – this is the first snake bite Nick, or any of the other Bulgarian trips, has encountered. We, as fairly adventurous butterfly hunters, will always be at risk of this sort of thing. However, I think the risk is enormously small. In the vast majority of cases the snake will sense our vibrations when we are yards away, and make a swift departure.
Will this incident make any difference to the trips I take, or my behaviour when in the field?
An emphatic NO.
I think the world is divided into two types of people that are separated by where they run when they hear someone yell “Snake”. I am firmly in the “run towards it” camp, and always will be – camera in hand.
- Eastern Wood White
I have decided that I am certainly going on one of these trips again next year.
- Eastern Zephyr
Whilst a group of 17 was no problem, and everyone got along really well, the group sizes next year will probably be smaller – perhaps a dozen or so.
- Eastern Zephyr
The actual dates haven’t been finalised yet, but my plan is for the early trip again, hopefully a week or two later this time.
- Glanny
Have a look at the list of “possibles” we didn’t see at the end of this post, and you can see why..........
- Glanny
Keep an eye on this web page for next year’s dates – probably available at the end of the summer.
http://www.bbfs.org.uk/tour_list.aspx
Here is a list of all species seen-
Swallowtail
Scarce Swallowtail
- Southern Festoon
Southern Festoon
Eastern Festoon
Black-veined White
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
Eastern Bath White
Eastern Dappled White
Eastern Greenish Black-tip
Orange-tip
Grüner's Orange-tip
Clouded Yellow
Berger's Clouded Yellow
Brimstone
Wood White
Eastern Wood White
Sloe Hairstreak
Ilex Hairstreak
White-letter Hairstreak
Green Hairstreak
Small Copper
Large Copper
Sooty Copper
Little Tiger Blue
Short-tailed Blue
Provençal Short-tailed Blue
Small Blue
Osiris Blue
Holly Blue
Green-underside Blue
Iolas Blue
Eastern Baton Blue
Chequered Blue
Eastern Zephyr Blue
Silver-studded Blue
Brown Argus
Blue Argus
Chapman's Blue
Adonis Blue
Common Blue
Duke of Burgundy
Nettle-tree Butterfly
Southern White Admiral
Common Glider
Camberwell Beauty
Large Tortoiseshell
Red Admiral
Painted Lady
Peacock
Small Tortoiseshell
Comma
- Southern Comma
Southern Comma
Cardinal
Silver-washed Fritillary
Niobe Fritillary
Queen of Spain Fritillary
Weaver's Fritillary
Glanville Fritillary
Knapweed Fritillary
Eastern Knapweed Fritillary
Spotted Fritillary
Lesser Spotted Fritillary
- Woodland Ringlet
Woodland Ringlet
Meadow Brown
Small Heath
Speckled Wood
Wall Brown
Large Wall Brown
Grizzled Skipper
Oberthür's Grizzled Skipper
- Yellow Banded Skipper
Yellow-banded Skipper
Safflower Skipper
Orbed Red-underwing Skipper
Mallow Skipper
Tufted Marbled Skipper
Oriental Marbled Skipper
Dingy Skipper
Lulworth Skipper
Small Skipper
Large Skipper
Possible species that we failed to see were-
Mountain Small White
Krueper's Small White
Small Bath White
Powdered Brimstone
Grecian Copper
Lesser Fiery Copper
Long-tailed Blue
Lang's Short-tailed Blue
Eastern Short-tailed Blue
Grass Jewel
Map
Inky Skipper
So, especially for 1st gen Map, Inky Skipper, Powdered Brimstone, and the Oh So Elusive Grass Jewel – I shall be back................
I have a detailed spreadsheet showing species and sites if anyone wants it – PM me.
Roger Harding
