While consulting RBA three days ago I realised there were indeed birds in England that I really ought to be making the effort to see. Having not travelled nationally since January simply because there was nothing around that interested me, I had got in the habit of just skimming through the listings looking for bold red print and maybe not really paying proper attention.

Suddenly I now realised a state of insidious lethargy could have settled upon me, that had most likely deepened after my recent butterflying trip to northern Greece was so wet as to be demoralising rather than motivating. In short hitting the road to see some birds would do me no harm at all. Of the two options that now stood out one was an Ortolan Bunting in Essex, that was not a lifer but a good opportunity to see that species well in spring.

Citrine Wagtail (from left) female, juvenile and male

The second item of interest was a female Citrine Wagtail on the Severn estuary. This lifer is expanding westward from it’s closest breeding grounds, with increasing numbers of British records in passage seasons, though more usually in far flung parts of the kingdom that are beyond my preferred range. But foul weather was forecast and so an edgy wait ensued. While the Ortolan moved on the Citrine stayed put and so on Sunday morning I set off.

For the past four days the latter bird had frequented Pilning Wetland (ST550864), a small local reserve in south Gloucestershire behind the sea wall between the two Severn road bridges. On 25th it had been joined by a male briefly, before the latter relocated westward to the Taff valley north of Merthyr Tydfil. Arriving at the first of those sites at around 9:15am, I made the perhaps 500 metre walk out to where a small group of birders clearly had located my quest.

Within minutes the female Citrine Wagtail came into view, perched high on the nearest expanse of mud to her observers, much like in the picture below borrowed, I hope agreeably from the local website Severnside Birds. (If not I will remove the image.) It was a really cracking view that was unlikely to be bettered, and so it proved. By the time I set up my disgiscoping kit the bird had gone back into cover.

The Severnside Citrine Wagtail (fem) © and with thanks to Paul Bowerman

This was indeed a very attractive Wagtail; her subtle, lemon yellow tones, slate grey upper parts, striking white wing bars and pale cheeks rendering her quite different from any other of that genus I have observed previously. I remarked to my companions how there were no photographers amongst us. Indeed I was the only person present with a camera and I soon appreciated why. Over the next 2½ hours the bird did not present another similar opportunity, becoming flighty and only being seen distantly as over her previous days here.

As I waited patiently with my digiscoping kit now set up, the bird was relocated after some 30 minutes in a ploughed area away to our left where most prior sightings had come from. Then she flew a circuit, calling as she went before re-settling in the ploughed area. The flight call is louder and harsher than Yellow Wagtail, so I understand. She returned to the original mud just once but only very briefly and hence I was not to get any pictures. But at all times this bird’s rather under-stated and alluring attractiveness stood out wherever she went.

By 11am things were becoming too crowded for my liking. This must be a popular spot with both the general public and those with a more general interest in the site than the visiting twitchers. The number and common-ness of different birds now being called and discussed became quite distracting as I continued to seek out the scarcity in the forlorn hope of taking its picture. And so at around midday I moved on.

Citrine Wagtail © rights of owner reserved

My research reveals Citrine Wagtail has a very wide global range, breeding from the Arctic and sub-Arctic to the sub-tropics. It is a summer visitor to parts of central and eastern Europe, this population wintering mainly in India and south-east Asia. Breeding females are said to suggest a dusky-backed Yellow Wagtail, while juvenile and first winter birds recall pale White Wagtail. Though breeding males show a fully yellow head and underparts, the head’s contrast with the black neck-shawl is diagnostic.

As I approach 350 British birds, mostly within 150 miles of Oxford, the intervals between list additions are increasing. But this was another tricky species that had come to he who waited and this time around 85 miles from home. And in retrospect the buzz that comes from getting on the road to track down new birds is definitely something I have missed in the last three months. Next, please!

Despite my oft-stated predilection for the new and different, one thing I always do each spring is seek out that most subtle, delicate and ever charming little butterfly, the Green Hairstreak. This is because for me the first sightings of any new season are a heart gladdening and soul quenching experience the like of which is difficult to match in the insect world.

