Bulgaria, July 2023, Day Five

It was the usual routine today except I mixed it up a bit in the evening by having a walk around Cape Kaliakra and having dinner at the restaurant there before getting back to the plot for the late evening.

I'm not going to lie- the moth trapping has been slightly underwhelming this week, dominated by micro-leps. However last night was more like it, with plenty of wow-factor moths and an influx of migrant Rush Veneers too. Cool looking moths and migrants- that's what it's all about although I am also systematically recording all the lep biodiversity.  So some nice adrenaline rushes and plenty of zen work to do too.  It was my first Beautiful Marbled and long overdue Goat Moth so happy days. 

Juvenile Pied Wheatear- there were loads of juvs on the Cape. At least 15 Pied Wheatears up there. 

Female Pied Wheatear in moult. They get rather dark this time of year and many develop dark on the throat and upper breast

The famous Cape Kaliakra Wheatear (either a Pied morph or hybrid) with young 

Female Golden Oriole at the plot- there must be a small colony in the Oak Woodland as there were at least 10 birds this evening flying around 

Whitethroat on the plot

Goat moth- one of two this morning 

Beautiful Marbled- stunner! 

Oak Hawkmoth 

Lappet- so obviously these occur right across Europe 

Another shot of the Beautiful Marbled 

The stunning Etelia zinckenella

Catocala hymenaea- one of the underwings. A great looking moth- shame I never knew at the time to have a look at the underwings 

Scarce Swallowtails at a salt lick at Bolata

Will need to check on the ids of these two (above and below) but I think the darter above is a Scarlet. Also Norfolk Hawker at Bolata. 

One of the Bluetails 

Common Wall Lizard up a tree 

Black Sea Harbour Porpoise off the Cape this evening- plenty of these. Also a bit of Black-headed and Mediterranean Gull migration going on past the Cape with about 50 of each moving south is several groups. 

Bulgaria, July 2023, Days Three and Four

An interesting couple of days and I'm getting into a routine. Who doesn't like a routine? So I'm starting the days at around 6am going through the moth trap and then doing a bit of birding on the plot. By around 1030 its getting hot (around 30 C highs during day and staying around the 20 C mark for the nights with high humidity) so it's then back to the hotel to sort through the pics and identifications. The hottest part of the day it's lunch at the Mopko in Balgarevo and maybe a visit into town (Kavarna) to get supplies if I need them and then after 4pm I'll do a walk through the village and onto the Kamen Bryag Steppe and Coastline. I discovered a new route down to the sea yesterday, a bit treacherous but should be nice and private- just one diver down there yesterday.  By around 6pm its back to the plot for a BBQ, evening birding and setting up the moth trap and I usually wait for the Nightjar to start churring before I go to bed. I was up around midnight yesterday checking the moth trap after I abandoned sleeping in the tent as needed to go back to the hotel for the toilet (getting a toilet here is definitely the next priority).

I'm on my own this trip so mainly enjoying the solitude and peace with the odd bit of loneliness. It was nice to meet up with Pavel on Tuesday who came to look for the Eagle Owls (unfortunately we couldn't re-find them). Dimiter is coming to the site tomorrow so looking forward to that and I'm getting by with nodding and smiling at the guesthouse owners who speak zero English. My neighbours George and Yana speak some English and it was nice visiting their plot yesterday, an abandoned house and large garden where they are living in a caravan and tent and organic farming. It's quite an eclectic little village with some large posh modern houses (city slickers holiday homes), deserted hotels and restaurants, some nice hotels and a single open restaurant (Tango) some hippy commune like places (campervans and caravans), a thriving art studio and a shrine to John Lawton!   

A few picture highlights of last couple of days below.    

Dew drenched Golden Oriole scrambling at the sight of the Roller 

Golden Oriole v European Roller dog fight (above and below) 

Turtle Dove- 3-4 territories on the plot and vicinity

Male Golden Oriole- at least two or three pairs on and near the plot 

Juvenile Syrian Woodpecker 

Lesser Grey Shrike and Turtle Dove 

Female Pied Wheatear- some birds have been getting in the village with one female actually visiting our plot this morning 

A couple of Hairstreaks to identify- Black (above) and White-letter (below) maybe? 110723 update- both of these are Blue-spot Hairstreak . As all my luggage was taken up by the moth trap I couldn't bring any books with me. Other butterflies on the plot include Marbled Fritillary, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Meleager's Blue, Small Copper, Marbled White (lots), Painted Ladies, Meadow Browns, Brimstone, Large and Small White, Large and Essex Skipper, Mallow Skipper, Wall Brown, Scarce Swallowtail and Small Heath. 

Surprisingly (for me) the moth trap has been dominated by micro lepidoptera with not many macros and particularly not many noctuids. One of the more striking micros pictured above (yet to id). The only Hawkmoth species so far is Oak Hawkmoth with up to four a night. Update 110723- maybe Ruby Aristotelia moth? 

