This morning I have left the hotel at about 7 am to head back up to the same location high up in the hills above Kassiopi , Still hoping to see a Southern Swallowtail as they have been spotted this week in the mountainous area around Old Peritheia ,which is not that far away from my destination, Less than 2 miles I guess. Its going to be even warmer than the last couple of days at about 33 dgrees ,so early morning should be best before the butterflies get too active in the heat.
I have come to the large Olive grove near the top of the steep Zig Zag road , always amazed at the fabulous shapes the trunks have formed into.
Just after the Olive grove, the land opens out a bit, with more grassland between the trees , a small cottage has low stone walls and next to a small grass meadow where I photographed a Balkan Marbled White a few days ago, there is a large shrub which was covered in honey bees. This time, with early morning sun directly illuminating it, has loads of Butterflies also. Straight away I have spotted a couple of Ilex Hairstreaks right at the top, even at 400mm this is a heavily cropped image.
Then slightly lower down a slightly larger Butterfly lands , My first ever Nettle Tree Butterfly.
Again at 400mm a large crop to fill the frame more.
Another Nettle Tree high up in the sun with lovely blue sky behind.
Below the large shrub in the meadow a lovely backlit Cleopatra.
Sunlight illuminating a spiders web.
I have carried on walking and quite soon found this Delattins Grayling on the track. They do seem to like resting on the warm rocky ground.
A Skipper feeding , not sure if it is a Lulworth or Small Skipper .
Every so often, one of the huge grasshoppers takes flight from the hedgerow , they do make quite a noise when taking off!
As I climb higher, the views across to Albania open out through the trees, with more areas of grass scrub with wild flowers , I have spotted an Owl fly but just need to chase it ,which is quite difficult in this terrain.
These great looking insects can rest with wings either open or folded , always better open in my opinion. There are both white/black and Yellow/black variants here of the family Libelloides . Usually I have only found them in very small areas. I have chased a solitary yellow one but could not get close to it.
A pair of Shield Bugs , Graphosoma Italicum I think they are.
Most patches of wildflowers have these large Violet Carpenter Bees , they are so difficult to photograph being so dark and they fly between flowers very quickly. this is the best I could get.
This is the track, good mixed hedgerow with loads of wildflowers all the way down . The track has a sharp bend where there are larger trees creating a sheltered sun trap, These are the trees that had the Southern White Admiral a couple days ago.
Straight away a Scarce Swallowtail is feeding and with a friend trying to land.
One of dozens of Ilex Hairstreaks that are here. Most seem to be quite a distance away where I cannot get close enough but this one was very obliging and landed quite close.
Carrying on around the corner for a short distance just to see if there are any Southern Swallowtails around , which there are not!
There just seems to be a few Balkan Marbled Whites on this stretch, this one is a female with its slightly brownish coloration.
Back to the main corner area, a couple of Scarce Swallowtails, loads of Meadow Browns, Ilex Hairstreaks, both Spotted and Glanville Fritillaries mainly on the low flowering plants along the ground and skippers all over the thistle flowers. Yet another Balkan Marbled White lands right in front of me .
Then suddenly I spot a much darker yellow Swallowtail fly past and start feeding , Yes! It is my first ever Southern Swallowtail Papilio alexanor . They are only on the wing for a short flight period, normally late May into early July.
a short phone video, quality probably not very good
That is all the images I got , away it flew on its endless journey.
Map on location of Southern Swallowtail above Kassiopi.
Scarce Swallowtail iphiclides podalirius showing how much paler in colour compared to the Southern
They do look magnificent in the sun with open wings.
Underside of a Hungarian Skipper
Ilex Hairstreak feeding on bramble flowers
Yet another Female Balkan Marbled White, their numbers are increasing rapidly over the last couple days, they are everywhere now.
Back on the main track heading uphill again now , there is an area just around the corner where good numbers of Ilex and Scarce last time I was up here. Looking down the hill towards Kassiopi and Albania in the distance.
An Eastern Dappled White , they look similar to the Eastern Bath White which I still have not spotted this week. This one was just next to the road but was moving very quickly from flower to flower.
Small Olive Grove just up the hill, this was a great spot for Scarce Swallowtails a few years ago. I remember vividly sitting watching dozens of them flying around all over the area.
But the large flowering shrubs have all gone , with mainly just low level brambles left , but at least this Ilex let me get really close . No Swallowtails in sight , just a couple of Clouded Yellows flying past.
After a couple minutes I decide to head back , nothing here worth waiting around .
A small patch in the sun and there are loads of these Wasps foraging in the dust.
Another beautiful Clouded Yellow on the track back to the dirt road , one of my favorite species.
This small Skipper is, I think a Hungarian Skipper , or maybe a Sage , don't think I will ever get my head around this family of butterflies!
I thought this was another Ilex Hairstreak but it is in fact a Sloe Hairstreak, slightly different hind wing markings.
This quite worn small blue butterfly appears to be a Mazarine Blue, never seen one before.
These Spotted Fritillaries are very active , was a struggle to even get this image today.
A Skipper , I always get confused with Skippers , Maybe a Lulworth
Time to head back down now , I have almost run out of water and its really hot up here.
Stopping off at a small clearing among trees there are quite a few Butterflies feeding in the suntrap. A beautiful Clouded Yellow first.
A lovely pastel coloured Cleopatra
A Yellow variant Owl fly, I chased it around for ages before managing to get a shot.
Nursery web spider with egg sac.
One last image , a backlit Cleopatra showing the orange upper wing.
all images canon 5dsr 100mm L macro and 100-400mmL i phone 13 pro max
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