BOG FRITILLARY

July 4, 2025

Another long-standing dream realised. In the early nineties, when I spent much of my spare time (apart from winter… and even then) watching butterflies, I had a thing about seeing Bog Fritillary Boloris eunomia. There were sites in the Pyrenees that I hoped to visit. I even had Richard Lewington paint the species for me! Well, I can now sit in ‘library corner’ and look at this lovely painting having seen it! I was very lucky to be able to join János Oláh’s inaugural Sakertours Serbia butterfly tour in June and Bog Fritillary was one of three main targets. There were lots of other targets, so it was an opportunity to good to miss and turned out to be one of my all-time favourite tours, even allowing for ‘recentism’.

Bog Fritillary has a wide circumpolar distribution from the boreal zone northwards but only scattered, widely separated colonies south of here. In Europe it occurs from the Pyrenees eastwards to the Balkans with a few colonies in the mountains of southeast Serbia. Bog Fritillary is well-named, occurring in bog side habitats, where its caterpillar food plant bistort occurs. The two colonies we visited were at Babin Zub on the Stara Planina (‘The Old Mountain’). The first was a tiny spring-fed bog with several flourishing stands of bistort Bistorta at 1515m ASL. It was very easy to find the fritillaries at 0700 in the early morning sunshine of 12 June, sometimes flying in the vicinity of Violet Copper Lycaena helle, which often shares the same habitat, a delightful combination. We returned in the evening until 1915 and found several Bog Fritillaries basking in the evening sun. we estimated a total of eight adults at this site [plus six Violet Coppers L. helle]. The row of halos on the underside hindwing is a unique pattern.

The following morning an early start saw us at another colony, a much more extensive bog with a lot more bistort at 1457m ASL, although we only found four Bog Fritillaries B. eunomia until 0800, roughly the same time as out visit to site no. #1. Numbers here dwindled to two the following day, one the next and then none on 16 June. Bog Fritillary is not considered threatened owing to its northern populations, but its southern outposts must surely be threatened by change of land use not to mention climate change and the fact that colonies are widely separated without stepping sone populations to repopulate lost colonies.

Bog Fritillary *Boloris eunomia* (Mike Watson)

Violet Copper *Lycaena helle* (Mike Watson)

Bog Fritillary *B. eunomia* habitat Babin Zub with plentiful Bistort *Bistorta* (Mike Watson)

*Where it started - Bog Fritillary by Richard Lewington* (Mike Watson)

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climene!

June 25, 2025

‘Climene!’. I could hear János say the magic word somewhere in the wood we were exploring, in a remote corner of southeast Serbia on his Sakertour butterfly watching holiday. Well, it’s quicker than saying Lesser Lattice Brown. We had split up to search for it and I had checked the southern part of the low, wooded ridge we had been directed to, without any luck, apart from a nice Lattice Brown Kirinia roxelana, which typically flew up into a tree and landed on the trunk, how very un-Satyrlike! There were lots of Ilex Hairstreaks on the oak trees and Pearly Heaths skipped through the leafy canopy but no Lesser Lattice Brown yet.

We had also spent a lot of time the previous day scouring a historic site for it. We had crossed a disused ford, through clouds of puddling butterflies, including a few Lesser Purple Emperors, Large Tortoiseshells and Common Gliders and followed an overgrown farm track up a hillside, passing a freshly dead Roe Deer along the way, to an abandoned farmstead. This is a depressingly common sight in the mountains of southeast Serbia, as the younger generation moves to the cities and does not want to take on the hard and unpredictable life of farming. On a separate note, butterflies relying on hay meadows must be in trouble here, while those thriving in overgrown grasslands will do well for a while before woodland reclaims the land. We had a waypoint for our target and spent a long time staring into the trees of an ancient copse but without any luck. It was hot and lunchtime, so we decided to take a break and try another spot later. We had unwittingly also spent most of the morning right next to another climene spot, as we later discovered!

Back to the afternoon and ‘We have one!’ shouted János and Jasmin. I hurried up to the top of the ridge, following their voices and sure enough they did! Jasmin had found it, or another, a while earlier, taken some photos, just in case, and then, after finding János, they relocated it. It looks just like a Meadow Brown at first glance and can easily pass in a crowd of them, of which there was here! Including penetrating the oak canopy and occasionally landing on the leaves. However, the Lesser Lattice Brown flew with a more purposeful, stronger action and always landed in the trees, whereas the Meadow Browns would sometimes land in the grass too, and had a weaker and more erratic, bouncy flight. To complicate matters roxelana was here too! Thankfully it is very strikingly marked! We enjoyed some terrific views of the Lesser Lattice Brown, always perching in a sunny spot within the shady canopy and never on a tree on the edge of the small wood. This was great for artistic images! The tiny forewing dot and four small hindwing dots were obvious, as were the two ‘scratch’ marks on the largely orange forewing (it was a male and the scratch marks are just darkened transverse veins across the discoidal area). We could also study the lightly scalloped hind wing rear edge. Excellent stuff!