The most abundant noctuid in the trap are Parahypopta caestrum

Guernsey Underwing - one of few noctuid species on offer . Also Clancy's Rustics, Scarce Bordered Straw, L-album Wainscot

Spotted Sulphur

The stunning Phtheochroa procerana

Plumed Fan-foot I believe - actually Clay Fan-foot

Emerald sp? 

The newly discovered beach spot- quite a dodgy walk down but should be a nice place to chill in future. Getting down to the sea is not easy round here but this is the second route down we know of now. I collected a few seeds on the steppe to spread around our plot in the autumn- hoping to get some of these plant species on our land over time. Mainly arable and rewilding 'weeds' there at the moment. 

Shrine to John Lawton (British Uriah Heap rock legend)- not really what I was expecting to see out on the Steppe. Apparantely he did a lot of work in Bulgaria and his ashes are spread in Kamen Bryag . More HERE. 

Bulgaria, July 2023, Days One and Two

Back to the Bulgaria project with the main aim to do some moth trapping and some summer birding also get the water connection sorted to the project site. Background to this project HERE

Ebird list from today HERE. Highlights including two recently fledged Eagle Owls on the cliffs and just enjoying all the breeding birds on our plot including Turtle Doves, Nightingales, Golden Orioles, Nightjars and Lesser Grey Shrikes- good birds to have breeding in the garden !

As we now have an electricity connection I've been able to run a 125W MV trap but I only brought the electrics with me as the Robinson's is too big to transport, so I've had to hobble something together this end utilising a bucket. I also discovered that UK plug adaptors don't fit into extension leads here so I've had to mess about with that too but managed to work something out. 

Hopefully this week we can make some progress with getting a water connection. Despite only having power but not water I still pushed on with getting a temporary camp site set up on the plot which I'll leave here for when we come back in September. I'm still using a room at the guesthouse too as not quite ready to be fully based on the plot yet. 

So all going good and plenty of moths and butterflies images to sort and try and identify as soon as I get a chance. Previous work on this HERE 

A recently fledged Eagle Owl by the looks of it- one of two on the cliffs at Kamen Bryag

Female Pied Wheatear- several pairs holding territory locally and also some recently fledged young 

Barred Warbler 

First-summer Hobby flying along the cliffs

Turtle Dove display flight over the plot

A stunning little longhorn moth. Nemophora fasciella 

Tawny Wave I believe. Update 060723 More like Bright Wave 

No idea but a beautiful moth . 110723 update. Still not sure on this but maybe Honeyania ragusana. 241123- latest suggestion is Eublemma polygramma

Another one to id. Update 060723- yes as Ben suggested this is most likely Orange-bar Grass Veneer, Chryocrambus linetella which is a species of this cryptic group which, according to the i-naturalist Bulgarian moth group, is flying now 

The Passenger

Not sure what these are but there were hundreds of them . 110723- Odites kollarella

The temporary accommodation at the plot (above) and the moth trap (below) 

The Kamen Bryag coastline 

A few bits from the week

I'm off to Bulgaria on Sunday so it's been a busy week making sure I'm up to date with everything. I managed to get the actinic on at the Old Vic on Tuesday night and both traps on last night and the actinic again at Wood Street on Wednesday night. A bit of moth migration last night at the Old Vic with 6 Silver-Y, Dark Sword Grass and 3 Diamond-back Moth plus a White-point. There's been a steady trickle of Diamond-back Moths through June and the odd Silver-Y but last night was definitely an uptick with the Dark Sword Grass an NFY.  I was catching up with the Portland Blog yesterday and they have had a good week of moth mig with thousands of Silver-Y and also some goodies so presumably the strong southwesterlies last night pushed some inland here. 

Moth year list in the garden is 316. 71 species of 347 moths last night (mainly Garden Grass Veneer and Dark Arches).   

18 tree and garden care quotes this week so pretty full on and on Wednesday night I was at the Little Oak HQ dropping off the geese chicks and also met up with Arjun to discuss September battle plans for Bulgaria and on Thursday night I meet up with Sam Woods who is in the country for the Bird Fair. Great to catch up with Sam and will hopefully see him again before he goes back to Ecuador.  

Orange-spotted Shoot, Rhyacionia pinicolana at Wood Street. I think its this species rather than the similar Pine Shoot Moth which has raised scales on/near the thorax. 

Small Clouded Brindle at Wood Street . Not a species I've recorded in the Wandle Valley before. 

Small Seraphim at Wood Street- don't get many of these at the Old Vic 

Maple Piercer, Pammene traumiana at Wood Street. These might be gen dent jobs. 

Timothy Tortrix, Aphelia paleana at the Old Vic- that orange around the head indicates a male

White-headed Ermel, Paraswammerdamia albicapitella- I think this species due to the white head and thorax, speckled grey forewing with faint cross bar mid way , a line of black dots along the wing fold and a slight coppery tinge on the wing fringe 

Dark Sword Grass- NFY

Silver-Y

Cock's-head Bell, Zeiraphera isertana- NFY

The Red-clawed Crab was showing well in the Palludarium this week- we can go weeks/months without seeing these in there