{"id":8022,"date":"2014-07-29T19:33:21","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T19:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/?p=8022"},"modified":"2024-08-07T16:28:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T16:28:51","slug":"bulgarian-butterfly-trip-july-9th-20th-2014-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/bulgarian-butterfly-trip-july-9th-20th-2014-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulgarian Butterfly Trip – July 9th – 20th 2014 – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2012, along with Barrie, Anita and Elliott Staley, I enjoyed a superb 10 days in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria<\/strong><\/span>, in search of the vast range of butterfly species that this country has to offer.<\/p>\n

Upon our return to the UK, we said we would need to return to Bulgaria and this July we did just that. From the 9th to 20th July 2014 we visited the Rila and Pirin mountain ranges of South West Bulgaria<\/strong><\/span>. Our quest was to see some of the Alpine specialities including Cynthia’s, Shepherds and Balkan Fritillaries, Chequered Blue, Balkan Clouded Yellow, Balkan Copper to name a few.<\/p>\n

This posting will be in three parts:-<\/strong><\/p>\n

PART 1 – Covering some of the birds we saw during our Butterfly Trip \/ PART2 – Selected butterfly species \/ PART3 – Other insects, plants and wildlife.<\/p>\n

PART 1<\/strong> – So here we go with some of my favourite shots from around 80 species of bird that we saw during the trip – Highlights were Syrian Woodpecker<\/strong><\/span> (a new bird species for me); Middle-spotted Woodpecker; Black Woodpecker (heard only), Golden Oriole, Honey Buzzard, Sombre Tit, Rock Bunting, Lesser Grey Shrike, Red-backed Shrike, Red-rumped Swallow, Pallid Swift, Crag Martin, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Slender-billed Nutcracker, Alpine Chough and Griffon Vulture.<\/p>\n

\"Rila-Mountains-707985\"<\/p>\n

Looking south towards the impressive and stunningly beautiful Pirin\u00a0Mountain Range<\/strong> from the village of Dobarsko – Tony Davison\u00a9 –\u00a0<\/em>In winter this area is a thriving Ski Resort and covered with snow.<\/p>\n

\"Beeeater-646378\"<\/p>\n

Adult European Bee-eater<\/strong> – several were seen close by the village roads in the Pirin Mountains\u00a0– Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"White-Stork-6999124\" \"White-Stork-1129113\" \"White-Stork-1121115\" \"White-Stork-1110116\" \"White-Stork-1101118\" \"White-Stork-1097119\"<\/p>\n

Above six images – White Stork<\/strong> – Seen every day and all villages have at least one pair nesting on the church or other high building – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Black-Redstart-1198107\"<\/p>\n

\"Black-Redstart-1196106\"<\/p>\n

Above two images – Juvenile Black Redstart<\/strong> – Pirin Mountains- Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Crag-Martin674369\"<\/p>\n

Crag Martin<\/strong> – Rila Mountains – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Crossbill-642172\" \"Crossbill-1331-102\"<\/p>\n

\"Crossbill-643174\"<\/p>\n

Common Crossbill<\/strong> – Rila Mountains – Tony Davison\u00a9 – <\/em>We\u00a0stumbled on a family party feeding in a small roadside conifer\u00a0plantation and they gave remarkably close views.<\/p>\n

\"Mistle-Thrush-1059122\"<\/p>\n

Mistle Thrush<\/strong> – Pirin Mountains – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Nightingale-0947123\"<\/p>\n

Nightingale<\/strong> – Pirin Mountains – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Serin-1076121\"<\/p>\n

Serin<\/strong> – Rila Mountains – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2012, along with Barrie, Anita and Elliott Staley, I enjoyed a superb 10 days in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria, in search of the vast range of butterfly species that this country has to offer. Upon our return to the UK, we said we would need to return to Bulgaria and this July we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,600,171,438,176],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","category-birdsof2014","category-butterflies","category-butterfliesofbulgaria","category-european-butterflies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}