Sunday 23 May 2021

Bulgaria Spring 2021- Butterflies and moths

We experienced pretty cool temperatures during this Spring's visit. Night time temperatures stayed below 10 C throughout so moth catches were minimal and the day time butterfly and moth activity was also fairly low. Here's a few pictures with tentative identifications, the highlight being a long awaited butterfly lifer-  Nettle-tree Butterfly. 

Nettle-tree Butterfly 
Female Southern Festoon
Mallow Skipper 
Glanville Fritillary 
Queen of Spain Fritillary 
Closest I could get to this was a form of Oak Beauty.
Not sure what this is- a Cucullia sp? It's a Silver Cloud (thanks Billy) . The most numerous moth at the Project site trap 
Coronet I presume
Lobster Moth
Tawny Prominent was the closest I could get to on this 
Purple Thorn (it's a Lunar Thorn- see comments, Thanks Stewart) . Other moths recorded at the project site trap were Knot Grass, Hebrew Character, Elephant Hawkmoth, Pale Brindled Beauty (or something similar), Muslin moth,  Scorched Carpet, several cnephasia sp and a daytime long horn (looked like A.reaumurella). 
Euclidia triquetra (Thanks Billy for id) 

2 comments:

Stewart said...

Pete the scalloped hindwings of your thorn make it a Lunar. Not sure about European species though.

Peter Alfrey said...

Thanks Stewart - that is a better fit. Cheers!