Butterflies of Croatia

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Naturetrek Tour Report 10 - 17 June 2019

Balkan Copper Balkan Marbled White

Eastern Large Heath Hyphoraia testudinaria

Report and images compiled by Luca Boscain

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Tour Report Butterflies of Croatia

Tour participants: Luca Boscain (Leader), Josip Ledinscak (Local Guide) with nine Naturetrek clients

Day 1 Monday 10th June

Arrival at the Zagreb airport, Rastoke and transfer to Irinovac. We landed at Zagreb Airport at 12.30, just five minutes behind schedule. Unfortunately the queue at passport control was rather long, and the luggage took some time to arrive. When we got out of the Arrivals area we met Luca and Josip, our tour leaders, we went to the car park to catch our minibus and the barrier decided not to open! It took some time for Josip and Zlatko, our driver, to find the way to get any help. As they are both Croatian, we could only speculate about their chats but the delay helped to break the ice and to start the series of gags, jokes and laughs that made the week particularly enjoyable.

We drove along the motorway as far a the city of Karlovac, then from there we took some secondary roads crossing woodlands, villages and lovely meadows.

Some of the first birds we noticed were the White Storks sitting on the their nest on a telegraph post along the roadside.

At quarter to four, we arrived to a pretty little village, Rastoke, where we had a break and we could stretch our legs. It’s a beautiful little settlement in which wooden houses are spread along a valley surrounded by a network of streams, canals and waterfalls that all converge into the River Korana.

The temperature reached almost 30°C and the sunshine was bright, so we found it refreshing to keep in the shade or near the running water.

Along the shore of a stream, we had a look at the patches of green emerging from the crystal waters: there were flowers of Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga) and Water Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis scorpioides), a few Beautiful and Banded Demoiselles and White-legged Damselflies, and also a number of frogs of every size. The largest ones were surely Marsh Frogs while we would have had to catch the small and intermediate ones to give them a name. From the high bridge above the Korana, we spotted some Danube Barbel , pale spotted fish, and the head of a Dice Snake, appearing like a periscope from the water.

On the other side of the river, we saw a rich flora, including the blue spikes of Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare), Large-flowered Orlaya (Orlaya grandiflora), Bath Asparagus (Ornithogalum sphaerocarpum), Birthwort (Aristolochia clematis) and Bloody Cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum), but also, finally, the first butterflies! After a Brimstone, common in Britain as well, we noticed a Black-veined White a well-marked Chequered Blue and a rather tatty copper: checking carefully the features it couldn’t be anything else other than an exciting Large Copper now extinct in UK but still rather frequent on the continent.

The birding was rather slow, probably because of the heat, so we didn’t see anything more than Common Buzzard and Grey Wagtail, hearing also the first Marsh Tits of the trip.

We left at 17.00 and half an hour later we were by the hotel, the attractive Plitvička Sedra of Irinovac, where all the rooms were allocated.

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

Our evening meal was at 19.00 in the adjacent restaurant in which we were welcomed by the typical glass of liquor: strong drinks for strong people here in Eastern Europe! There then followed a vegetable soup and a selection of tasty specialities made with meat, eggs and spinach.

For people that were not tired yet, the leaders led a digestive walk into the garden and the countryside behind the hotel. There were no sounds of birds, but checking by the few lamps we noticed on the walls moths and spiders like Brown Silver-Line and Cucumber Green Spider plus a single European Glow-worm

Day 2 Tuesday 11th June

Plitvice lakes National Park and Homoljac fields. Today we had breakfast at 7am, because we intended to visit the Plitvice lakes in between 8 and 9am. It is in fact a Unesco Heritage Site and the most popular national park in Croatia so, especially in summer, it can be particularly busy and the authorities try to manage somewhat the influx of visitors assigning to the groups a precise schedule of entry.

The group members who, despite the early start, had a short wander around the hotel, observed Cuckoo, White Wagtail, Black Redstart and Greenfinch and we left at 8.05 to drive for about 20 minutes.

When we arrived at the entrance of the park, we didn’t have to queue at all thanks to our reservation and in a couple of minutes we were enjoying the marvellous view of the first turquoise lakes and waterfalls below the viewpoint.

Then we began to descend slowly noticing a number of interesting plants and flowers on the sides of the path, including Bird-nest (Neottia nidus-avis) and Common Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera).

The first part of the trail is always the busiest, especially as we had to walk across some narrow foot-bridges: it was a pity it wasn’t a little quieter, but nevertheless we saw some amazing amphibians and reptiles. Luca caught a Yellow-bellied Toad and showed the characteristic colourful under parts, then he pointed out a big female Common Toad and the rare Horvath’s Rock Lizards It’s a species endemic to Dalmatia that can be hardly distinguished from Common Wall Lizard, although its habitat, typically in almost vertical rocky cliffs, and some not so obvious features like the variable width of the tail rings are helpful clues.

The water of the lake, a deep azure blue, was populated by hundreds of fish among which we identified Chub and Rudd.

Later on, the crowd of tourists spread, allowing a much more relaxed walk over foot-bridges by the waterfalls and a trail that bordered a number of lakes surrounded by beautiful patches of Beech (Fagus sylvatica) woodland.

While we were chasing some Azure and Common Blue Damselflies we were surprised to see the predation by a Grass Snake of a little frog or, later on, a fight between two large male Green Lizards

The demoiselles of the two Calopteryx species were particularly common while we spotted a single Common Clubtail.

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Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

When we arrived by a food stall, the temperature was enough high to tempt us into the shade to enjoy a well- deserved drink or ice-cream.

Then we had to queue to get onto a ferry that navigated smoothly through the largest lake of the area. Despite the number of tourists, the ride was very peaceful and we relaxed on our seats admiring the landscape until we arrived by a small pier where we transferred onto another ferry.

We finally landed on the same side where we started our visit, but we had to climb back the long way up to the car park where Zlatko was waiting for us.

Despite the heat, the walk was partially shaded by a number of trees and made interesting by the sightings of a Queen of Spain Fritillary, colourful males of Serin and Chaffinch, Hawfinch, Nuthatch and some cute Bank Voles.

There were no picnic spots around, so we drove for 30 minutes to the countryside nearby Homoljac. Here we took a dirt road that reached an isolated settlement that looked abandoned. However, an elderly lady came up to us and Zlatko remembered that he had met her before during the Balkan war, so after a talk with her we were allowed to have our picnic there.

Such a traditional countryside hosted a lot of interesting birds like Turtle Dove, Hoopoe, Cuckoo, Wryneck, Skylark, Whitethroat, Red-backed Shrike and Corn Bunting that we observed or heard during a wander while the leaders set out the buffet.

We had just begun to eat when light rain started and finished only when we went for a walk.

Unfortunately now the grass was wet and it took time for the insects to reappear. Therefore we concentrated more on the plants, noticing Toothed (Neotinea tridentata) and Green-winged Orchids (Anacamptis morio) and seas of clovers, rattles, daisies and bellflowers.

With the sunshine a lot of butterflies climbed the stems and, getting warmer, started to fly. Among the group, the most active was Barbara who exhibited her netting skills, catching non-stop new subjects to pot, identify and show to the other members of the group. The most represented were blues, including Small Amanda’s, Turquoise and Common. There were also pretty day-flying moths, like Speckled Yellow, Black-veined Moth, Latticed Heath and Blood Vein.

Observing Woodland Ringlet, Knapweed Fritillary and a wonderful patch with tens of Hungarian Iris (Iris variegata), we descended by a monument dedicated to fallen of the Second World War where Josip helped to translate and interpret what was written.

On the way back to Irinovac, we stopped by a bend where Luca had noticed some orchids: there was in fact a spectacular meadow covered in Military (Orchis militaris) and Green-winged Orchids, White (Cephalanthera damasonium) and Narrow-leaved Helleborines (Cephalanthera longifolia).

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

We arrived at the hotel at 6.30, so we fixed the supper for 19.30 and we had trout and typical Croatian crepes called “palačinka”.

In the evening Luca and Josip set up a moth-trap in the garden of the hotel.

Day 3 Wednesday 12th June

A number of meadows between Bjelopolje and Stari Grad. We met at 7 o’ clock by the moth trap that had been set up along the side wall of a wooden cabin in the garden which, surprisingly, this morning was occupied by tens of people gathered for a mass. We took rather quickly a number of photos of the pretty moths that had landed on the wall, like The Latin Mocha and Cumberland Gem and we then had to move the moth-trap to a quieter place to start to check the harvest: there were maybe 100- 150 subjects to identify! Among the most colourful, we noticed Small Elephant Hawkmoth, Clouded Buff, Four- spotted Footman, Buff Ermine, Southern Grass Emerald and Light Emerald.

Some people went for a short walk behind the hotel and they saw a Turtle Dove in the middle of the path and a sought-after female Golden Oriole.

After breakfast, we left the Plitvička Sedra hotel of Irinovac to drive south-west. We stopped in Korenica, a small town, to go shopping and the people who went to have a look in the nearby meadows added Clouded Yellow and Twin-spot Fritillary to our list, while two Honey Buzzards flew over the minibus.

The second half of the morning was spent in the Bjelopolje area, where we were welcomed by dozens of Black- veined Whites dancing in the air and groups of blue butterflies paddling in the dry mud. Despite the similarities, Luca worked hard in telling us the differences among the carpet of Mountain Argus, Silver-studded, Adonis, Turquoise, Common, Small and Amanda’s Blues. Then we went through a short grass meadow with scattered pines and Josip and Barbara hunted no-stop with their nets looking for new species. Among the species identified were Orbed Red-underwing Skipper, Glanville and Spotted Fritillary, Berger's Clouded Yellow and Marbled White.

