The Pontic Alps Northeastern Turkey A Greentours Natural History Holiday 23rd July to 7th August 1996 Leaders: Owen Mountford and Ian Green July 23rd Arrival We left Heathrow on a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul and had a short wait in Istanbul before getting our connecting flight to Trabzon where we were duly met by Mustafa, our driver, and Mehmet our cook. After a brief wait for our baggage we were rapidly ferried to our hotel in the centre of time and then straight to sleep. July 24th Sumela Monastery Due to a certain worldwide delivery services ineptitude, I spent the day in Trabzon, trying to sort out the 'tent problem'. Owen took the group up to Sumela Monastery to get their first experience of the northern slopes of the Pontic Alps and the Euxine Forests. The morning was spent walking up the path to the Monastery which is spectacularly perched above the forest at the base of a cliff. The forest here has some fine examples of Abies nordmanniana and Picea orientalis with an understory of the local Ivy, Hedera colchica , the Bladdernut, Staphylea pinnata , and both Rhododendron luteum and R. ponticum . There were some extremely large snails in the forest litter by the damp mossy path. Campanulas were abundant. The white flowered often semi-prostrate C. betulifolia was noted, replacing the C. alliarifolia , a more upright plant of the lower slopes. Among the many blue species, the large C. lactiflora was frequent. Mervyn made a couple of interesting Umbellifer finds. Seseli petraeum was noted in rocks below the monastery and Ligusticum alatum was also found. Green Warblers could be heard calling frequently in the forest here. Lunch was taken in the cafe back down by the river, and was, by all accounts, an undistinguished affair! The weather had also worsened, as it typically does by lunchtime in these forests, with a steady drizzle falling - a frequent occurence after midday. The afternoon was spent walking up the track beyond the cafe, along the course of the river where Dippers were noted on several occasions. Paris incompleta , a close relative of our own Herb Paris, was found growing under thick forest, and the beautiful Geranium Psilostemon was seen in flower. Butterflies were few, the weather obviously not helping, but Nigel did photograph Polyommatus corydonius , a species resembling our own Chalkhill Blue, as well as Scotch Argus. July 25th The Zigana Pass After breakfast we headed back up the main Macka road, but this time continued straight on up the Zigana Pass. At only about 1800m this is the lowest pass in the eastern Pontics and the Turks have built a big wide road which is surprisingly fast up to the tunnel which links Trabzon to Anatolia. Our first stop was for Mervyn's first Umbel of the day - Seseli resinosum . Crag Martin's were hawking overhead and we spotted a distant Lilium species on the far bank of the valley. Unfortunately it was not accessable, and nor was it in flower, so we were unable to confirm whether this could have been L. monadelphum var. armenum which has been seen by others on this pass. Our next stop was at a lovely little side valley at 1270 where we wandered along a track noting lots of Digitalis ferruginea , all of the small-flowered subspecies schistkinii . The mixed forest and lush meadows here proved a rich hunting ground. We found a number of Orchids, mostly Dactylorhiza urvilleana , although some of the specimens here approached D. nieschalkiorum , a species which does not reach this far east along the northern Turkish mountains. A Goshawk was calling frequently from the forest and circled round briefly before disappearing in the direction of the pass. There was little in the way of butterflies, only the odd Painted Lady and several beautiful specimens of Scotch Argus. A meadow down by the stream was a blaze of colour. Several different Campanulas were in flower, including some fine specimens of the widespread C. lactiflora . A few large branched specimens of Aconitum orientale with pale pink and white flowers were also seen. The rain that had been threatening for the last half an hour finally came down so we beat a hasty retreat and headed for the south side of the pass in the hope that the weather would be better. It was, although we did get the occasional bit of rain in the afternoon, but at least it was nice to see a bit of sun! Out lunch time stop at some 1500m, not far below the tunnel entrance was excellent. Several butterflies put in an appearance, the most welcome of which was a superb, recently emerged, Apollo, sitting resplendently on the trackside, and briefly, on Brian! Bath White and Lesser Spotted Fritillary were both found here. The were several good Umbellifers ( Bifora radians , Peucedanum longifolium , Hippomarathrum microcarpum , Scaligeria tripartita and Physospermum cornubiense ) on the