“We are from the future not the past. We are not static, we evolve” – Robert Plant, 1995

The singer’s sentiment above, expressed when I saw Page and Plant at the NEC Arena in 1995, is something I have identified with quite closely since. And it certainly equates with my year on year approach to observing wildlife as reported in this journal. Easter at home provided what were lauded as record breaking temperatures for the holiday weekend. So two fair weather days were the cue to set out again on Easter Monday and re-find if not re-define one of my most favourite of butterflies that were beginning to be reported.

Green Hairstreak at Linky Down, Oxon

My choice of location as usual was Aston Rowant NNR on the Chilterns escarpment. The reserve is split in two by the M40 motorway, and I visited the northern side first, known as Beacon Hill that has been the more reliable GH location in recent years. There in the margin between the chalk hillside and the wooded slope of the “sunken way” trail I located about six butterflies, and a mild buzz from the satisfaction of a new season’s communion coursed through me as in every April. But that habitat is low lying and faces into the sun, so composing acceptable, properly lit and contrasted pictures would be difficult.

Hence I moved across to Linky Down, on the reserve’s southern section that is possibly my favourite site of all for the species. Here Hawthorn hedges and scrub are re-generating after being cut severely by English nature in recent year’s as part of its management plan. The sun would be behind me now and I hoped to encounter Green Hairstreak posing higher up. That is exactly what happened as I walked downhill and came across a specimen perched on soon to open Hawthorn blossom at eye level. All the images in this post were captured at this spot, and probably match my better past results.

After a first picture session, during which the butterfly kept stock still for periods and allowed a close approach with my macro lens, I rambled on along the path. Four more GH were flying lower down, after I had stopped to talk to a birder who had located a female Ring Ouzel on the slopes below. The site is a well-known staging post for those migrant upland thrushes, and it was my second record of the bird there this spring. Seeing so many Hairstreaks was reassuring as they have been much more difficult to find at this once classic site since the habitat was cut.

Returning to the aforementioned Hawthorn on the way back, after stopping to watch the “Rouzel” for a while, a second Green Hairstreak was now present and competing for the space with my original subject. Hence the butterflies were both more restless and flighty so gaining comparable images proved difficult to achieve. This (below) was the only one worth retaining from the second session. So after spending more time there I headed home at around 4pm feeling largely satisfied with my first home outing of the new butterfly season.

I am of course not a photographer and possess only obsolete, entry level equipment that I cannot get my head around the technicality of. But the picture collection additions acquired today are nonetheless pleasing enough in their way, if a little “soft focus” and continued improvement is always the aim. New birds to see in Britain are more and more a diminishing return, and March was the first month without a post in this journal since I started compiling it. So the new insect season is very welcome and in the months ahead I intend to do as much work as evolved treatment of past material might allow. Watch this space.

After three days based at Alexandroupoli near the border between Greece and Turkey the tour re-located westward to seek out more butterfly specialities of the region. The Rodopi are a long mountain range across north-east Greece that forms the land border with Bulgaria. The fragmented peaks and deep gorges of the higher western section supports an especially rich flora and fauna with numerous endemic plants, due to a mixture of central European and Mediterranean elements.

From our base at a village, Volakas in the western Rodopi we attempted to explore various sites over the final two days. I had been attracted to this tour by the opportunity to add a number of early flying species to my life list that I reasoned might be more tricky to observe later in the season. Those included Southern, Mountain and Krueper’s Small Whites, Grüner’s Orange Tip, Eastern Greenish Blacktip, Small Bath White and Powdered Brimstone; that I would rely on the expert leadership to identify.

Of those targets Grüner’s Orange Tip was the only butterfly located due to continued wet weather, and the fourth trip lifer. After my success in finding Moroccan Orange Tip and getting pictures of Greenish Blacktip in February (see here), experiencing another regional member of the genus was high on my wish list. Grüner’s is on the wing from March to May in Greece, the southern Balkans, Turkey and eastward as far as Iran.

Grüner’s Orange Tip

By comparison with the regular Orange Tip seen in Great Britain, Grüner’s (pictured above) is smaller with lemon-yellow suffusion in its upper side and greener-toned wing tips. In tone and colouring it thus appears perhaps mid way between the regular and bright yellow Moroccan and Provence Orange Tips I had observed previously. This item was flying in good numbers at Potami on the Despatis River below Mount Falakro.

