Return to Transylvania.

 I have recently returned from the fabulous countryside in Transylvania. My eldest son had his 2nd wedding of the year there, as Anna, his lovely wife comes from Transylvania, so following their British wedding in May, we were treated to a proper traditional wedding in Transylvania.

This actually made it the 3rd wedding of the year, as Matt, my younger son and his wife Emily also got married this year. They too joined Lisa and I, as well as Jean, my Mother-in-law. The biggest problem is getting to the country, with having to fly from Luton on a very early flight.

Weddings in Transylvania are very different to a British wedding, and are a lot of fun and partying over a couple of days. Having been to Transylvania back in 2022 to meet Anna's parents and having one of the best trips I've ever had, I was hoping that Lisa and I would have time to head out into the fantastic countryside which is teeming with nature. I didn't need to worry as we were able to head out onto the hills several times. Although there wasn't anything like as much to see in September as there had been in June, it was still very impressive. Our first walk was after most of the butterflies had gone to roost, but Lisa was really pleased to have seen around 7 new species in a really short time.

As in Britain, there are currently a lot of Clouded Yellows on the wing. However, in Transylvania nearly all of them are Pale Clouded Yellow (Colias hyale), a species that is a mega rarity over here. My best photo from the whole trip was of one of these beauties as it nectared on Alfafa.

Pale Clouded Yellow on Alfafa.

Pale Clouded Yellow on Clover.

The meadows just above the village where we were staying are full of flowers and the insect life thrives in the area where there are no insecticides used, if only we could say the same here in Britain!!

Short-tailed Blues were also very numerous, although it wasn't easy getting decent photos of these very small butterflies.

Female Short-tailed Blue.

Female Short-tailed Blue.

On two occasions we saw Swallowtails. One vanished very quickly, but the 2nd one was busy egg laying. I saw the butterfly lay one egg, so with Lisa following the butterfly to try and photograph her, I searched for the ova. Having found it I marked it and joined Lisa to photograph the butterfly after it had stopped to nectar.

Female Swallowtail.

Swallowtail ova.

There were also reasonable numbers of Oberthur's Grizzled Skippers and Weaver's Fritillary in all 3 sites that we managed to get to. The day before the wedding we looked around the graveyard of the church, and saw several Weaver's Fritillaries egg laying.

Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper.

Weaver's Fritillary.

Weaver's Fritillary ova.

Another Fritillary that we saw a few of was the Nickerl's Fritillary. A species that I saw here in 2022. These were all very fresh specimens, so I guess the latest brood had just started to appear. It was a shame our time was short as I would have loved spending more time trying to get some good images of this species.

Nickerl's Fritillary.

I was really hoping that we would see a Large Copper, an absolutely gorgeous species that I knew would really impress Lisa. Strangely, the first one that we saw was in the garden of the cottage we were all staying in. Matt was relaxing in a hammock when he spotted it fly over the garden. I saw a quick glimpse of it but Lisa didn't get a good look at all. A bit later I spotted another one. This time Lisa did see it, but once again the butterfly kept on flying through. On our last day of walking up the meadow above the cottage, we walked in a different direction and chanced upon a female Large Copper. Not quite as impressive as the male, but still lovely, and this one did stay for a few shots before it vanished flying high over the trees.

Female Large Copper.

Later that same day, after having lunch with all the wedding guests, we had one final chance of a walk in the meadow, so we headed off to the same area hoping to see the butterfly again. We didn't see her, but instead saw a gorgeous male in the same spot. Here we both got a few photos including open wing shots. 

Male Large Copper.

A little later I managed to photograph a male Reverdin's Blue, a butterfly that was new to me. We had seen a female on our first stroll, but I hadn't realised at that time that it was a Reverdin's and not a Silver-studded Blue that I had thought it was, so I hadn't photographed it. Fortunately Lisa had got a shot so we could get a identify it.

My shots of the male are not going to win any prizes, but it was pleasing to get one new species.

Male Reverdin's Blue.

I had decided to only travel with the macro lens as I wanted to travel light. Lisa however, did take her longer zoom that paid off with some of the birds we saw and got quite close to. These included a young Cuckoo and several Red-backed Shrikes as well as a Little Owl that spent all day on the roof of the next door property.

We did however, also find other insects that were a little bit special On one walk we were joined by Emily, and she spotted a Field Cricket, a species that was totally new to me.

 

Field Cricket in the hand (my hand).

Field Cricket back in the field.

I spotted another new insect for both myself and Lisa. The stunning European Praying Mantis. I love the Latin name of this. Mantis religiosa.

European Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa). Giving me the evil look!

