Bulgarian Specials.

 As well as all those dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies we saw on our epic Bulgarian trip, which can be seen on my previous 3 posts, there were also other special insects and birds that we saw during the 9 days of the trip.

There was probably none more special than my very first sighting of the splendid Wallcreeper. This was a bird that Matt and I used to talk about quite a bit, and was our dream bird. Of course, he has since had sightings on his trips, but I had never set eyes on them before. We stopped in a layby in a gorge that was a well known site for this epic species. For the first 10 minutes or so, we waited in hope, when suddenly one was seen in the distance flying away from us. This in itself would have satisfied myself. However, we soon had sighting across the gorge of a pair of Wallcreepers. Some long distance shots were taken, but they were never going to be much more than poor record shots. We were near to moving on when one of our group spotted a Wallcreeper on our side of the gorge, not more than 30 feet away. It was shortly joined by its mate, and then after that we had 20 minutes or so of some close views of both birds. The light was not particularly good, being in heavy shadow, and few of my photos were particularly good, but a small number were very satisfying for me.

Wallcreeper

Wallcreeper.

As I was concentrating mainly on insects, I didn't photograph that many birds, but on an early morning walk we did get a Serin on an overhead line which I photographed.

Serin.

There were however several other class birds that we saw including a stunning male Montague's Harrier that flew past the van while we were travelling along. We also had a Roller, many Bee-eaters and several different types of Heron around Kerkini Lake.

Whilst checking out many of the lakes and rivers for odonata we did see many frogs. These were mainly Marsh Frogs, although some of the lakes did have some Oriental Tree Frogs, which had escaped, or set free many years ago, and had multiplied in great number!!

Marsh Frog.

Marsh Frog.

Oriental Tree Frog.

Another escapee was the European Pond Terrapin, that was probably let loose in Bulgaria after the Mutant Ninja Turtle craze, where pets were released into waterways all over the place!!

European Pond Terrapin.

There certainly were some weird and wonderful insects seen. Two of these were members of the Cricket family. We were driving merrily along a road when Dansko braked suddenly. He had spotted a Bradyporus dasypus. This is an enormous cricket covered in armour shell and it almost feels that it would leave a massive dent in the van if you drove into it!! The cricket was actually walking across the road in front of us. We managed to get out the van and photograph it before it had finished crossing the road. After seeing this chap, we did spot a few flat ones on the road, so clearly not all of them make it across the road safely.

Bradyporus dasypus.

Another amazing cricket we saw was the Balkan Predatory Bush-cricket. This one was even bigger and feeds on other crickets including the large Wart-biter. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't give an impression of size, but including the ovipositor they can grow to around 120mm.

Balkan Predatory Bush-cricket.

One of my favourite insect we saw was the Sinuated Spoonwing, another bizarre looking creature. Fortunately, the insect was resting in the open on a tall grass. I just managed a quick photo before it realised we were there and it flew away.

Sinuated Spoonwing.

We also had many moths, a moth trap set most days did catch a few moths, but most of the ones photographed were taken out in the field. However, a couple of special moths that were caught in the trap included the Spurge Hawk-moth and Pine-tree Lappet.

Spurge Hawk-moth.

Pine-tree Lappet.

On the last day the beautiful tiny moth Eucrostes indegnata was also caught.

Eucrostes indegnata.

Out in the field we saw many Hummingbird Hawk-moths, Black-veined Moths and a few Passenger. A beautiful Lewes Wave I found in the front meadow of one of the hotels. This is quite a special moth to me as it's named after Lewes in Sussex, the town I was born in and was once the only British site for this now extinct UK moth. Fortunately, it is still quite widespread in parts of Europe.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth.

Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth.

Black-veined Moth.

Black-veined Moth egg laying.

Passenger.

Lewes Wave.

Bulgaria Butterflies.

 Although the tour to Bulgaria was mainly aimed at dragonflies, the country is so diverse with insects, there was always going to be lots of butterflies to enjoy.

We actually ended up seeing over 90 species, which considering the tour was only over 9 days, is pretty amazing.

Following photos are my favourites from the trip. This did include several new ones for me too and some that I was hoping to see again.

Our first stop after leaving the airport gave me my first new species in the form of a Freyer's Purple Emperor, however, despite seeing them again later in the tour, I never did manage to get a photo of this species.

Also on the way to the first hotel, a meadow was full of colour with a couple Twin-spot Fritillaries and Balkan Coppers. 

Twin-spot Fritillary.

On the 2nd day, we thought we had found a Yellow-banded Skipper. Unfortunately, the butterfly remained open winged, so we couldn't see the distinctive underside. However, after returning home, and studying the photo, it appears that this butterfly is actually the Sandy Grizzled Skipper, which is quite a scarce species.

Sandy Grizzled Skipper.

Throughout the tour we occasionally came across hoards of butterflies taking minerals and moisture from the tracks. Although these were mainly members of the 'blue' family, we did get the odd Grayling including the Delattin's Grayling and The Hermit.

Delattin's Grayling.

The Hermit.

Several Marbled Fritillaries were seen in a couple of locations.

Marbled Fritillary.

As well as the first day, we also saw the Balkan Copper in the meadow in front of one of the hotels. I got up early on the morning we were at that hotel to search for roosting butterflies. The best of which was a Balkan Copper. As the sun came up the butterfly opened its wings to reveal the brilliant top wings. We also saw a female , which was not quite so dramatic!!

Balkan Copper.

Male Balkan Copper.

Female Balkan Copper.

The Lesser Fiery Copper was also seen a few times, although they didn't open their wings so far as it was during the heat of the day when we saw them.