Regular Orange Tip for comparison (both pictures)

Missing out on the other trip targets can only be described as disappointing. Our transfer day (12th) during which a two hour stop was planned at Nestos Gorge, that could have yielded the different Small Whites, was washed out in spectacular fashion. Then on the final day (14th), when we visited Mount Orvilos, cloud and rain followed wherever we tried to reach brighter skies, setting in as soon as and every time the group got out from the minibuses. By then the relentlessness of the weather pattern that dogged this trip was frustrating me so much that I just wanted to get out of there and on the plane back home.

The tour’s second window of opportunity had occurred on Saturday (13th) when numbers of butterflies were encountered in prolonged sunshine at the Potami site. Wood White was recorded several times through the week and now there was the opportunity to compare the regular and Eastern species. In the top row pictures below the all brown antennae tips and white patch on the unh wing are diagnostic of Eastern Wood White.

Eastern Wood White (male)

Eastern Wood White (male)

Regular Wood White for comparison

Egg laying female Wood White

This was a clearer identification for me than at nearby Mount Vrondou in May 2017. The spring populations of EWW are the easiest to distinguish from other species because of these distinctive heavy underside markings. The Balkan populations, including those in Greece, form the western limit of the main range of the species and occur as a separate sub-species to the outlier populations in north-western Italy and south-west France.

Three blues of the region were also active at Potami. I was able to get pictures of female Eastern Baton Blue (below, left) for the first time, a species I had experienced once before in southern Greece last July. This tiny east-European blue flies in two broods from April to June, then in July and August. I also captured my first open-winged images of Green-underside Blue here (centre), after another had posed nicely on some Asphodel (right) earlier in the week. I had observed the common and very widespread species once before too, in les Cévennes in May 2016.

Eastern Baton Blue (fem)

Green-underside Blue

Green-underside Blue

The third of these Euro-blues at Potami was the attractively patterned Chequered Blue, another species that I first observed in les Cévennes towards the western end of its range. This butterfly (below), that occurs through much of south-eastern Europe, displays marked regional variation and is on the wing earlier in this area of Greece than elsewhere. I also found Short-tailed Blue for the first time at one stop on 14th, but did not get a publishable picture.

Chequered Blue

Chequered Blue

Two Fritillaries produced half decent images at different sites. I had gone into this trip still needing an acceptable top-side study of the pan-European ranging though English vagrant Queen of Spain Fritillary. The picture (below right) is possibly as close as I have come yet. The two under-side images from a site, Granitis earlier on 13th are quite pleasing if allowance is made for the butterfly’s rather contrived re-positioning.

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Another fairly widespread European fritillary I had recorded just once before in les Cévennes is Weaver’s Fritillary. Also at Granitis I gained under-side studies for the first time, that are rather attractive though likewise contrived. This triple brooded species is also known as the Violet Fritillary due to the purplish hue of the unh wings that the pictures (below) show quite well. They fly from April to September.

Weaver’s Fritillary

Weaver’s Fritillary

Weaver’s Fritillary

I would not recommend this tour except for seeing False Apollo, simply because the weather during that ultra-rarity’s flight period appears to be so unpredictable. Gaining my other trip targets was always going to be a gamble, as is booking travel to observe butterflies in advance anywhere; and most of what I missed may also be seen later in the season. I feel I am due some respite now after untypical conditions during or leading up to my trips to Sardinia and southern Greece last summer also impacted adversely upon what could be seen in those places, and the same was true in les Cévennes in 2016.

The trip just described had tip-top leadership, very knowledgeable participants and a good group dynamic; but for me that all counts for little when the conditions were so unforgivingly foul for much of the time. The bottom line was that after just two wet days this year in Greece prior to our arrival we had sunshine for parts of just two days in the field. That is butterflying of course, and I am well used to the grey stuff following me from my home just the short distance to the Chilterns escarpment. Translate that into seven days in a far flung corner of hopefully sunny southern Europe and I consider this experience was moderate value for the £1500 spent, purely due to the weather of course and in no way a reflection upon the tour operator.