slopes which here consisted of mixed screes, scrub and Abies nordmanniana forest. There were several good plant finds including Delphinium schmallhausenii , Helleborus orientalis and Paeonia mascula subsp arietina , the latter two not in flower. Two species of pear were growing on the slopes, Pyrus communis subsp caucasica and P. eleagnifolia subsp. kotschyana , and a Whitebeam, Sorbus kuznetzovii . Birdwise, Robin and Rock Nuthatch were the highlights! July 26th Journey to Ayder After some delay in a plastic boat and lilo shop, and then the Russian Bazaar in Trabzon we embarked on the journey along the Black Sea coast to Ayder. A lunchtime stop for some fresh trout south of Camlihemsin was a pleasant break, and we had a quick wander across the road where Short-tailed Blue and Speckled Wood were found and there was a fine display of ferns including Pteris cretica . From Camlihemsin the road rose steeply through the Euxine forest. We stopped to admire the scenery and noted a few local plants. The Oriental Beech with its silvery trunk, stood out very well amid the Pinus orientalis and Abies nordmanniana forest, while the roadside had Carpinus orientalis and Box in abundance. A strange borage here was later identified as Cynoglossum glochidiatum , a rather atypical Houndstongue that is not native to the region but has been naturalised from its cultivation - why it is cultivated we have no idea! We continued until we reached the village of Ayder which was to be out base for the next two nights. The clouds were very low and as we set of for some late afternoon exploration it came down around us shrouding the landscape in fog. We wandered up the main village track through meadows where Dactylorhiza urvilleana and the beautiful Geranium ptilostemon were both seen. Our familiar Pimpinella saxifraga and Prunella vulgaris were both frequent here. We passed a beautiful waterfall which was unfortunately shrouded in thick cloud, and in one of the roadside gullies found a very unusual St John's Wort with perfoliate leaves - this was Hypericum bupleuroides . Walking back into the village we stopped for a drink at a bar whic, if it had not been for the thick fog, would have had a beautiful view over the forested valley below. Several Green Warblers were noted in the trees here. July 27th Walk from above Ayder to near Yukari Kavron This morning was a test for Mustafa as he drove the minibus up a particularly fearsome track above Ayder. Eventually he could take us no further and wisely decided to park the minibus up below a fine montane meadow. We wandered on up through this meadow pausing frequently as we went. The Scotch Argus type Erebia was seen frequently although there was not a great variety of other butterflies here, although Comma was noted. The Stagshorn Clubmoss was seen growing amid Gentiana cruciata and Pyrola rotundifolia , quite a beautiful combination. As we entered the main forest zone we found a very different vegetation. Rhododendron luteum was frequent and must have been a wonderful sight in flower as must the Epigaea gaultherioides which was not uncommon on the forest floor. Other interesting species noted in here were Pyrola minor (a significant extension of its previous known range), Oak Fern, Actaea spicata , Vaccinium arctostaphylos and the Fir Clubmoss, Huperzia selago . There was little in the way for butterflies or other insects to be seen as by now the fog and cloud was rising through the forest, and birds were not much in evidence, except for Green Warblers which were quite common. Some fungi were in evidence including a Russula and a lovely Pholiota , looking very like the UK. species - Pholiota squarrosa . An open meadow area was noteworthy for our first sighting of Lilium ciliatum , a species which we never found in flower - here's to the next visit in late June! A series of particularly productive gullies just below the tree-line slowed us enough to demand a lunch stop! The rare 'Marsh Asphodel', Narthecium balansae was found in one with some other exceptionally beautiful species such as Aconitum orientale , Aster caucasicus , Cicerbita bourgiae , Dactylorhiza urvilleana and Grass of Parnassus. The lunchtime gully had our first sighting of the magnificent Stachys macrantha with its large heads of brilliant pink-red flowers, the large flowered orange poppy, Papaver lateritium , several Campanulas including C. olympica , the elephant-flower, Rhyncocorys elephas and a couple of Vaccinium species. A surprise was a single flowering spike of Fragrant Orchid. From here we walked along a contour path passing through steeply sloping meadows with scattered dwarfed trees and several large boggy areas. These proved very productive with plenty of the common Dactylorchid and just one plant of Dactylorhiza euxina . This had unspotted leaves marking it out as subspecies markowitschii .