I'm really hoping that in the near future we can both visit this glorious country again and have lots more time to enjoy the abundant wildlife.

Wasp Spiders and Hornet Robberflies.

 

With late Summer two creatures become more numerous on my patch. Numbers of both Wasp Spider and Hornet Robberfly have grown considerably over the past few years. On a good year for either of these species it can be quite easy to see twenty plus of either of them. This year however, has not been such a good year for the Wasp Spider, but numbers of the Hornet Robberfly has been very high, with lots of them being seen hunting their favourite prey of Grasshoppers. As a coinicidence, grasshoppers are also the favourite prey for the Wasp Spider. The strange pattern in the web is thought to strengthen the web to stop the grasshoppers from jumping out of the web, and keeping the web strong enough to keep it intact.

Both these species though will take other prey, although I can't remember seeing a Wasp Spider with a wasp until this one below.

Wasp Spider with a Wasp.

Wasp Spider showing patterning in the web.

It's always difficult to get an impression of size with photographs, which is a shame as this one shown below was the largest Wasp Spider that I have ever seen. I watched it over several days before it vanished, but not before I had managed to show it to Lisa on one of our walks.

Female Wasp Spider.

My highest count this year of the Hornet Robberfly was well over 30 along the valley. Many were seen mating too. The first sighting each year is always a good day, although probably not so much for the prey species. I have seen them catch beetles, flies and butterflies, as well as lots of grasshoppers. The insects can often be seen on cow pats, this can be for two reasons, as they will catch flies that visit the cow pats. Females also lay their eggs in the cow pats where the young larvae eat fly and beetle larvae also living there.

Hornet Robberfly.

Hornet Robberfly with grasshopper prey.

I was with James one day along the valley, when we saw a mating pair of Hornet Robberflies take off in front of us. The insects usually land on foliage with a messy background, so we couldn't believe our luck when this pair flew low down into a bramble bush and sat mating in full view on top of a bramble leaf. They even stayed there for a long time so we could both get as many photos as we could hope for. We even left them in this position after watching them for some time.

Mating Hornet Robberflies.

                                                        

Just last week along the valley I came across a different species of spider. This one was a Crab Spider on Devil's-bit Scabious. She had caught a Common Drone-fly, which was an enormous meal for her. She was however sharing the meal with a Red Ant, although I doubt that she was aware of this. It was quite an interesting image though, as the ant seemed to be favouring the wings of the drone-fly.

Crab Spider with Drone-fly prey, and Ant.

Late Summer Butterflies.

 

This year has been so busy with both my son's getting married, as well as hunting dragonflies and the Bulgaria tour I feel I have been neglecting the local butterflies. However, I have still managed several local walks to look for them, and there have been some very nice surprises along the way.

It was only 3 years ago that I had one of the top locations for the stunning Silver-spotted Skippers just a short walk away from home. Then in 2024 there was a big crash in numbers that was extremely worrying. The following year saw a tiny improvement, but still a long way from where it used to be. Fortunately 2026 has seen a big step back to where they should be. It has been lovely walking along the valley and seeing these little beauties buzzing around at breakneck speed.

Silver-spotted Skipper.

I also found another site that had improved numbers this year. On a day looking for, and failing to find any Grayling, I came across this newly emerged individual. The proboscis is actually still split towards the end. This is normal for newly emerged individuals and will soon join up which will enable the insect to nectar. It is quite unusual to see these skippers well off the ground like this, but with the temperature being around 33 degrees centigrade several butterflies were well off the ground to help keep them cool

.

Newly emerged Silver-spotted Skipper.

My wild patch in the lawn has really been good this year, especially for Common Blue and Brown Argus. I'm sure I have had several of these butterflies actually emerge in the garden, which is very rewarding. This female Common Blue was one of many that roosted overnight.

Roosting female Common Blue.

In my local meadow I spotted an Adonis Blue. There is very little Horseshoe Vetch in the meadow so an Adonis Blue is quite a scarce sight there. Meanwhile, the Common Blue have been seen there in very high numbers.

Male Adonis Blue.

I did get very lucky with a Green-veined White that I saw nectaring on an overgrown footpath. The butterfly was actually in the shade of a tree, and with sunshine showing just behind the butterfly, the lighting effect was quite interesting.

Green-veined White.

I actually came across the Green-veined while I was looking for Brown Hairstreak. Until last year I would never have wasted my time looking for this species as it simply wasn't there. However, last year I stumbled across 3 different Brown Hairstreak on my patch, and this year numbers have increased much further with 13 seen. Until last year there had only been one record on my patch. It has certainly added a lot of excitement to any late summer butterfly hunt in the area. One day Lisa and I were near High and Over, and I wanted to check out some Hemp Agrimony in the hope that a Brown Hairstreak might be feeding on the flower. Amazingly, from some distance I spotted a female on top of the plant. In trying to get a little closer the butterfly took flight but quickly re-settled on a leaf where I quickly took a couple of shots. As Lisa had decided to travel light that day, she borrowed my camera, but the butterfly took off and vanished before she had the chance to photograph her.

