Butterflies of Corfu 1022 pt 3 May 24 th

This morning I have walked down to Avlaki beach to explore the area around the pond again, it's a beautiful warm early morning and there is very little wind. 

The yellow poppy's growing in the gravel along the beach are being visited by these huge carpenter bees, but they are very hard to photograph! 

                              The first Butterfly image of the day, a Clouded Yellow feeding.

This is the area I am exploring; the path goes around the edge of the pool and then opens out into scrub land with old Olive trees in the distance but is too overgrown to walk very far from the path.

These are one of my favorite Butterflies, and I always try to photograph them when spotted. Much nicer light for this one compared to the first one is shot.

                                                           A view across the pool to the sea.

There are quite a few of these Darter Dragonflies, presume they are Red Veined Darters. But there was one with a much wider abdomen but was too fast to get an image of it.

                                 A backlit Cleopatra clearly showing the orange inside the forewing.

                                 A small Miner Bee sitting just long enough for a phone pic 

                                      These Darters are glowing in the sun, Amazing colour!

This one looks like a male Blacktailed Skimmer, there are quite a few but no sign of any females so maybe it is a different species.

          This is the first Painted Lady I have seen this year, but not a good image unfortunately.

                                                  Another of the huge Carpenter Bees

Looking out from the poolside path into the scrub, there are very few flowers and grasses have taken over.   I am really struggling to find many Butterflies that are close enough to shoot.   Either side of the path there are a few fresh Spotted Fritillaries, but they only settle for seconds before flitting off1 

The Glanville Fritillaries on the other hand settle for much longe , this one is fairly dark in colouration.

                A Spotted Fritillary showing how bright they are compared to the Glanville above.

             Underside of a Spotted Fritillary, it has been extremely hard to get a shot of the underwing.

                               Backlit Clouded Yellow feeding on Scabious flower (I think)

This is a Mallow Skipper, distinguished from an Oriental Marbled Skipper by the hooked antenna tips.

I have decided to walk back to the hotel now, one last Cleopatra sitting on a sedge leaf by the pond.  It's been extremely difficult here; the mountains seem to have more to photograph so I will go back up there tomorrow hopefully to find a Southern Swallowtail which are now being seen on high ground.

                             Beautiful flowers along the road going back towards Kassiopi.

Kassiopi pt2 Butterfly Heaven

Today we are going to the beach at Avlaki, which is about 20 mins walk in the opposite direction to the Village and it is hot already , i have my macro gear with me so while Jan goes swimming i can go on a butterfly hunt around the surrounding pond area.

Walking down the narrow roads the sides of the road are full of crickets and other insects , butterflies mainly meadow browns are everywhere.

 Our first view of Avlaki ...................  say no more :)

The grass is alive with grasshoppers and Crickets  , and i have just spotted beautifully coloured lizard.

              Newly emerged teneral Dragonfly , quite small , similar to the uks Black Darter in size.

                                  Best shot i could get of this Lizard , they are so fast   lol

 Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   my first Scarce Swallowtail image , i spotted one on the walk down here and a couple flying past but this one settled right in front of me .

                 The large pond is just behind the beach , i am walking around the scrub behind it.

                           There must be thousands of hoppers around here , they are perched on leaves and fern fronds everywhere i walk.   this one perched nicely for me .

 There are a couple of white butterflies just near the beach feeding ,   i have id them as Eastern Dappled Whites , but could be a similar species as they all look very similar.

       Its boiling hot here now ,   i can hear Cicadas chirping in the trees but cannot find or see one!

Another Dragonfly that actually perched in this hot bright sunshine ,  but since its raining back home i cant complain :)

            This Scarce Swallowtail flew past me fast , but eventually settled to briefly feed .

 I have been chasing Clouded Yellows all over the place, but they are just not resting   but this Painted Lady stopped for long enough to shoot this single frame .

                           There are quite a few Fritillaries , later id as Spotted Fritillaries

                                                                          Stunning colour!

There ai a wide variety of plants and flowers around this area , plenty of daisys but are not being visited by any butterflies.

                                                     A Small Copper perches in the sun

                          Not a clue on what this one is , very nice though .

At last i have managed to shoot one of the many Clouded Yellows ,  this one is quite pale.   there are also some much smaller ones again very pale in colour but i have not managed a picture yet.

Tiny Beeflies are buzzing loudly while feeding on these yellow flowers , a fast shutterspeed froze the action here .

             Another Clouded Yellow ,  this one was fairly slow and feeding constantly for ages .

                        Its too hot , i need a rest and go back to the beach to find Jan swimming

I have taken a walk around to the next beach down a track through the trees  , another stunning bay .

On the way back to the hotel  , i pause to shoot one of the many wild cats that seem to be all over the place .

Time to head down to the Harbour to find somewhere for dinner , the setting sun is lighting up Albania in the distance as we sit eating dinner

                             The castle is illuminated on the hill in front of the harbour.

          The resturant we have just left , its very quiet here as the season has bairly started and we got Free deserts :)

                                   The crowded main street on our way back to the hotel.

We have just seen our first Fireflies  YAY      i have tried to shoot a video , and can hear the Scopps Owl in the background,  bloody noisy things which kept us awake at night for hours!!

                 Phone pic of a firefly  about 1 cm in length , but the intensity of the light is amazing!

                                                     The end of another busy day in Corfu.