The flora of these dry meadows was very varied, with colourful flowers going from the bright purple pinks (Dianthus velebiticus), to the red of Poppies (Papaver rhoeas), the blue of Viper’s Bugloss, the white Dropworts (Filipendula vulgaris) and the yellow Common Kidneyvetches (Anthyllis vulneraria) to some species of orchids like Burnt-tip (Neotinea ustulata), Pyramidal (Anacamptis pyramidalis), Green-winged and Common Bee.

Despite the bright sunshine, there were also many moths, the commonest ones being the tiny Yellow Waves, but we had also Six-spot Burnet, Lace Border and a Forester of the genus Jordanita.

While we were looking down around our feet, we couldn’t not notice the calls of Wryneck, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Red-backed Shrike, plus the beautiful songs of Nightingales and Skylarks: a very relaxing soundtrack.

For lunch we stopped by a rather desolated area that was a military base during the Yugoslavian war not far from Udbina. We first explored the area, with gravel hills, hedges and poor meadows where we had families of Red-

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Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

backed Shrike and Northern Wheatear, in alarm because of presence of some threatening Hooded Crows, and a noisy fledgling of Barred Warbler, while new insects for the trip were Wood White, Transparent Burnet and the stunning blue Nine-spotted Moth with its white dots and yellow rings on the abdomen.

Later Luca and Josip arranged the buffet for the picnic under an old shelter: not the most beautiful place ever, but a rather functional location in the shade, because the temperature today was around the 30°C mark, and the rich choice of fruit went down well, with sweet plums and cherries among the most popular ones.

We had a break by a bar-restaurant at Deringaj where people could use the facilities and chill out drinking a coffee, while Luca went to the other side of the road and caught a nice Marsh Fritillary. Under the ceiling, in wooden trusses, were a couple of active Barn Swallow nests.

Then we had a loop around an old bomb crater where there were nice patches of Large-flowered Orlaya and Nice Milkwort (Polygala nicaeensis) and we saw some Nickerl's Fritillary.

We kept going until we crossed a pass, leaving the upland and starting the descent to the Adriatic coast. While we were admiring the panorama of the system of barren islands and narrow inlets of the sea, we were surprised to see a dozen Alpine Choughs, two Alpine Swifts and a couple of Ravens.

We had our last stop by a junction with the road that leads to the village of Golubic: the habitat was totally different from what we had seen so far, because we were in scrub land with low Downy Oaks (Quercus pubescens) and other Mediterranean shrubs. After just a couple of minutes we heard our first Black-headed Bunting, one of the most sought-after Croatian birds. A wonderful male characterized by the black hood, the chestnut mantle and the lemon yellow under parts was singing in the open on a prominent twig!

Other birds sighted were Short-toed Eagle, Blue Rock Thrush, Eastern Orphean and Subalpine Warblers.

There were not many flowers, so the number of butterflies was restricted, but we found some particularly good species like Common and Scarce Swallowtail, Nettle-tree Butterfly, Large Brown and some little blues that most likely were Idas Blues.

Rather unexpected in such dry limestone ground, was a Common Clubtail dragonfly, while we were enchanted by the flights of Hummingbird and Hemaris croatica hawk-moths.

At our arrival by the coastline, in Starigrad, we were welcomed to the Ranja hotel with a very fresh lemonade. With a warm but breezy Mediterranean climate, we could have our supper outside on a long table. Some people spotted finally some geckos on the perimeter walls or inside their room.

Day 4 Thursday 13th June

Paklenica National Park. In the morning we met by the moth trap that had been set up by the dark eastern wall of the hotel, facing towards the countryside. Once again the trap contained plenty of moths, with more than 150, but most of them were small ones, including perhaps 50 Hoary Footman. Bigger species were represented by a Spurge Hawk

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

Moth, Plum Lappet, Sycamore Moth, Banded Marbled Brown, The Adulatrix and the south-eastern European geometrid Nychiodes dalmatina. Among the army of tiny ones were noticed the crambid Xanthocrambus saxonellus, the colourful tortricid Abrepagoge treitschkeana and the spotted erebid Dysauxes famula, while an Eastern Orphean Warbler was heard in the distance.

After breakfast, we drove for less than five minutes to the foothills of the Paklenica National Park, walking on the right to the Mala Paklenica gorge. The path, alongside ancient dry-stone walls, went through some nice orchards and maquis of figs (Ficus carica), Downy Oak and the characteristic Jerusalem Thorn (Paliurus spina- christi), some still in bloom, and named “tortellini tree” by Luca because of the curious shape of fruits. There were a few flowers, like the pretty Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena), Pale Bugloss (Echium italicum) and golden- drops (Onosma echioides), while butterflies included Graylings, Large Wall Browns, Speckled Woods and Nettle- tree Butterflies.

We spent a lot of time enchanted by a patch of planted blue lavenders which had attracted numbers of large species like Scarce Swallowtails, Painted Ladies, Spotted Fritillaries, Meadow Browns and Graylings.

The temperature, with a bright sun, increased quickly to 30-31°C, so we tried to keep in the shade if available; it was the perfect climate for reptiles and in fact we spotted a couple of Balkan Green Lizard, with three pale stripes along the back, and, when we reached the entrance of the Mala Paklenica gorge, the pale maroon coloured Dahl's Whip Snake that sheltered quickly in a bush.

Just behind the ticket office, we heard the rattling song of a warbler from the Aleppo Pines (Pinus haleppensis): it turned out to be a stunning male of Eastern Subalpine Warbler with its distinctive brick red throat and white moustache.

We kept exploring a dry river bed where patches of Elmleaf Blackberries (Rubus ulmifolius) were particularly suitable for Pearly Heaths, Tufted Skipper and Lulworth Skipper, while on a dry meadow we noticed few large Niobe Fritillaries. Despite the widespread presence of Jerusalem Thorns with their tiny yellow flowers, we couldn’t find any Little Tiger Blue, a species of butterfly that has this bush as its food-plant and reaches here the northern edge of its distribution in the Balkans.

For the picnic, Josip chose a very nice spot in the shade by the sea not far from the settlement of Seline. Here we could enjoy some relaxing time having a swim in the crystal waters of the Adriatic or chasing the small wildlife of the dry meadows - Italian Wall Lizard and Hoopoe were both seen. Along the shore, Norman found some Hermit Crabs while Luca pointed out a single Bucchich's Goby in a tidal pool.

After the welcome lunch, we had another break by a café, sitting in the shade in front of the sea and enjoying a nice breeze.

Then we ascended with the minivan along a narrow and winding road that climbed the slopes of the Dinaric Alps getting to the very peaceful valley of Mali Vaganac at an altitude of about 600 metres; here the Mediterranean maquis was more luxuriant with woodlands of short Downy Oaks, European Hop-hornbeams (Ostrya carpinifolia), Manna Ashes (Fraxinus ornus) and Montpellier Maples (Acer monspessulanum), among which emerged huge and weird shaped limestone rocks, and rich glades with plenty of flowers and butterflies. The

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Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

herbaceous flora was quite a mix between Mediterranean, Balkan and Alpine species, going from Mountain Clover (Trifolium montanum) and Perennial Cornflower (Centaurea montana), to the central European White Dittany (Dictamnus albus) and Felted Vetch (Lathyrus pannonicus), to the coastal Curry Plant (Helichrysum italicum) and Lamb's Ears (Stachys cretica) and to Dalmatian endemics like the purple cushions of Campanula fenestrellata and the horned bee-orchid Ophrys scolopax cornuta, possibly called Ophrys rhodostephane, but the taxonomy of bee-orchids is still quite confusing in the area.

Once again we kept potting and studying the numerous blues that included this time Geranium Argus, Eastern Baton, Adonis and, most likely, both Idas and Reverdin’s Blue, unfortunately 100% distinguishable only through the genitalia. Interesting day-flying moths were also found including the alpine Chimney Sweeper, the clearwing Chamaesphecia masariformis and the burnets Zygaena transalpina and Zygaena punctum.

Particularly attractive was a male Dalmatian Wall Lizard, recognisable by the bright green back and by the deep orange underparts.

We stopped for the last time on the way back for a breath-taking photo from a view point, admiring the panorama into the town of Starigrad, with its ancient “Večka Kula” tower, and the adjacent gulf with the warm colours of the late afternoon. Here we observed a couple of Serins and Ravens, plus the courtship quarrels of Blue-spot Hairstreaks in a complicated threesome, then we descended to the hotel by the coast.

Day 5 Friday 14th June

Paklenica National Park. Before breakfast Luca checked once the moth trap with Norman and Anne. There were about 100 moths in the trap – slightly less that previously - but there were still found some good ones such as three Passengers, Small Emerald, Orange Footman, the tiny cossid Dyspessa ulula and the purple-striped geometrid Rhodostrophia calabra.

Josip led the rest of the group on a walk to the ruins of the Večka Kula tower. On the way, were noticed some Italian Wall Lizards, flushed a Brown Hare and then, when we arrived by the shore, something like a swimming person was spotted… it was most likely a very big Leerfish hunting small fish in the shallow waters - what a beast!

After breakfast we drove again along the same narrow road as yesterday afternoon, making some more stops along the way to Vaganac.

The weather was sunny and with almost no breeze, therefore perfect to look for butterflies and in fact, when we stopped by the small settlement called Ercezi Kojin Dolac, everybody spread along the path to admire the many butterflies which were present, among which emerged a couple of lovely Balkan Marbled Whites, characterized by the bluish-grey suffusion at the base of the upper wing and by the very pale ivory underparts. It’s a Balkan and Middle Eastern species which here reaches one of the most northern sites of its range, often flying together with the much commoner Marbled White.

