Saturday, 19 October 2024

Bulgaria Autumn 2024, Butterflies and moths

Seemingly I didn't pay my electricity bill so we didn't have a connection on the site so sadly we couldn't get the moth trap on as usual. However I managed to run it at the guesthouse nearby and also there was quite a lot of day flying moths and butterflies too before the north wind started.

There were literally thousands of Silver Y's out on the karst, feeding mainly on heather flowers with a few Crimson Speckleds and Rusty-dot Pearls. There were many Hummingbird Hawkmoths and Anton found an adult Convolvolus Hawkmoth on the plot and also a larvae and there were good numbers of Small Cooper, Brown Argus, Holly Blue, Clouded Yellow, Wall Browns, Painted Lady, Red Admirals (migrating), Eastern Bath White, Large White and the odd Adonis Blue, Lang's Short-tailed Blue, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper and Mallow Skipper.

The moth trap was a bit dissappointing but did include Scarce Bordered Straw, Olive-tree Pearl, Silver-Y, Rusty-dot Pearls, Devonshire Wainscot, White-speck, Deep-brown Dart, Agrochola nitida, Small Mottled Willow, a gorgeous Cervyna cervago, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Dark Sword Grass, Vestal and what I think were Feathered Brindles.

Project Lep list is now on 321 species: I-NAT PROJECT HERE


Adonis Blue (above and below) . A well overdue lifer. 

Lang's Short-tailed Blue (above and below). Lifer. 

Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper. Lifer. 
Mallow Skipper
Eastern Bath White- first for our project. 
Devonshire Wainscot
Deep-brown Dart
Feathered Brindle? Yes the Bulgaria I-NAT moth team agree with the identification. This is the first record for the project. 

Agrochola nitida
Convolvolus Hawkmoth 
Wolf spider sp with young riding on it's back 

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