The tour group outside our hotel in Volakas: from left Mel Mason (Malvern), Tony Moore, Liz Mason, Dave Potter (Worthing), Nick Ballard at rear (Hull), Bernard Watts (Norwich), Mel Lloyd (Weymouth), Liz Lloyd, Helen Burnett (Solihull), Aidan Whitfield (Bedford), myself (Oxford), Emma Whitfield, Martin Warren (leader) and Michael de Courcy Williams (guide)

The full species count for this-two centre tour, with life-list additions in bold, is: Swallowtail (P m gorganus), Scarce Swallowtail, (Eastern Festoon), Southern Festoon, False Apollo, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, (Eastern Bath White), Eastern Dappled White, Orange Tip, Grüner’s Orange Tip, Clouded Yellow, Brimstone, Wood White, Eastern Wood White, Green Hairstreak, Small Copper, Grecian Copper, Sooty Copper, Short-tailed Blue, Green-underside Blue, Chequered Blue, Eastern Baton Blue, Brown Argus, Camberwell Beauty, Peacock Butterfly, Large Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Map Butterfly, Painted Lady, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Weaver’s Fritillary, Small Heath, Speckled Wood (P a aegeria), Wall Brown, Grizzled Skipper, (Oberthür’s Grizzled Skipper), Mallow Skipper, Dingy Skipper – total 40

(Butterflies in parentheses were seen by other group members but not myself).

False Apollo is one of Europe’s rarest butterflies, occurring very locally just in the far north-east of Greece, some Aegean islands and possibly parts of southern Bulgaria. They are single brooded and on the wing only in March and April, very early in the season so this rather special item is unlikely to be observed without particular intent. Hence I joined a 12-strong group tour run by Greenwings, that operator’s first of the 2019 season.

This expedition was led by former Butterfly Conservation CEO Dr Martin Warren, with local guiding by the eminent Alexandroupolis-based conservationist Dr Michael de Courcy Williams. But no matter how excellent such direction might be butterflies will still only come out when the sun shines, and therein lies the story of this post.

Male False Apollo

False Apollo’s stronghold in the region we visited lies in the Evros Hills near the border with Turkey and to the north of Alexandroupolis. Here many upland streams occur, along which biologically important but little studied Oak and Oriental Plane woodland has developed that supports a diverse flora and fauna. On our first visit on 10th conditions remained steadfastly overcast and no Apollos were found. But we did locate a number of roosting Southern Festoon, another regional speciality that was a very welcome and attractive lifer for me. With this trip’s sightings I have now observed three European members of that colourful genus, the others being Eastern and Spanish Festoons.

Southern Festoon occurs widely but locally across south-eastern Europe, as well as throughout Italy and in some Alpine regions, flying from late March to July. The cold and damp conditions of this tour meant the beautiful and boldly patterned butterflies were quite easy to capture pictorially, especially since my colleagues were adept at “wrangling” the near torpid specimens into photogenic positions then “gardening” around them to remove unwanted clutter.

Southern Festoon

Southern Festoon

Besides a few roosting Coppers not much else was seen on day one, other than at a lower location where the sun came out briefly. In the evening our leaders thanked the group for our forbearance and good humour, and everyone was prepared to accept one largely written off day to begin with. The various weather apps in our possession all predicted better things to come in the days ahead. But despite a brighter start on 11th at our coastal base conditions were unchanged when we arrived back on site.

On our leaving the tour minibuses this time two of the Festoons were on exactly the same perches where we had left them the previous day, indicating there could have been no sunny intervals during our absence. If anything it was now even colder here and walking around it was plain we would draw blank with the Apollos again.

Before leaving I took an opportunity to do some close up macro work with one of the Festoons (below, left), and was at once joined by more group members. Having done justice to the under-wings I next learned another field technique of warming up torpid butterflies by cupping them in the hands then breathing on them. Thus treated the Festoon obliged by opening its wings flat and another sequence of up close images was gained (below, right).

Southern Festoon

Southern Festoon

If any reader disapproves of all this I can only say it appears to be common practice amongst such highly knowledgeable company as I was in, much like netting and jarring on previous wildlife tours I had joined. Everywhere else we went on day two cloud and rain set in as soon as we reached any hitherto sunny looking spot, and by evening the group was understandably feeling a little more glum.

When day three (12th) dawned in just the same dull and drizzly way chins were mostly resting on the breakfast table. But an ex-naval man amongst us pointed out a weather front coming in off the sea with whiter cloud behind it, saying that was a good sign. Indeed it was and fairer weather followed us up into the hills. Good numbers of various butterflies were then on the wing and by mid-morning False Apollo were being located. At this time of day they are likely to be basking in any sunshine by settling on dirt, low plants or occasionally rocks.