We reached a derelict house with a huge Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata) in the former garden that was in full bloom, attracting a lot of bees, beetles and butterflies. Among the more frequent Painted Ladies and Graylings,

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

we first noticed the orange of a Southern Comma, then a bigger butterfly with dark underwings. It turned out to be a wonderful specimen of Large Tortoiseshell, rather unexpected so late in the season!

Unfortunately there were no reptiles among the ruins, so we took another path descending to the bottom of the slope.

Our eyes were delighted by the deep purple coloured petals of Wild Gladiolus (Gladiolus illyricus) contrasting in the bright sunshine with the green of the grass, while our ears could detect the distant songs of Golden Oriole and Blue Rock Thrush.

We arrived to some abandoned terraces that used to be cultivated and were now populated by a rich meadow full of colourful flowers, like Tuberous Peas (Lathyrus tuberosus), Common Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) and Wild Mignonettes (Reseda lutea), and by patches of brambles, where we spotted a nice Green Hairstreak and a Brown Argus.

We returned to the vehicle, driven always carefully by Zlatko, to climb further up Mali Vaganac, reaching a parking area from which we could walk down to another valley, the Veliki Vaganac. The place was particularly atmospheric and peaceful, with no signs of human presence for kilometres and amazing limestone mountains around, interesting rocks eroded by the work of rain, water and wind through the ages, scattered patches of shrubs and woodlands and the beautiful song of a Blue Rock Thrush perched on the top of a big boulder.

The heat was noticeable when we started to descend a bit along the path, surrounded by a carpet of fragrant Wild Sage (Salvia officinalis) in bloom, but there were not many butterflies around. We noticed Adonis, Idas and Chequered Blue, then we decided to turn and come back to the minivan and try at lower altitudes.

By the village of Dokoze, we saw many Blue-spot Hairstreaks, two Small Coppers and another Nettle-tree Butterfly, but the most exciting sighting of the late morning was a large Glass Lizard slithering on the asphalt of the road in front of the minivan.

On the way back, we passed nearby the Mirila site. This is a curious graveyard in which the space in between two flat stones, representing the height of the deceased, offered a resting place for the soul, while the body was buried somewhere else at lower altitudes in a church cemetery.

We stopped in Seline to go shopping for the picnic and people had a good chance to get a welcome ice-cream and see the Pallid Swifts, before we went again to the same place as yesterday to have lunch.

After a swim, Luca pointed out to the group a couple of Darkflank Pipefish, a Giant Goby and some pretty Peacock Blennies that were drying on the rocks in the sunshine

In the afternoon we walked in the foothills of Paklenica along the path that leads to the second gorge of the National Park, the Velika Paklenica.

We were passing through a small quiet settlement when Luca spotted a big butterfly in flight that luckily went to perch on the bark of a mulberry. It really was fortunate, because it was a stunning individual of perhaps the most

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attractive butterfly of Europe, the Two-tailed Pasha! This butterfly, characterized by black upper wings with fire- orange stripes and by its complicated patterned colourful underwings, is rather rare in this area that is on the northern limit of its Balkan distribution and can be usually found only in the offshore islands, but very rarely on the mainland.

We walked in a maquis of European Hornbeans (Carpinus betulus) and Mediterranean Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), where we observed Cirl Bunting, a male Montagu's Harrier and we finally got a decent view of an Eastern Orphean Warbler.

Some of the group were admiring a Southern Comma which had landed in the middle of the path when Josip came to call everybody back, because some others, wandering around among the dry-stone walls, had discovered a stunning meadow shaded by olive trees: it was in fact covered by hundreds of multi-coloured Pyramidal Orchids! The variety of colours was impressive, going from almost white, through pale pink, to deep purple.

In the bright green fresh grass, was spotted a mating pair of black and red clearwings that later Luca identified as Chamaesphecia schmidtiiformis, without an official English name, a single Southern Darter and a decorated donkey strap that become an interesting souvenir for Charlotte!

We finally arrived by a shaded stream that flows out from the Velika Paklenica gorge and we found there Zlatko waiting for us with the vehicle: another very good day was ended!

Day 6 Saturday 15th June

A number of meadows transferring from Starigrad to Mount Velebit, to Krasno This morning at 7 o’clock, before breakfast, we decided to go birding, walking from our Ranja hotel to the entrance of the Velika Paklenica gorge, but without a lot of luck, because the best sightings we had were seven Great Cormorants in flight and a gorgeous Turtle Dove perched on the top of a post.

While we were enjoying breakfast in the terrace of the hotel, we heard in the distance the song of a Scops Owl, something rather uncommon in the daylight.

Then we drove north-west, following the Adriatic coast, as far as the town of Karlobag, where we stopped and the leaders went to shop for the picnic. Therefore we had about half an hour of spare time to explore the harbour: on the rocks we noticed a Marbled Crab and many sea-snails known as Turbinate Monodonts , then Luca called some of us to have a look from the end of a pier. There the water was clearer and we could identify a number of different species of fish, including the Common Damselfish and the Saddled Sea Bream.

It was our last taste of the sea, because we soon started to climb a steep road that led us to enjoy our first breath- taking views into the Velebitski Kanal and the almost barren elongated island of Pag, and then to reach the pass of Oštarijska Vrata (928 metres above sea level), with its strange cubic monument set up by the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand in 1846. From here, we entered the uplands of Baške Oštarije, in the middle of the Velebit mountains which reach 1,600-1,700 m of altitude.

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

We parked here and we went to walk into meadows which were much richer and more alpine in character than the others we had seen in the last three days. The orchids were very impressive, among which new ones were the Common Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea), Globe-flowered Orchid (Traunsteinera globosa) and Late Spider Orchid (Ophrys fuciflora) possibly of the form tetraloniae. We also found the remains of some probable Elder- flowered Orchid and the interesting hybrid between Three-toothed and Burnt Orchid (Neotinea x dietrichiana).

But together with the flowers there was an amazing bonanza of butterflies: it took few minutes to net and admire individuals of Bright-eyed Ringlet, characterized by the black antenna clubs, Clouded Apollo and Eastern Large Heath, all new for the trip, plus the always stunning Glanville Fritillary, Amanda's Blue and Orbed Red- underwing Skipper.

We walked in the direction of the “kubus” and we started to hear the call of a Tawny Pipit and the song of a bunting; a quick check and we spotted a marvellous male Ortolan Bunting on a bare twig on the top of a tree!

Other good find in that meadow were a couple of Dalmatian Wall Lizards, the black and yellow caterpillar of the emperor moth, the whitish owlfly Libelloides , the black and red froghopper Cercopis sanguinolenta, the fat European Giant Steppe Grasshopper and a pale tiny scorpion, perhaps belonging to the group "Euscorpius carpathicus".

We went first by the ridge, from which we said goodbye to the sea, still visible despite the arrival of grey clouds, noticing some Burnet Roses (Rosa pimpinellifolia), Matted Globularia (Globularia cordifolia) and Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum), then we descended in an open Beech woodland where we explored a series of glades in which we had Queen of Spain Fritillary, Mazarine Blue and Grizzled Skipper.

On the way back to the minivan, we were attracted by the bright red colour of the abdomen of a Red-bellied Jumping Spider, appearing and disappearing from a crevice of a rock.

We drove later to the lunch spot, located by a bog called Cret Ljubica. Here, while Zlatko and Josip prepared the picnic, we spread out into the wet meadow photographing first some beautiful patches of the Loose-flowered (Anacamptis laxiflora), Early Marsh (Dactylorhiza incarnata) and Twayblade Orchids (Neottia ovata), then reaching a beautiful crystal-clear stream where we looked for other creatures under the surface. A couple of larvae of Fire Salamander were seen, but much more colourful was a male Alpine Newt with its deep blue lateral band and the orange belly. Emerging from the water’s surface was a big European Crayfish, while a number of dragonflies flew around, including Southern Skimmer, Broad-bodied Chaser and a mating tandem of Large Red Damselfly.

Before the arrival of a large herd of sheep, an information board pointed us the presence of other rare plants typical of these localized boggy habitats: Cottongrass (Eriophorum latifolium), Marsh Horsetail (Equisetum palustre) and Meadow Squill (Scilla litardierei), a tiny plant with gorgeous pale blue flowers.

After lunch, some of us took advantage of about an hour’s drive to have a nap in the minivan, then we had another stop not far from the village of Studenci. Near a junction were vast dry meadows where we quickly started to look for some specialities. The Safflower Skipper, with its white edge on the underwing was easily found, together with Twin-spot and False Heath Fritillary. Then our attention was kept by the beauty of owlflies: many black and yellow Libelloides macaronius were in fact flying around, but they rarely perched to enable us take a good picture - quite a challenge indeed for the photographers.

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Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

A Chestnut Heath was finally found to put an end to a discussion about a similar butterfly seen in Irinovac.

We had another stop by the elegant bridge of Kosinj, built following the traditional Croatian style that includes some rounded holes above the arches to give flood water an additional way through and with abreeding colony of House Martins. Here last year a member of another group was the only one to find a Large Blue, but despite our efforts we couldn’t see anything more than Common Blues. The best sighting we had here was a male Eastern Green Lizard, with its bright blue throat.

Then we drove slowly through pretty countryside and patches of forest for tens of kilometres before arriving at our third hotel, the Jure, by the isolated village of Krasno, at supper time.

The temperature was warm, so dinner was served outside, under a canopy, and we spent a very pleasant evening chatting, laughing and drinking the local beer Velebitsko or the white wine Grasevina. By night another Scops Owl was heard.