Lesser Fiery Copper.

Sloe Hairstreak were very common at several sites. Unfortunately, this was the only hairstreak we saw to photograph.

Sloe Hairstreak.

By the side of one of the small reservoirs, one of the clients found a stunning pupa, which almost certainly is the pupa of the Spotted Fritillary. This was one of the most numerous fritillary species that we saw, and one of the brightest coloured. Interestingly, the female is a sort of two tone, with brighter hindwings than the forewings.

Spotted Fritillary pupa.

Female Spotted Fritillary.

Male Spotted Fritillary.

At a woodland site in the Pirin Mountains, I spotted a female obviously searching for somewhere to lay her eggs. Fortunately I spotted her as she flew under a leaf and started to egg lay. After watching her for a couple of minutes, we decided to leave her to it, and to check on her when we walked back. She had left the leaf when we returned, and looking under the leaf we were amazed to find that she had laid over 70 eggs.

Spotted Fritillary egg laying.

Spotted Fritillary eggs.

Another new species for me was the Eastern Festoon. These were quite numerous, although I didn't get any decent shots of them, particularly the top side.

Eastern Festoon.

Plenty of Queen of Spain Fritillaries were seen.

Queen of Spain Fritillary.

Heath Fritillary.

Apollo are always impressive to see. This one was nectaring for some time in a meadow that was full of butterflies.

Apollo.

Ever since my 2018 trip to Bulgaria with Matt I have wanted to see the Poplar Admiral again. This large impressive species we only saw briefly back then, although it did fly into the car and land on our butterfly field guide!! We only saw this species once also during this trip, although we did have 2 together. One vanished quickly, but the other flew down to the shallows at the edge of the river to drink from the river. It was in immaculate condition. Most Poplar Admirals have wide white markings on the wings, but this one is of the form tremulae which doesn't have the white markings.

Poplar Admiral. form tremulae.

Until this trip, I had also never seen the Small Tiger Blue. Such a tiny gem of a butterfly. We saw them in 2 different locations, although mostly they were a little worn. At the 2nd site I was lucky to find a lovely fresh individual.

Little Tiger Blue.

One spot was extremely memorable as it first produced a Chapman's Blue, and then my most memorable butterfly moment of the trip, when a newly emerged Southern White Admiral was sheltering in the bush where we were both sheltering from the 40 degrees heat.

This is one of the best butterflies I've ever photographed. A truly spectacular individual, despite it not opening its wings. The undersides though are pretty amazing.

Chapman's Blue.

Southern White Admiral.

After leaving our final hotel, we stopped off in a couple of spots on our way back to the airport. Dansko, our other leader suddenly called us over, as he had found a mating pair of Large Coppers. How lucky were we to see this quite scarce butterfly mating. After we left them to it, I checked on them on the way back to the van to find that they had split up, but 2 males were seen fighting over territory. Eventually they split up, and one of them landed close to me to give me one final opportunity with him.

Mating Large Copper.

Male Large Copper.

The Damselflies of Bulgaria.

The species of damselfly, that I was really hoping to see was the bizarre looking Odalisque. It's almost a cross between a dragonfly and damselfly.

There was only one site where we were likely to find this beauty, but it was also very close to the road where we could park. Apparently it likes the cool fresh water coming off the mountains, and as we descended down a small path to some deeper pools in some shaded area Dansko spotted one. It seemed very loyal to the area, so those that wanted to photograph it got lucky. It was lucky too, as only a few minutes later it had vanished, probably flying a little downstream where we could not follow it.

At least though, we had seen the most sought after damselfly species.

 

Male Odalisque.

The other species of damselfly were much more like we get back home, with some of the rare ones there, being much more numerous. Once again, where a damselfly has a British name, I will put that in brackets.

Mating Common Bluetail (Blue-tailed Damselfly).

At home I have searched for the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly a few times in the New Forest without success. On the 2nd day, we visited a small reservoir where we had a good chance of finding some. It was in the far corner of the reservoir where we got lucky. It was great being able to see the distinguishing marks of this species. There is now a thriving colony in Kent, that I hope to visit in the near future.

Male Small Bluetail (Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly).

The immature female of this species is a really beautiful insect, and following a good search for them, we eventually found 2 of them. Known in the UK as the aurantiaca form, it certainly is a beauty!!

Immature Female Small Bluetail. (Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly)

Another species that I've failed to see in the UK is the Dainty Damselfly. Strangely, this species is also found at the same Kent site that holds the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly. The Dainty has been there longer however, and has spread well in Kent, and will no doubt soon be in the far east of Sussex. In Bulgaria, I found the first one near the same area as the female Small Bluetail. Following this, several more Dainty were found throughout the tour.

Dainty Bluet (Dainty Damselfly).

As far as the Willow Emerald goes, the common one in Bulgaria is the Eastern Willow Spreadwing. The Western version is the one we get in the UK. In Bulgaria we only saw a single Western.

Eastern Willow Spreadwing.

The simply named Blue-eye, certainly lives up to its name, as it has very bright blue eyes!! We saw several of these, although they rarely settled in easy reach of the cameras, generally settling on foliage growing in the middle of the pond. Eventually one did come just about close enough, although it still involved getting wet boots.

Blue-eye.

The Robust Spreadwing was by far the most common spreadwing, or emerald damselfly that we saw. This is a species I have seen a few times in the UK, but it is a much rarer species here. Strangely, since returning back home I have now seen them much closer to home in Sussex. Here it is known as the Scarce Emerald Damselfly.

Robust Spreadwing (Scarce Emerald Damselfly).

The next post will be on the wonderful butterflies that we saw on the tour.