False Apollo (male)

False Apollo (male)

The record shot (above, left) was my first view of a translucent fore-winged male, that was then coaxed into a more open position (above, right) before flying off. Next a much darker-toned female was located also down in the grass, before being encouraged to mount a stone where she finished warming up with the day. After the group had all taken their pictures I again went in point blank with my macro, gaining some acceptable images and a lot more burred ones as is usual (for me) with such a lens.

False Apollo (female)

False Apollo (female)

False Apollo (female)

False Apollo (female)

Mission having been accomplished the group then began to split up and go their various ways. I too wandered off alone and soon came across another male False Apollo that this time I had to myself for a while. The images below came from this third encounter, complete with those amazing see-through wings. This quality increases with age as butterflies lose wing scaling, more so in males than females, and in older specimens the fore-wings can be near completely transparent.

False Apollo (male)

False Apollo (male)

False Apollo (male)

The situation, it’s scenery and butterfly life were all a transformation upon the previous two days. This is what I pay the money to do: wander around remote locations that nobody except wildlife enthusiasts go to; enjoying and taking pictures of the infinitely intricate, inspiring and captivating treasure trove that butterflies are (when the sun shines). The mood of the group was of course similarly uplifted and we remained on site until late in the afternoon.

The unfettered Southern Festoon were now flying freely and striking up more conventional and natural, if somewhat grassy poses (pictured below). To me this species appeared smaller than the other two European Festoons, and there was some agreement within the group over this. A few participants also found one or two of the larger, paler Eastern Festoon which I have seen once before but need better pictures of; but that will still have to wait.

Southern Festoon (above and below)

Southern Festoon

Southern Festoon

Eastern Festoon © and courtesy of Nick Ballard

Good numbers of Sooty and Grecian Copper were also on the wing here and I was able to boost my picture collection with better top-side studies of male Sooty and some under-wing treatments of both genders. I had previously observed male Sooty in the Cévennes, France (May 2016) and females in southern Greece (July 2018) where I also recorded Grecian for the first time. The very widespread Sooty is multi-brooded from April to October across much of Europe except for the Iberian peninsula and fenno-Scandia. The vivid orange Grecian is limited to the country of it’s name and the southern Balkans, with two broods flying in April and May, then July and August.

Sooty Copper (male)

Sooty Copper (male)

Sooty Copper (male)

Sooty Copper (female)

Sooty Copper (male)

Sooty Copper (female)

Grecian Copper (all pictures)

Another frequent flyer in sunlight was Eastern Dappled White, a common species of south-eastern Europe and Italy, and the third trip lifer. Had I searched carefully enough here or possessed a net and jar these locations might also have yielded the similar Eastern and Small Bath White. I previously recorded the first of those in southern Greece last summer, while the latter was on my trip wish list here; but nobody seemed very interested in this genus and so it was possibly rather overlooked.

Eastern Dappled White (all pictures)

Lastly the default butterfly for this trip was Painted Lady. 2019 is tipped as an irruption year similar to the mass migration of this species a decade ago. In Fuerteventura in January (see here) I was struck by the huge numbers that in places appeared to make the ground shimmer, as was a colleague from my southern Greece tour who was on Gran Canaria at the same time. On the day of our arrival in Alexandroupolis, despite at times torrential rain many hundreds of these very hardy butterflies were coming in off the sea and roosting on the structure of our hotel. Wherever we went in the next three days there was a constant procession of powerfully flying Painted Lady all moving relentlessly northward. The evidence seems to be that another great migration is in progress so look out in Blighty this summer, here they come.

Migrating Painted Lady

Returning to the little known though greatly prized False Apollo, these are seriously beautiful insects indeed, quite unlike any other European butterfly I have experienced. Their rarity was perhaps put into context for me by one of the most experienced tour participants, who had recorded all but six of the known European species prior to this trip. So that is now five, what an achievement! Further populations occur to the east in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon; and there are a number of sub-species across that range. To protect the fragile Greek population from the attentions of collectors I have not disclosed any location detail herein, by agreement with the tour operator.