Day 7 Sunday 16th June

Krasno Polje and the neighbouring meadows of Turinski Krc and Oltari. This morning Josip led a pre-breakfast walk from the hotel at 7 o’clock, while Luca checked the harvest of the moth-trap. Sightings of the birders were a Lesser Whitethroat and some Black Redstarts, the moth lovers instead found about 50 in the trap, including the colourful Cream-spot Tiger, Scarlet Tiger, Green Silver-lines and the twig-like Buff-tip.

After a substantial breakfast, the sunshine was bright when we drove through extensive forests to reach some glades and pastures north west of Krasno.

We first explored some rocky meadows by the ridge, looking for the Mountain Alcon Blue observed in the past. The flora was particularly rich, including Bulgarian Columbine (Aquilegia nigricans), Bladder Gentian (Gentiana utricolosa), Badassi (Dorycnium pentaphyllum), Mountain Kidney-vetch (Anthyllis montana) and Euphorbia flavicoma, but the only blues we had were Small, Mazarine and particularly friendly and tame Amanda’s.

Josip was particularly surprised to hear the song of a Dunnock, usually just a wintering species in Croatia, while we chased for some time a couple of Rock Buntings, unfortunately without managing to get a good view for the group.

After finding a Common Wall Lizard on a derelict dry-stone wall, we arrived at the end of the glade and we decided to turn to the right and to descend to lower meadows, with taller grass and even more flowers. Here we had more fortune, because we noticed many Dukes of Burgundy heating up in the sunshine, a couple of Orange Tips, Eastern Large Heath and a single Sooty Copper characterized by the brownish upper wings, but also by the four black dots along the forewing edge, distinctive of the coppers.

On the margin of the Beech woodland, there were larger butterflies like tens of Painted Ladies, some Dark Green Fritillaries, Commas and Scarce Swallowtails, plus the first Green-veined White of the trip.

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

A very good capture was an individual of Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth that we could admire easily in the pot before releasing it.

We continued walking a bit in the depths of the forest, looking for potential different species of orchids, but we couldn’t add anything to the already seen White Helleborines, Lesser Butterfly (Platanthera bifolia) and Bird’s-nest Orchids, found in patches of tens in the undergrowth.

The morning passed quickly, so we decided to have lunch in a hamlet nearby, Turinski Krč, in the shade of a centenary tree. We were enjoying the peace and our tasty buffet when Luca heard the call of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and the bird was subsequently seen by Susie and Doug.

We later moved not far to a patch of Spruces (Picea abies), where we had glimpses of some loud Firecrests, and to lovely glades in the forest south east of the village of Oltari.

Here we had some more Dark Green Fritillaries, Black-veined Whites and Dukes of Burgundy, but first of all a wonderful Patton's Tiger, with brownish forewings with creamy spots and black and orange hind wings.

The temperature in the sunshine, despite the altitude of about 1,000 m, was almost touching 30°C, so we followed a path that went in the forest, keeping mainly in the shade. The avifauna was rather quiet, with just Wren and Bullfinch calling, and more of the same the butterflies, so we concentrated on the plants, encountering the interesting Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), Pale Corydalis (Pseudofumaria alba) and Common Figwort (Scrophularia nodosa).

Tired by the heat, we agreed to come back to the hotel and to have a refreshing break, sitting in the shade and enjoying a beer, before to go back to the field.

Our last visit was to some grassy slopes that use to be a ski-run with a small ski-lift, on the other side of the “polje”, meaning karstic valley, of Krasno.

Here we climbed among multi-coloured patches of flowers, reaching the edge of the woodland: the richness of the flora was wonderful with carpets of Rattles (Rhinantus sp.), Meadow Clearies (Salvia pratensis), Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis), Hellebores (Veratrum sp.) and Tufted Vetches (Vicia cracca), hundreds of Fragrant, Burnt and Globe orchids, but also with the funnel-shaped birthworts Aristolochia pallida, the tall White Asphodels (Asphodelus albus) and the pretty Deptford Pinks (Dianthus armeria) with white spots.

But being the last site of the last day of a wonderful week, we were looking for something truly exciting. The brightest orange Comma ever was nice, but not enough… Incredibly the two cherries on the cake, completely unexpected, arrived almost at the same time, leaving everybody open mouthed! First Josip noticed a copper that was promptly caught in order to check the distinctive features: the underwing showed in a second that it wasn’t something we had already seen, but it was almost impossible to see the upper wing. Going into the shade of the trees, Luca managed to gently persuade the butterfly to open its wings while it climbed a stem. The bright orange-red of the upper wings was unbelievable, together with the purple wash of the hindwings edge. It could had been either the Purple-edged or the Balkan Copper, but these two species can be safely distinguished only through the genitalia. On reading the literature in the evening we established that, according to the altitude and

12 © Naturetrek December 19

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

the time of year, most likely it was a Balkan Copper (Lycaena candens): this species, in fact, is present in Croatia at over 900 m of altitude, while Purple-edged stays below 500 m, and we were at about 850 m in Krasno. The Balkan Copper has only one brood that appears in June, while Purple-edged should have two broods, one in May and one in the second half of July.

A few minutes later Chris located a Southern Festoon: no doubts about the identification of such a gorgeous large butterfly. Being late afternoon, the individual was cold enough to perch quietly on a grass stem, allowing amazing photos; something truly spectacular and the happy ending we were looking for!

When we came finally back to the hotel, most of the members of the group decided to sit at the table outside, to keep chatting and remembering the many exciting and enjoyable moments of the trip, and a magnificent Alpine Longhorn Beetle, characterized by its size and by its azure colour, came to visit us before the arrival of supper.

The well-deserved feast that followed, with the pleasure to have now become all good friends, was particularly pleasant.

Day 8 Monday 17th June

Transfer from Krasno to Zagreb airport. This morning there was no time left for any activity, so we met at 7.30 to drink our Turkish coffee or tea and to enjoy the scrambled eggs with or without bacon.

At 8.40 we were in the minivan ready to leave with all the luggage packed. All around a number of birds came to say goodbye, including House Martins, Red-backed Shrikes and House Sparrows.

One road-killed Northern White-breasted Hedgehog was spotted after Švica, then, later, we passed under a flying huge raptor that most likely, according to Josip, was a White-tailed Eagle.

We stopped for a break of 20 minutes at an service station close to the recognisable shape of Mount Klek (1,181 m), then we continued mainly in rather marshy lowlands where we could do some birding observing one White Stork, two Northern Lapwings, Buzzards, Kestrels and a single Rook.

We arrived at Zagreb airport at 11.35, and were welcomed by the song of a Black Redstart. Most of the group said goodbye to the leaders here and went to catch their flight. Four members of the group, received a lift from Zlatko to the city centre in order to continue their holiday in southern Croatia.

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Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

Species Lists

Butterflies (✓=recorded but not counted; H = heard only)

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Papilionidae 1 Southern Festoon Zerynthia polyxena 1 2 Clouded Apollo Parnassius mnemosyne 3 1 3 Scarce Swallowtail Iphiclides podalirius 2 2 10 10 2 3 4 Common Swallowtail Papilio machaon 4 1 1 4 2 1 Pieridae 5 Black-veined White Aporia crataegi 1 100 10 2 6 Green-veined White Artogeia napi 2 7 Small White Artogeia rapae 1 5 5 8 Orange Tip Anthocharis cardamines 2 9 Berger's Clouded Yellow Colias cf. alfacariensis 1 1 1 10 Clouded Yellow Colias crocea 10a Colias crocea f. helicina 1 11 Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni 2 1 1 1 12 Wood White Leptidea cf. sinapis 5 1 2 5 Lycaenidae 13 Ilex Hairstreak Satyrium illicis 10 2 3 14 Blue-spot Hairstreak Satyrium spini 20 20 1 15 Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi 1 1 16 Balkan Copper Lycaena cf. candens 1 17 Large Copper Lycaena dispar 1 18 Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas 3 3 19 Sooty Copper Lycaena tityrus 1 20 Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus 1 2 21 Small Blue Cupido minimus 1 5 1 2 1 10 22 Eastern Baton Blue Pseudophilotes vicrama 3 23 Chequered Blue Scolitantides orion 2 1 24 Silver-studded Blue Plebejus argus 5 10 25 Reverdin's Blue Plebejus cf. argyrognomon 1 26 Idas Blue Plebejus cf. idas 1 10 2 27 Geranium Argus Eumedonia eumedon 2 1 28 Mazarine Blue Cyaniris semiargus 1 5 29 Amanda's Blue Polyommatus amandus 5 5 10 30 Turquoise Blue Polyommatus dorylas 1 10 10 1 31 Common Blue Polyommatus icarus 1 10 30 20 10 10 1 32 Adonis Blue Lysandra bellargus 10 30 10 10 20 33 Chalk-hill Blue Lysandra coridon 1 34 Brown Argus Aricia agestis 1 2 35 Mountain Argus Aricia artaxerxes 2 Riodinidae 36 Duke of Burgundy Hamearis lucina 15 Nymphalidae 37 Nettle-tree Butterfly Libythea celtis 1 5 2 38 Two-tailed Pasha Charaxes jasius 1 39 Southern White Admiral Limenitis reducta 2 1 40 Hungarian Glider Neptis rivularis 1 41 Large Tortoiseshell Nymphalis polychloros 1

