Bulgaria day 13

We met Anton this morning at our hotel and then in torrential rain we headed south to Kresna. Our orginal plan was to head to the mountains north of Sofia but the weather changed our strategy so we headed south instead.

Nikolay had given us a couple of locations to check for butterflies so Kevin and I did some lepping while Anton concentrated on herping. Between us all we had a nice haul.

Purple-shot Copper (above and below)

Sooty Copper

Chequered Blue

Great Banded Grayling

Nettle-tree Butterfly aka European Beak

European Swallowtail (above and below) 

Oriental Skipper (above and below) 

Southern White Admiral

Balkan Marbled White

Brown Argus

Common Blues

Velvet spider sp

Dice Snake

Horn-nosed Viper (above and below)

Kresna Gorge (above and below)

Bulgaria Day 12

Today (3rd June) was our second day with Nikolay. We over nighted at a forest lodge near the Sakar Hills and then spent the day in the area checking various spots. I kept Ebird running all day in the general area HERE with 60 species recorded including Olive-tree and Eastern Bonelli's Warbler and Eastern Black-eared Wheatear. 

Nikolay lead us to a nice selection of butterflies, dragonflies and orchids with the highlight being two Bavius Blues at a site they are unrecorded from- a lifer for our guide and only 3 previous observations on 1-Nat for Bulgaria HERE .

Also several other butterfly lifers today. Slowly 'collecting' more of the Bulgarian butterflies, now on 70 species for the country HERE 

Bavius Blue

Tiny Tiger Blue- such a good looking butterfly

Blue Argus

Osiris Blue

Mazarine Blue

Balkan Zephyr Blue

Silver-studded Blue

Orbed Red Underwing Skipper

Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper

Yellow banded Skipper

Lesser-spotted Fritillary

Southern White Admiral (with Nine-spotted Moth in background)

The Odalisque, male (above) and female (below)

Eastern Spectre

Turkish Goldenring 

Southern Darter

Scarce Merveille du Jour was the highlight of the moth trap at the forest lodge

Horned Orchid

Anacamptis palustris elegans

Juvenile Woodlark road casualty . We also had a dead Blotched Snake on the road. 

Bulgaria Day 11

Today (2nd June) we met our guide Nikolay and targeted several butterfly specialities in the spectacular Eastern Rhodope region around the town of Madzharovo. We covered a few sites so I kept Ebird running all day HERE with the birding highlights being a few Bulgarian lifers including Black Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Chukar and Blue Rock Thrush (now on 306 for Bulgaria). Also nice to see all the Griffon Vultures, Rock Buntings and Sombre Tits which I haven't seen in Bulgaria for a while.

Latest butterfly and moths observations HERE with so many highlights. A few photo highlights below.

Egyptian Vulture (above) and Griffon Vulture (below)- it was about time I visited the famous Vulture region of Bulgaria

Black Stork

Butterfly of the day was the localised Kruper's Small White

Southern Small White

Eastern Bath White

Chequered Blue 

Little Tiger Blue

Eastern Knapweed Fritillary

Lattice Brown

Small Pincertail

Sinuated Spoonwing

The Eastern Rhodopes (above and below). Between the Danube plains and Dobrich Plateaux, the Balkans, the Black Sea Coast, the Burgas lake complex, the Via Pontica migration route, the passerine migration hotspots around Cape Kaliakra, the Rhodopes, Pirin and Rila, the Strandzha Forests and the various central valleys- Bulgaria is stunningly complex and diverse.