Female Brown Hairstreak.

The day after I had seen my first 3rd brood Wall Brown of the year, I was doing a butterfly survey in Friston Forest when I found a very fresh male 3rd brood Wall Brown that was also nectaring on Hemp Agrimony. Wall Brown are notoriously difficult to photograph, but this one was so busy feeding he didn't fly off as soon as the lens was pointing at him. A very pleasing image showing the fabulous patterning of the under-wing.

Male Wall Brown on Hemp Agrimony.

A very close relative of the Wall Brown is the Speckled Wood. This species is a lot less flighty and is also more common. However, once the season gets going it can be tricky finding one in good condition. However, twice recently I have come across a fresh male Speckled Wood that posed reasonably well.

Male Speckled Woods.

Along the bottom of the valley I was hoping to find some fresh Brown Argus. There were several that showed quite well, but I also got lucky with an extremely fresh Small Copper.

Small Copper.

Brown Argus.

Then, on a very memorable day for Lisa and myself in late August, we were walking along the patch when I saw a very fresh male Holly Blue. As it settled on a bramble leaf the sun went in, and it stayed put as the temperature dropped quickly. After taking a few closed wing shots Lisa was ready to move on, but as I could see that the sun was about to appear I said we should hold on as the butterfly was probably going to give us a rare opportunity to photograph it with open wings as it tried to warm back up again. It was well worth the wait as he did just that when the sun appeared.

Male Holly Blue resting.

Male Holly Blue.

Further on the same walk a magnificent Clouded Yellow performed well for me. We first had it go to roost, similar in a way to the Holly Blue. Once again, the sun came out after a while and it quickly went to feeding mode, taking advantage of the Knapweed flowers.

Clouded Yellow on Knapweed.

However, what made the walk and day so memorable was a very bizarre moment. Having found a fresh female Queen of Spain Fritillary on my Sussex Butterfly tour a couple of weeks earlier, which had made Lisa extremely envious as she had never seen this rare migrant species before. We had just entered a cultivated section of land, and I said to her that she should look out for a Queen of Spain as the area looked really good for them. The main purpose however of going to that area was for Brown Argus. I pointed out an Argus to her and as she finished photographing it an orange butterfly flew past her and settled on the track just in front of her. Amazingly it was a Queen of Spain Fritillary. It was a surreal moment as only a minute before I had mentioned it was possible there. 

It was a bit tatty, but all the same it was her first Queen of Spain. It vanished a couple of times, but eventually it did reappear and give us both a chance to photograph it.

Male Queen of Spain Fritillary.

I tried a couple more times over the following week and eventually three more were seen. All of them were males and still a bit aged. Three more were also seen by others in the area. It seems we had stumbled across a small colony, although no females were seen by anyone.

Male Queen of Spain Fritillary on Alfafa.

We have tried several more times but without seeing any more. They were already a little aged, so its not really surprising that they have now gone. 

My 3rd visit however, did give us both our best sighting, with a slightly better conditioned butterfly. After watching and enjoying it for some time the weather deteriated and we saw it go to roost. This gave us the chance to photograph it showing the silver windows of the underwing. It was fantastic finding our own little colony, on this year that has seen unprecedented numbers of this butterfly migrating over from the continent. Hopefully more will be seen before the butterfly season grinds to a halt!!

The best of the Queen of Spain Fritillaries.

Male Queen of Spain Fritillary at roost.

Sussex Black Darter.

 It's been a few years now since I last saw the tiny Black Darter in Sussex. All my sightings in the county before have been at Ashdown Forest, but after several summers now of the ponds drying up, it seems the species has vanished from there, which is extremely sad.

However, for the past couple of years there has been sightings on heathland at the far western end of Sussex, and after seeing a report from Polly that she had spotted several Black Darter, at a pond actually called The Black Pond, Lisa and I decided to head over there after we had done a recce for a forthcoming butterfly tour I was leading.

At the pond all the Black Darters we saw were males, with around 6 in total which was very pleasing. One particular male was extremely loyal to a perch that he kept coming back to, despite me being quite close with the camera.

Male Black Darter.

Also present were some Small Red Damselflies, Common Emerald Damselflies, Migrant Hawkers, Southern Hawker and Emperor Dragonflies.

A great site and a very enjoyable hour or so spent there.