14 © Naturetrek December 19

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 42 Small Tortoiseshell Aglias urticae 2 1 1 5 43 Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta 1 2 44 Painted Lady Vanessa cardui 2 5 5 15 10 100 5 45 Comma Polygonia c-album 2 5 46 Southern Comma Polygonia egea 2 47 Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurinia 2 48 Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja 5 49 Niobe Fritillary Argynnis niobe f. eris 2 2 50 Queen of Spain Fritillary Issoria lathonia 1 1 2 51 Twin-spot Fritillary Brenthis hecate 1 52 Heath Fritillary Melitaea athalia agg. 1 1 2 1 53 Nickerl's Fritillary Melitaea aurelia 2 10 54 Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia 2 5 1 55 False Heath Fritillary Melitaea diamina 1 15 56 Spotted Fritillary Melitaea didyma 2 1 1 57 Knapweed Fritillary Melitaea phoebe 5 58 Marbled White Melanargia galathea 1 3 10 10 2 59 Balkan Marbled White Melanargia larissa 3 60 Grayling Hipparchia semele 5 10 5 1 61 Woodland Ringlet Erebia medusa 10 5 1 62 Bright-eyed Ringlet Erebia oeme 20 5 63 Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria aegeria 1 1 2 64 Large Wall Brown Lasiommata maera 1 10 20 5 65 Wall Brown Lasiommata megera 2 1 2 1 66 Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina 1 10 5 5 2 67 Pearly Heath Coenonympha arcania 2 2 1 1 2 68 Chestnut Heath Coenonympha glycerion 2 1 69 Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus 1 10 20 5 5 10 5 70 Eastern Large Heath Coenonympha rhodopensis 15 1 Hesperiidae 71 Safflower Skipper Pyrgus carthami 10 1 72 Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae 1 1 3 10 20 73 Orbed Red-underwing Skipper Spilalia orbifer 2 1 1 74 Tufted Marbled Skipper Carcharodus flocciferus 5 2 75 Dingy Skipper Erynnis tages 1 1 5 76 Lulworth Skipper Thymelicus acteon 1 5 5 77 Small Skipper Thymelicus sylvestris 30 50 78 Large Skipper Ochlodes sylvanus 3

Micro Moths (T = Moth Trap)

Crambidae 1 Beautiful Pearl Agrotera nemoralis 1T 2 Golden Pearl Anania verbascalis 1T 3 A crambid Catoptria sp. 2T 1T 4 A crambid Crambus sp. 1 1T 5 Hook-streaked Grass-Veneer Crambus lathoniellus 3T 6 Inlaid Grass-Veneer Crambus cf. pascuella 1 1T 1T 7 Scarce Grass-Veneer Crambus pratella 1T 8 Box Tree Moth Cydalima perspectalis 1T 9 Long-legged China-Mark Dolicharthria punctalis 1T 10 A crambid Eudonia sp. 2T

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 11 A crambid Eurrhypis pollinalis 1 12 A crambid Ostrinia quadripunctalis 1T 13 A crambid Scoparia cf. basistrigalis 1T 14 Meadow Grey Scoparia cf. pyralella 3T 15 A crambid Udea cf. fulvalis 1T 16 A crambid moth Xanthocrambus saxonellus 1T Gelechiidae 17 A gelechid Anarsia cf. innoxiella 1T Plutellidae 18 Diamondback Moth Plutella xylostella 1T 1T Pterophoroidea 19 White Plume Moth Pterophorus pentadactyla 2T Pyralidae 20 Gold Triangle Hypsopygia costalis 1T 21 A pyralid moth Trachonitis cristella 1T Tortricidae 22 A tortricid Abrepagoge treitschkeana 1T 1T 23 A tortricid Archips sp. 1T 24 Barred Marble Celypha striana 1T 25 Colostygia pectinataria Cydia cf. succedana 1T 26 Green Budworm Moth Hedya cf. nubiferana 1T 27 Arched Marble Olethreutes arcuella 1T 28 Common Marble Syricoris lacunana 1T

Macro Moths

Cossidae 29 A cossid Dyspessa ulula 1T Zygaenidae 30 A forester Jordanita sp. 2 1 31 A forester Adscita sp. 1 1 1 32 Six-spot Burnet Zygaena cf. filipendulae 1 1 1 33 Slender Scotch Burnet Zygaena cf. loti 1C 34 A burnet Zygaena cf. punctum 1 35 Transparent Burnet Zygaena purpuralis 5 1 1 36 Southern Six-spot Burnet Zygaena cf. transalpina 2 1 Sesiidae 37 A clearwing Chamaesphecia masariformis 1 38 A clearwing Chamaesphecia schmidtiiformis 2 Lasiocampidae 39 Lackey Malacosoma cf. neustria 1C 1C 1C 40 Plum Lappet Odonestis pruni 1T Saturniidae 41 An emperor moth Saturnia pavoniella 1C Drepanidae 42 Chinese Character Cilix glaucata 1 1T Geometridae 43 Treble-bar Aplocera plagiata 1T 44 Peppered Moth Biston betularia 1T 45 Latticed Heath Chiasmia clathrata 3 5 2 46 Southern Grass Emerald Chlorissa cf. cloraria 1T 1T 47 Green Carpet Colostygia pectinataria 1T 1T

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 48 Purple Bar Cosmorhoe ocellata 1T 49 The Mocha Cyclophora annularia 1T 50 Blair's Mocha Cyclophora puppillaria 1T 51 Common Carpet Epirrhoe cf. alternata 1 1T 1T 52 A pug Eupithecia cf. gemellata 1T 53 A geometrid Heliomata glarearia 1 1T 54 Small Emerald Hemistola chrysoprasaria 1T 55 A fan-foot Herminia sp. 1T 56 Small Waved Umber Horisme vitalbata 10T 3T 57 Pale Oak Beauty Hypomecis cf. punctinalis 1T 58 Golden-yellow Wave Idaea aureolaria 10 10 5 59 A wave Idaea cf. camparia 1T 60 Single-dotted Wave Idaea dimidiata 1T 1T 61 Bright Wave Idaea ochrata 1 62 Small Dusty Wave Idaea cf. seriata 1T 63 Clouded Border Lomaspilis marginata 3T 64 Waved Umber Menophra abruptaria 1T 65 A geometrid Nychiodes dalmatina 1T 3T 66 Chimney Sweeper Odezia atrata 1 67 Brindled White-Spot Parectropis similaria 2T 68 Willow Beauty Peribatodes rhomboidaria 1T 1T 3T 69 Brown Silver-Line Petrophora chlorosata 1 1T 70 Speckled Yellow Pseudopanthera macularia 1 3 2 1 2 2 71 A geometrid Rhodostrophia calabra 1T 72 A wave Scopula sp. 1 1T 73 Lace Border Scopula ornata 2 1 74 Mediterranean Lace Border Scopula submutata 1 1T, 75 Black-veined Moth Siona lineata 1 3 1 3 5 76 Blood-vein Timandra comae 1 Sphigidae 77 Small Elephant Hawkmoth Deilephila porcellus 1T 78 Olive Bee Hawkmoth Hemaris croatica 1 1 79 Broad-bordered Bee Hawkmoth Hemaris fuciformis 1 80 Spurge Hawk-Moth Hyles euphorbiae 1T 81 Hummingbird Hawk-moth Macroglossum stellatarum 2 1 2 Notodontidae 82 A kitten moth Forcula sp. 1T 83 Banded Marbled Brown Paradrymonia vittata 1T 1T 84 Buff-tip Phalera bucephala 1T Erebidae 85 The Druid Aedia funesta 1T 86 Ragusa's Nine-spotted Amata marjana/kruegeri 10 2 10 87 Cream-spot Tiger Arctia villica 1T 88 Scarlet Tiger Callimorpha dominula 1T 89 Clouded Buff Diacrisia sannio 1T,1 90 An erebid moth Dysauxes famula 10T 10T 91 Passenger Dysgonia algira 3T 1T 92 Hoary Footman Eilema cf. caniola 50T 30T 1T 93 Common Footman Eilema cf. lurideola 2T 94 Orange Footman Eilema sororcula 1T 1T 1T 95 Burnet Companion Euclidia glyphica 1 1

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 96 Patton's Tiger Hyphoraia testudinaria 1 97 A litter moth Idia calvaria 2T 98 Beautiful Hook-tip Laspeyria flexula 2T 99 Four-spotted Footman Lithosia quadra 1T 1T 1T 100 Blackneck Lygephila pastinum 1T 101 Gypsy Moth Lymantria dispar 1 102 Plumed Fan-Foot Polypogon plumigeralis 1T 103 Buff Ermine Spilosoma lutea 1T 104 Feathered Footman Spiris striata 1T 105 Jubilee Fan-Foot Zanclognatha lunalis 2T 1T Noctuidae 106 Spotted Sulphur Acotia trabealis 2T 1 107 Sycamore Moth Acronicta aceris 3T 1T 108 Alder Moth Acronicta alni 1T 109 A dagger moth Acronicta cuspis/psi/tridens 1T 110 Knot Grass Acronicta cf. rumicis 1 1T 111 Heart and Dart Agrotis exclamationis 3T 3T 112 Flame Axylia putris 1T 113 Treble Lines Charanyca trigrammica 1T 3T 114 Mother Shipton Callistege mi 3 115 Pale Tussock Moth Calliteara pudibunda 2 116 Latin Callopistria juventina 2T 117 Pale-shouldered Cloud Chloantha hyperici 1T 118 Nut-Tree Tussock Colocasia coryli 1T 119 A noctuid Cucullia sp. 1T 120 Cumberland Gem Eucarta amethystina 2T 121 Burnet Companion Euclidia glyphica 20 5 1 122 The Adulatrix Eutelia cf. adulatrix 1T 123 A rustic Hoplodrina sp. 1T 124 The White-Point Mythimna albipuncta 1T 1T 125 Clay Mythimna ferrago 1T 126 Marbled Minor spp. Oligia spp. 3T 2T 127 Brown Rustic Rusina ferruginea 1T 128 Bordered Gothic Sideridis reticulata 1T 129 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c-nigrum 1T 130 A noctuid Zekelita antiqualis 1T Nolidae 131 Green Silver-lines Pseudoips prasinana 1T

Birds (✓=recorded but not counted; H = heard only)

