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HI y'all,

I've just returned from a trip to Bulgaria with Spatia Wildlife (a really excellent outfit!). I'll post a few pix over the next week or so. Any comments on IDs would be very welcome.

A pair of Twin-spot Fritillaries giving a good top/underside ID reference:

A Scarce Fritillary enjoying a bit of sweat (there was plenty on offer), and a nice male. We were very lucky with this rare species, having seen several dozen in a small area. There was bright sunshine in the morning and the butterflies were all closed up. After lunch it clouded over and we were able to see and photograph the stunning upperside :
A Pearly Heath:
And a Hungarian Skipper:

More later...

Tony M.

Hi Tony,

I think the Heath is Chestnut Heath

Cheers

Andy

Great pics Tony. The Scarce Fritillary is well named, unlike the Scarce Swallowtail...

andy brown wrote:I think the Heath is Chestnut Heath

Hi Andy,

D'oh - of course it is ,

Tony.

A few more...

Upper and under surfaces of Yellow-banded Skipper:
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After scouring a hillside for most of a day, I was lucky to find a Tesselated Skipper. This insect is quite enormous for a Skipper, twice the size of a Grizz! The upper surface is not absolutely typical, so for the unbelievers , I also post a seriously crap underside, which just about shows the diagnostic white band.
.

A stunning male Grecian Copper. There were many males at this site, but we only saw one lady (of which I failed to get a photograph ).
A fairly rare Mountain Small White, which refused to pose in the open. This was the best that I could do:
Finally (for today), Two shots of the beautiful Large Chequered Skipper. We saw several of this lovely species, all in good condition, but were privileged to find one with widely spread wings. They have an interesting flight, appearing to bob up and then sink down with closed wings. Quite unlike any other Skipper

Tony M.

Great shots of interesting butterflies Tony. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

Thanks, Nick. Here's the last instalment...

One of many Lattice Browns:
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Blue Argus (I think...):
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A Great Banded Grayling. Those that we saw on the Limestone pavements were very wild, but we were lucky to find several nectaring on Thistles, which were much more docile:
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A Purple Shot Copper - a relatively common species:
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And finally, in a place where we hoped to see the two European 'Gliders', we failed with those but had a splendid bonus with a couple of Poplar Admirals, which took no notice of the activities of the photographers amongst us : The intensity of the 'blue' when the sun is just so, is really amazing. A great end to a terrific holiday...
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Tony M.

thanks for sharing those wonderful pics Tony... the Poplar Admiral was especially superb

Charles

Charles Nicol wrote:.. the Poplar Admiral was especially superb

Agreed.

It has an almost metallic hue, a bit like Southern White Admirals.

Thanks, Charles and David,

I think the underside is almost as stunning:
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And a Scarce Swallowtail for good measure:
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Tony M.

Yes, quite an amazingcolour, that poplar admiral! Ir's obviously a refractive hue, only visible from some angles, as I've never seen it. The dozen or so I saw a couple of weeks ago were all varying shades of matt brown to blackish.

Guy

A great selection of 'exotic' butterflies, Tony, and not a million miles away !
Chris

A super selection, but I think your upperside Tesselated Skipper is actually another Yellow-banded Skipper. The spotting is quite different in Tesselated.

m.

Thanks for the comment, Mikhail, but the upper and lower shots are the same butterfly. It was also enormous for a Skipper - miles bigger than any Yellow-banded that I have seen, and was strongly geyish white around the thorax and legs. I agree it is not a typical upperside, but it was in a known site for TS and I couldn't think what else it might be.

Tony.

Hi again, Mikhail,

I've had a serious rethink about your comment and believe that you are right. . Despite its size, the wing pattern on the ups pic does look very like Y-b S. The photographs were taken about 10 mtrs apart and, as you know, Black and White Skippers are notoriously difficult to follow in flight. I was so consumed with getting an underwing shot, that the second could have been a different butterfly. A TS was found the next morning some distance away, and that had a very typical ups spot pattern. Thank you for pointing out my 'wishful thinking'.

Tony.

A thrilling final instalment! Thank you for sharing them Tony.

Tony,
Out of interest we are off to Bulgaria on 21st.July,more or less following Pete Eeles trip.It will be interesting to see what we find,as it is a little late in July.
P.J.Underwood

Hi PJ,

I'm sure you will still find plenty of interest. Not sure where Pete went, but if you can get up the Rila mountains, you should find Cynthia's and Balkan Frits, Cardinals, BVWs and many other goodies. Beer is cheap, food is good, take a universal sink plug and DON'T practice your Russian on the locals!
Look forward to a report in due course.

Tony.