1 Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 1 H 1 2 Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 1 4 2 3 Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 7 4 White Stork Ciconia ciconia 4 1 5 Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 2 1 6 European Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus 3 7 Short-toed Snake Eagle Circaetus gallicus 1 2 8 Montagu's Harrier Circus pygargus 1 9 White-tailed eagle cf. Haliaeetus albicilla 1 10 Common Buzzard Buteo buteo 2 1 1 1 2 3 11 Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus 2

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 12 Yellow Legged Gull Larus michahellis 10 10 10 20 13 Feral Pigeon Columba livia var. domestica ✓ 1 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 14 Common Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus ✓ 1 3 ✓ 15 Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto ✓ 5 5 10 1 16 European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur H H 1 4 5 3 17 Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus H 2H H 3H H H 18 Eurasian Scops Owl Otus scops 2H 19 Alpine Swift Tachymarptis melba 2 20 Common Swift Apus apus ✓ 10 ✓ 21 Pallid Swift Apus pallidus 5 22 Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops 2 1 3 3 23 Eurasian Wryneck Jynx torquilla H H H H 24 Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major 2 1 25 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor 1 1 26 Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus 1 1 2 2 27 Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio 5 3 3 5 5 2 3 28 Eurasian Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus H 2 5 5H 2H H 29 Eurasian Jay Garrulus glandarius 1 1 2 1 30 Eurasian Magpie Pica pica ✓ 1 1 10 31 Alpine Chough Pyrrhocorax graculus 15 2 32 Northern Raven Corvus corax 1 2 2 1 3 33 Hooded Crow Corvus cornix 1 1 1 H 1 ✓ 34 Rook Corvus frugilegus 1 35 Western Jackdaw Coloeus monedula 1 36 Marsh Tit Poecile palustris H H H 37 Coal Tit Periparus ater 3 2 2 38 Great Tit Parus major 2 3 H 3 1 3 39 Eurasian Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus 5 3 40 Woodlark Lullula arborea 2H 2H 41 Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis 2 3 H 42 Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 43 Common House Martin Delichon urbicum ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ 44 Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus 5 45 Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita 2H H H H 46 Melodious Warbler Hippolais polyglotta 1 47 Eurasian Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla 5H 10 H 2H 3H 2H 2H 48 Subalpine Warbler Sylvia cantillans albistriata H 5 2H 49 Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis H H H H 50 Eastern Orphean Warbler Sylvia crassirostris 1 1 3 H 51 Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca 1 52 Sardinian Warbler Sylvia melanocephala 2 2 2 53 Barred Warbler Sylvia nisoria 1 54 Firecrest Regulus ignicapillus 2 55 Eurasian Wren Troglodytes troglodytes H 56 Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea 2 1 2 57 Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris 2 ✓ ✓ 58 Common Blackbird Turdus merula 2 5 ✓ 2 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 59 Song Thrush Turdus philomelos 1 2 H 60 Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus 1 61 Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius 1 3 62 European Robin Erithacus rubecula H 3H H H 1

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 63 Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos 5H 3H 5H 2H 64 Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros H 2 1 5 H 65 Black-eared Wheatear Oenanthe hispanica 2 H 66 Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe 3 67 House Sparrow Passer domesticus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 3 ✓ 68 Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus 1 69 Dunnock Prunella modularis 1 70 White Wagtail Motacilla alba alba 3 2 H 3 1 2 71 Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea 1 2 72 Tawny Pipit Anthus campestris 1 73 Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis H 2H 74 Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs 10 H 3H 2 5 75 European Serin Serinus serinus 5 1 3 2 2 76 European Greenfinch Chloris chloris 5H 3 2 2 1 2 77 European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis 2 2 2 2 1 78 Common Linnet Linaria cannabina 3 79 Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes 2 1 H 80 Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra 2 1 81 Rock Bunting Emberiza cia 2 82 Cirl Bunting Emberiza cirlus H 5 5 H 83 Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana 3 84 Black-headed Bunting Emberiza melanocephala 2

Mammals

1 European Mole Talpa europaea S 2 N. White-breasted Hedgehog Erinaceus roumanicus D 3 European Free-tailed Bat Tadarina teniotis H 4 Wild Boar Sus scrofa S S S S 5 Roe Deer Capreolus capreolus H 6 European Hare Lepus europaeus 1 7 Bank Vole Myodes glareolus 10

Amphibians

1 Fire Salamander (larvae) Salamandra salamandra 2 2 Alpine Newt Ichthyosaura alpestris 1 3 Common Toad Bufo bufo 1 4 Yellow-bellied Toad Bombina variegata 1 5 Marsh Frog Pelophylax cf. ridibundus 10 50 10

Reptiles

1 Turkish Gecko Hemidactylus turcicus 1 1 1 2 Eastern Green Lizard Lacerta viridis 1 2 2 1 3 Balkan Green Lizard Lacerta trilineata 4 4 Horvath's Rock Lizard Iberolacerta horvathi 5 5 Dalmatian Wall Lizard Podarcis melisellensis 2 1 2 6 Italian Wall Lizard Podarcis siculus 3 1 7 Common Wall Lizard Podarcis muralis 1 8 European Glass Lizard Ophisaurus apodus 1 2 1 9 Western Whip Snake Hierophis viridiflavus 1 10 Dahl's Whip Snake Platyceps najadum 1

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 11 Grass Snake Natrix natrix 1 12 Dice Snake Natrix tessellata 2

Fish

1 Danube Barbel Barbus balcanicus ✓ 2 Common Chub Leuciscus cephalus ✓ 3 Common Rudd Scardinius erythrophthalmus ✓ 4 Big-scale Sand Smelt Atherina cf. boyeri ✓ 5 Darkflank Pipefish Syngnathus taenionotus 2 6 cfr. Leerfish cf. Lichia amia 1 7 Saddled Seabream Oblada melanura 3 8 Salema Porgy Sarpa salpa 1 9 Common Damselfish Chromis chromis 15 10 Peacock Wrasse Symphodus tinca 2 11 Peacock Blenny Salaria pavo 1 4 12 Bucchich's Goby Gobius bucchichi 1 13 Giant Goby Gobius cf. cobitis 1

Dragonflies&damselflies

1 Beautiful Demoiselle Calopteryx virgo 1 50 1 2 Banded Demoiselle Calopteryx splendens 3 20 3 Common Bluet Enallagma cyathigerum 3 4 Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella 10 5 Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula 2 6 White-legged Damselfly Platycnemis pennipes 10 7 Common Clubtail Gomphus vulgatissimus 1 1 8 Broad-bodied Chaser Libellula depressa 2 9 Southern Skimmer Orthetrum brunneum 1 10 Southern Darter Sympetrum meridionale 1

Other insects

1 Green Drake Mayfly Ephemera cf. danica ✓ 2 Schmidt's Marbled Bush-cricket Eupholidoptera schmidti 2 3 Mediterranean Field Cricket Gryllus cf. bimaculatus ✓ 4 Dalmatian Stone Grasshopper Prionotropis hystrix 1 1 5 Egyptian Grasshopper Anacridium aegyptium 5 10 6 Balkan Field Grasshopper Chorthippus bornhalmi 1 7 Praying Mantis Mantis religiosa 2 1 8 A shieldbug Ancyrosoma leucogrammes 1 9 A shieldbug Eurydema fieberi 1 10 Italian striped bug Graphosoma italicum 10 1 5 1 11 A seedbug Spilostethus pandurus 1 12 An ambush bug Phymata crassipes 1 13 Assassin Bug Rhinocoris cf. iracundus 1 1 1 1 14 A froghopper Cercopis cf. sanguinolenta 1 5 15 An owlfly Libelloides macaronius 1 1 10 16 An owlfly Libelloides lacteus 1 17 A horse-fly Philipomyia graeca/aprica ✓ ✓ 18 A bee fly Bombylius sp. 1 19 Trivittate Sun Fly Helophilus cf. trivittatus 1

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 20 Common Drone Fly Eristalis tenax 1 21 Hornet Mimic Hover Fly Volucella zonaria 1 22 Bee Fly Hemipenthes cf. morio 2 23 A diving beetle Dytiscus sp. 2 24 Springtime Dung Beetle Trypocopris cf. vernalis 1 1 25 A chafer Hoplia argentea 1 26 Bee Betle Trichius cf. fasciatus 2 1 27 Rose Chafer Cetonia cf. aurata 1 2 20 1 28 A chafer Oxythyrea funesta 1 29 A buprestid beetle Anthaxia nitidula 1 30 A click beetle Agrypnus cf. murinus 1 31 European Glow-Worm Lampyris cf. noctiluca 1 32 Common Cardinal Beetle Pyrochroa serraticornis 1 33 Common Malachite-Beetle Malachius cf. bipustulatus 1 34 Harlequin Ladybeetle Harmonia axyridis 1 2 1 1 1 35 An oil beetle Hycleus polymorphus 1 36 An oil beetle Meloidae (Mylabrini) sp. 2 37 A longhorn beetle Agapanthia cardui 1 38 Alpine Longhorn Beetle Rosalia alpina 1 39 A leaf beetle Lachnaia cf. italica 1 40 Spotted Willow Leaf Beetle Chrysomela vigintipunctata 1 41 A weevil beetle Otiorhynchus cardiniger 1 42 Common European Scorpionfly Panorpa cf. communis 3 1 43 An acrobat ant Crematogaster sp. ✓ 44 A wasp Polistes foederatus ✓ 45 A cuckoo wasp Chrysis cf. cerastes 1 46 Violet Carpenter Bee Xylocopa cf. violacea 1 1 1 47 Large Red-tailed Bumble Bee Bombus cf. lapidarius 1 1 48 White-tailed Bumble Bee Bombus cf. lucorum 1 1 49 Hill Cuckoo-Bee Bombus cf. rupestris 1 50 Honey Bee Apis mellifera ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Arachnida

1 Oak Spider Aculepeira ceropegia 1 2 Walnut Orb-weaver Spider Nuctenea umbratica 1 3 Angular Orbweaver Araneus angulatus 1 4 A crab spider Thomisus onustus 1 5 Goldenrod Crab Spider Misumena vatia 1 6 Red-bellied Jumping Spider Philaeus chrysops 1 7 Cucumber Green Spider Araniella cf. cucurbitina 1 8 A scorpion Euscorpius cf. carpathicus agg. 1

Crostacea

1 European Crayfish Astacus astacus 2 1 3 A hermit crab Clibanarius cf. erythropus 1 3 4 Marbled Crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus ✓

Mollusca

1 A slug Limax sp. 1 2 Roman Snail Helix cf. pomatia 1

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

June Common name Scientific name 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 3 A land snail Cochlicella sp. 1 4 Turbinate Monodont Phorcus cf. turbinatus ✓

Anellida

1 A leech Hirudinidae sp. ✓

Plants

Common name Scientific name Location (first or best)

LIVERWORTS Conocephalaceae A liverwort Conocephalum sp. Plitvice lakes

FERNS Aspleniaceae Rustyback Asplenium ceterach Plitvice lakes Wall-rue Asplenium ruta-muraria Rastoke Maidenhair Spleenwort Asplenium trichomanes Rastoke Hart's Tonguefern Asplenium scolopendrium Plitvice lakes Dennstaedtiaceae Bracken Pteridium aquilinum Plitvice lakes Equisetaceae Marsh Horsetail Equisetum palustre Cret Ljubica

CONIFERS Gymnosperms Cupressaceae Mediterranean Cypress Cupressus sempervirens Velika Paklenica Common Juniper Juniperus communis Turinski Krc Cade Juniper Juniperus oxycedrus Mala Paklenica Pinaceae Silver Fir Abies alba Oltari Spruce Picea abies Turinski Krc Aleppo Pine Pinus halepensis Mala Paklenica Austrian Black Pine Pinus nigra Plitvice lakes Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris Rastoke Taxaceae Common Yew Taxus baccata Plitvice lakes

DICOTYLEDON FLOWERING PLANTS Adoxaceae Elder Sambucus nigra Plitvice lakes Wayfaring Tree Viburnum lantana Ostarijska Vrata Anacardiaceae European Smoketree Cotinus coggygria Plitvice lakes Turpentine Tree Pistacia terebinthus Mala Paklenica Apiaceae Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris Plitvice lakes Field Eryngo Eryngium campestre Homoljac Large-flowered Orlaya Orlaya grandiflora Rastoke Perfoliate Alexanders Smyrnium perfoliatum Homoljac A umbellifer Bupleurum cf. veronense Mala Paklenica

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

Common name Scientific name Location (first or best)

Apocynaceae Swallow-Wort Vincetoxicum hirundinaria Mali Vaganac Araliaceae Common Ivy Hedera helix Plitvice lakes Aristolochiaceae Birthwort Aristolochia clematitis Rastoke A birthwort Aristolochia cf. pallida Krasno Polje Asteraceae Yarrow Achillea millefolium Plitvice lakes Stinking Aposeris Aposeris foetida Plitvice lakes Common Burdock Arctium minus Ercezi Kojin Dolac Daisy Bellis perennis Plitvice lakes Ox-eye Buphthalmum salicifolium Plitvice lakes Musk Thistle Carduus cf. macrocephalus Seline Stemless Carline Thistle Carlina cf. acaulis Bjelopolje Downy Safflower Carthamus lanatus Mala Paklenica Greater Knapweed Centaurea cf. scabiosa Golubic junction Perennial Cornflower Centaurea montana Mali Vaganac Chicory Cichorium intybus Mala Paklenica Yellow Melancholy Thistle Cirsium erisithales Plitvice lakes A hawksbeard Crepis sp. Udbina Pink Hawk's-beard Crepis rubra Mala Paklenica Southern Globe-thistle Echinops ritro Mala Paklenica Annual Fleabane Erigeron annuus Rastoke Curry Plant Helichrysum italicum Mali Vaganac A yellowhead Inula verbascifolia Velika Paklenica Silver Ragwort Jacobaea maritima Karlobag Nipplewort Lapsana communis Plitvice lakes Ox-eye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare Homoljac Spiny Fleabane Pallenis spinosa Mala Paklenica Common Butterbur Petasites cf. hybridus Plitvice lakes Mouse-eared Hawkweed Pilosella officinarum Udbina Common Goldenthistle Scolymus hispanicus Ercezi Kojin Dolac Purple Viper's Grass Scorzonera purpurea Krasno Polje A dandelion Taraxacum sp. Plitvice lakes A salsify Tragopogon sp. Deringaj Betulaceae Black Alder Alnus glutinosa Plitvice lakes Silver Birch Betula pendula Plitvice lakes European Hornbeam Carpinus betulus Plitvice lakes Common Hazel Corylus avellana Plitvice lakes European Hop-hornbeam Ostrya carpinifolia Veliki Vaganac Brassicaceae Burnt Candytuft Aethionema saxatile Veliki Vaganac Bitter Wintercress Barbarea vulgaris Plitvice lakes Shepherd's Purse Capsella bursa-pastoris Homoljac Drooping Bittercress Cardamine enneaphyllos Turinski Krc A wallflower Erysimum cf. odoratum Bjelopolje Perennial Honesty Lunaria rediviva Plitvice lakes Boraginaceae Lesser Honeywort Cerinthe minor Homoljac Hound's-Tongue Cynoglossum cf. officinale Ostarijska Vrata Pale Bugloss Echium italicum Mala Paklenica

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

Common name Scientific name Location (first or best)

Viper's-Bugloss Echium vulgare Rastoke Purple Gromwell Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum Mala Paklenica Water Forget-Me-Not Myosotis scorpioides agg. Rastoke Field Forget-Me-Not Myosotis cf. arvensis Homoljac A golden-drop Onosma echioides Mala Paklenica Common Lungwort Pulmonaria officinalis Plitvice lakes Cactaceae A prickly pear Opuntia cf. ficus-indica Mala Paklenica Campanulaceae Window Bellflower Campanula fenestrellata Mali Vaganac Clustered Bellflower Campanula glomerata Udbina Paper Bellflower Campanula persicifolia Plitvice lakes Rampion Campanula cf. rapunculus Homoljac Spiked Rampion Phyteuma spicatum Turinski Krc Caprifoliaceae Field Scabious Knautia cf. arvensis Deringaj Lesser Scabious Scabiosa cf. columbaria Plitvice lakes A valerian Valeriana cf. officinalis Homoljac Caryophyllaceae Snow-in-Summer Cerastium tomentosum Ostarijska Vrata A pink Dianthus cf. velebiticus Homoljac Deptford Pink Dianthus cf. armeria Krasno Polje A pink Dianthus cf. petraeus Plitvice lakes A nailwort Paronychia kapela Golubic junction Ragged-Robin Silene flos-cuculi Krasno Polje White Campion Silene latifolia Plitvice lakes Nottingham Catchfly Silene nutans Plitvice lakes Bladder Campion Silene vulgaris Rastoke Celastraceae European Spindle Euonymus europaeus Plitvice lakes Cistaceae Common Rock-Rose Helianthemum nummularium Plitvice lakes Convolvulaceae Hedge Bindweed Calystegia sepium Plitvice lakes Cantabrian Bindweed Convolvulus cantabrica Mala Paklenica Cornaceae Common Dogwood Cornus sanguinea Plitvice lakes Crassulaceae European Stonecrop Petrosedum ochroleucum Golubic junction Spanish Stonecrop Sedum cf. hispanicum Rastoke Biting Stonecrop Sedum acre Golubic junction Euphorbiaceae Wood Spurge Euphorbia amygdaloides Plitvice lakes Mediterranean Spurge Euphorbia characias Velika Paklenica Cypress Spurge Euphorbia cyparissias Rastoke A spurge Euphorbia flavicoma Homoljac Myrtle Spurge Euphorbia myrsinites Mala Paklenica Fabaceae Desert False Indigo Amorpha fruticosa Karlovac Mountain Kidney-vetch Anthyllis cf. montana Ostarijska Vrata Kidney-vetch Anthyllis vulneraria Bjelopolje Liquorice Milk Vetch Astragalus glycyphyllos Plitvice lakes Big-flowered Broom Chamaecytisus hirsutus Krasno Polje

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

Common name Scientific name Location (first or best)

Crownvetch Coronilla varia Mali Vaganac Badassi Dorycnium pentaphyllum Golubic junction A broom Genista sp. Veliki Vaganac Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis cf. comosa Velika Paklenica Felted Vetch Lathyrus cf. pannonicus Mali Vaganac Tuberous Pea Lathyrus cf. tuberosus Ercezi Kojin Dolac Bird's-foot Trefoil Lotus cf. corniculatus Plitvice lakes Black Melilot Medicago lupulina Homoljac Yellow Sweetclover Melilotus officinalis Rastoke Common Sainfoil Onobrychis viciifolia Udbina Black Locust Robinia pseudacacia Plitvice lakes Owl-headed Flower Trifolium alpestre Krasno Polje Hop Trefoil Trifolium campestre Mala Paklenica Mountain Clover Trifolium montanum Mali Vaganac Red Clover Trifolium pratense Rastoke White Clover Trifolium repens Irinovac A clover Trifolium rubens Mala Paklenica Tufted Vetch Vicia cracca Ostarijska Vrata Bush Vetch Vicia sepium Homoljac Fagaceae Beech Fagus sylvatica Plitvice lakes Downy Oak Quercus pubescens Golubic junction Gentianaceae Bladder Gentian Gentiana cf. utriculosa Turinski Krc Geraniaceae Dove's-foot Crane's-bill Geranium molle Homoljac Knotted Crane's-bill Geranium nodosum Turinski Krc Herb Robert Geranium robertianum Rastoke Bloody Crane's-Bill Geranium sanguineum Rastoke Hydrangeaceae Deutzia Deutzia scabra Plitvice lakes Hypericaceae Perforate St John's-wort Hypericum perforatum Rastoke Lamiaceae Bugle Ajuga reptans Irinovac Wild Basil Clinopodium vulgare Plitvice lakes Yellow Archangel Lamium galeobdolon Plitvice lakes Spotted Deadnettle Lamium maculatum Plitvice lakes Red Deadnettle Lamium purpureum Homoljac Bastard Balm Melittis melissophyllum Plitvice lakes Water Mint Mentha aquatica Plitvice lakes Common Self-heal Prunella vulgaris Rastoke Common Sage Salvia officinalis Veliki Vaganac Meadow Cleary Salvia pratensis Rastoke Lamb's Ears Stachys cretica Mala Paklenica Perennial Yellow-Woundwort Stachys recta Homoljac Common Germander Teucrium chamaedrys Mala Paklenica Felty Germander Teucrium polium Mala Paklenica Common Thyme Thymus cf. vulgaris Rastoke Linaceae A yellow flax Linum sp. Veliki Vaganac Narrow-leaved Flax Linum tenuifolium Bjelopolje

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

Common name Scientific name Location (first or best)

Malvaceae Common Mallow Malva sylvestris Mala Paklenica Small-leaved Lime Tilia cf. cordata Ercezi Kojin Dolac Moraceae Paper Mulberry Broussonetia papyrifera Mala Paklenica Fig Ficus carica Mala Paklenica Oleaceae Common Privet Ligustrum vulgare Rastoke Ash Fraxinus excelsior Krasno Polje Manna Ash Fraxinus cf. ornus Rastoke European Olive Olea europaea Starigrad Onagraceae Broad-leaved Willowherb Epilobium montanum Oltari Orobanchaceae Slender Broomrape Orobanche cf. gracilis Ostarijska Vrata A broomrape Orobanche sp. Homoljac Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus cf. minor Homoljac Papaveraceae Common Poppy Papaver rhoeas Ercezi Kojin Dolac Pale Corydalis Pseudofumaria alba Oltari Plantaginaceae Ivy-leaved Toadflax Cymbalaria muralis Rastoke Yellow Foxglove Digitalis grandiflora Plitvice lakes Heart-leaved Globe Daisy Globularia cordifolia Plitvice lakes Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata Homoljac Broadleaf Plantain Plantago major Homoljac Hoary Plantain Plantago cf. media Homoljac Large Speedwell Veronica austriaca Homoljac Brooklime Veronica beccabunga Rastoke Germander Speedwell Veronica chamaedrys Oltari Nettle-leaved Speedwell Veronica urticifolia Plitvice lakes Polygalaceae Nice Milkwort Polygala nicaeensis Deringaj Common Milkwort Polygala cf. vulgaris Homoljac Polygonaceae Sheep's Sorrel Rumex cf. acetosella Homoljac Curled Dock Rumex cf. crispus Rastoke Broad-leaved Dock Rumex cf. obtusifolius Homoljac Primulaceae Scarlet Pimpernel Lysimachia arvensis Plitvice lakes Cowslip Primula veris Turinski Krc Primrose Primula vulgaris Plitvice lakes (leaves) Ranunculaceae Bulgarian Columbine Aquilegia cf. nigricans Turinski Krc Fragrant Virgin's-Bower Clematis flammula Veliki Vaganac Erect Clematis Clematis recta Plitvice lakes Old Man's Beard Clematis vitalba Golubic junction Hepatica (leaves) Hepatica nobilis Plitvice lakes (leaves) Love-in-a-Mist Nigella damascena Mala Paklenica Large White Buttercup Ranunculus platanifolius Krasno Polje French Meadow-Rue Thalictrum aquilegiifolium Ostarijska Vrata Resedaceae Wild Mignonette Reseda lutea Plitvice lakes

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

Common name Scientific name Location (first or best)

Rosaceae Agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria Mala Paklenica Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna Plitvice lakes Dropwort Filipendula cf. vulgaris Irinovac Wild Strawberry Fragaria vesca Plitvice lakes Blessed Herb Geum urbanum Plitvice lakes Salad Burnet Poterium sanguisorba Plitvice lakes A cinquefoil Potentilla cf. cinerea Cret Ljubica (leaves) Common Tormentil Potentilla erecta Plitvice lakes Wild Cherry Prunus cf. avium Ercezi Kojin Dolac Dog Rose Rosa cf. canina Rastoke Red-leaved Rose Rosa glauca Krasno Polje Burnet Rose Rosa pimpinellifolia Ostarijska Vrata European Dewberry Rubus caesius Plitvice lakes Elmleaf Blackberry Rubus ulmifolius Mala Paklenica Salad Burnet Sanguisorba cf. minor Plitvice lakes Common Whitebeam Sorbus aria Turinski Krc Rowan Sorbus aucuparia Oltari Rubiaceae Crosswort Cruciata cf. laevipes Kosinj White Bedstraw Galium cf. album Plitvice lakes Hedge Bedstraw Galium cf. mollugo Bjelopolje Rutaceae White Dittany Dictamnus albus Mali Vaganac Salicaceae Aspen Populus tremula Udbina Purple Willow Salix cf. purpurea Plitvice lakes Santalaceae European Mistletoe Viscum album Plitvice lakes Sapindaceae Field Maple Acer campestre Plitvice lakes Montpellier Maple Acer monspessulanum Mala Paklenica Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus Plitvice lakes Saxifragaceae Round-leaved Saxifrage Saxifraga rotundifolia Plitvice lakes Scrophulariaceae Dog Figworth Scrophularia canina Ostarijska Vrata Common Figwort Scrophularia nodosa Oltari White Mullein Verbascum cf. lychnitis Bjelopolje Black Mullein Verbascum cf. nigrum Plitvice lakes Hoary Mullein Verbascum cf. pulverulentum Velika Paklenica Simaroubaceae Tree of Heaven Ailanthus altissima Kalobag Smilacaceae Common Smilax Smilax aspera Velika Paklenica Solanaceae Bittersweet Nightshade Solanum dulcamara Plitvice lakes Urticaceae Common Nettle Urtica dioica Homoljac Violaceae European Field Pansy Viola cf. arvensis Homoljac Heath Dog-violet Viola cf. canina Oltari Dwarf Pansy Viola cf. kitaibeliana Homoljac

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

Common name Scientific name Location (first or best)

MONOCOTYLEDON FLOWERING PLANTS Amaryllidaceae Wild Leek Allium cf. ampeloprasum Mala Paklenica A leek Allium paniculatum Velika Vaganac Sand Leek Allium cf. scorodoprasum Golubic junction Araceae Italian Arum Arum italicum Seline Asparagaceae Tassel Hyacinth Muscari comosum Golubic junction A Bath asparagus Ornithogalum cf. sphaerocarpum Irinovac Garden star-of-Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum agg. Homoljac Meadow Squill Scilla litardierei Cret Ljubica Asphodelaceae White Asphodel Asphodelus albus Krasno Polje Cyperaceae A sedge Carex sp. Cret Ljubica Swamp Sawgrass Cladium mariscus Plitvice lakes A cottongrass Eriophorum cf. latifolium Cret Ljubica Iridaceae Wild Gladiolus Gladiolus illyricus Ercezi Kojin Dolac Hungarian Iris Iris variegata Homoljac Liliaceae Carniolan Lily Lilium carniolicum Plitvice lakes Martagon Lily Lilium martagon Plitvice lakes Melanthiaceae Herb Paris Paris quadrifolia Oltari A hellebore Veratrum sp. Ostarijska Vrata Orchidaceae Loose-flowered Orchid Anacamptis laxiflora Cret Ljubica Green-winged Orchid Anacamptis morio Homoljac Pyramidal Orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis Bjelopolje White Helleborine Cephalanthera damasonium Homoljac Narrow-leaved Helleborine Cephalanthera longifolia Homoljac Early Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata Cret Ljubica Elder-flowered Orchid Dactylorhiza cf. sambucina Ostarijska Vrata (remains) Fragrant Orchid Gymnadenia conopsea Ostarijska Vrata Ibrid Burnt x Three-toothed Orchid Neotinea x dietrichiana Ostarijska Vrata Three-toothed Orchid Neotinea tridentata Homoljac Burnt Orchid Neotinea ustulata Bjelopolje Birdsnest Orchid Neottia nidus-avis Plitvice lakes Common Twayblade Orchid Neottia ovata Cret Ljubica Lesser Butterfly Orchid Platanthera bifolia Turinski Krc Common Bee orchid Ophrys apifera Plitvice lakes Late Spider Orchid Ophrys fuciflora agg. Ostarijska Vrata Horned Bee-orchid Ophrys scolopax cornuta Mali Vaganac Military Orchid Orchis militaris Homoljac Round-headed Orchid Traunsteinera globosa Ostarijska Vrata Poaceae Common Quaking Grass Briza media Homoljac Upright Brome Bromus cf. erectus Mali Vaganac Wall Barley Hordeum cf. murinum Seline Common Reed Phragmites australis Plitvice lakes A needle Grass Stipa cf. pennata Ubdina

Butterflies of Croatia Tour Report

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Horned Bee-orchid Chamaesphecia schmidtiiformis Loose-flowered Orchid

Two-tailed Pasha European Turtle Dove