*Lesser Lattice Brown (Kirinia climene) finds another shaft of sunlight in the shadows of the oak canopy.*

This subtle beauty of the shadows is a very localised butterfly in the Balkans, although, outside Europe, it occurs all the way east to Iran and southern Russia (it is also known as Iranian Argus). Its habit of seeking shade in hot weather makes it a tricky species to locate and we owe much to sharp-eyed Jasmin for unlocking this one. Thanks to the slope of the wood, our views were often at eye level too. Kirinia is unfamiliar to most British butterfly enthusiasts, being a tree-loving genus of mostly eastern Palearctic browns. Of its five members Lattice Brown occurs the furthest west, as far as Croatia but the rest stretch all the way to Amurland and the Pacific. It was particularly good to see two of them on the same afternoon. What a day in the Balkans it had been, following the False Comma in the morning!

*Lattice Brown (K. roxelana), in the next tree to the Lesser Lattice Brown.*

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FALSE COMMA

June 22, 2025

The False Comma Nymphalis vau-album (or Compton Tortoiseshell, as it is known in North America) has always been a scarce butterfly on the western limit of its range in Europe. In recent years it has become even more so, and is considered extinct in Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia. However, it seems to be holding its own in the mountains of southeast Serbia and a number of butterfly tour companies now target this spectacular nymphalid. I was privileged to join my friend János Oláh’s 2025 Sakertours Serbia butterfly watching tour. János applies the same level of determination and planning to finding rare butterflies as he does to birds and we had a fantastic time, recording 110 species in five full days including some very sought after ones. As well as False Comma, in this small corner of Serbia, near the Bulgarian border, we also saw: Yellow-banded Skipper Pyrgus sidae; Apollo Parnassius apollo; Violet Copper Lycaenea helle (among seven species of copper!); Blue Argus Aricia anteros; Bog Fritillary Boloria eunomia (among seventeen species of fritillary); Poplar Admiral Limentis populi (four, of the all dark form tremulae, prevalent in the Balkans); the enigmatic Lesser Lattice Brown Kirinia climene; Russian Heath Coenonympha leander; Bulgarian Ringlet Erebia orientalis and Almond-eyed Ringlet Erebia albergana, to mention a few.

This False Comma has a small notch in its left wing and was easily identified as the same individual.

János has done a lot of testing over the last few years, checking the optimum timing for this tour and he concluded that 11 June was a good start date for freshly emerged butterflies of a wide range of species hopefully including False Comma at the beginning of its season. However, after one of the coldest springs on record in eastern Europe this year we were nervous that we might be too early this time. We need not have worried; it seemed that the recent warm weather just before the tour start had got things back on track for some normal flight timings. There are zillions of waypoints available online for previous sightings of False Comma, but it is a mobile butterfly, so it pays to know some of its favourite spots. There is much else to see in this part of Serbia and János promised all the other butterflies as well, so we did not devote 100% of our time to searching for False Comma. There is evidence that it is mostly active in Serbia between 8.30AM and 12PM in warm conditions in June/July, with ‘virtually no activity after midday’ (Gascoigne-Pees et al 2014) and we spent plenty of time in known previous locations around this time. So, we were interested to get a hot tip from Isidor Saric that he had seen one along one of the forest tracks we had walked along a couple of days earlier, but at 3PM. He was spot on with the location though, and, to our delight, it was still present, a few metres from where we started to search! A great bit of spotting by Jasmin, as it flew down from the forest canopy to a tiny ditch behind us.

Easily overlooked on the ground among the debris of the small spring-fed ditch.

The only wet areas of the dirt track were where spring water from uphill appeared at its edge, there had not been any rain recently in what was turning into a prolonged dry spell. We watched it more or less continuously from 1145 to 1303 on 15 June, taking salts, or perched up in the canopy, at around 4-5m from the ground, usually on leaves but a couple of times on a tree trunk. At 790m ASL this sighting was at the lower end of the altitudinal range and well short of the regular 1569m ASL Babin Zub Hotel site. The temperature was around 25 degrees Celsius, and it was noticeable that it only flew to the ground after basking in sunshine. When the sun was occasionally covered by a cloud it remained in the leaves. It also stuck to a stretch of around only 20m, and mostly flew up or down, rather than along the track, so it would be very easy to miss if our walk by did not coincide with one of its visits to the ground, as had presumably happened already. We had seen plenty of other butterflies taking salts along this track, including numerous Commas Polygonia c-album but had drawn a blank with False Comma until now. When taking salts, it could be approached quite closely with care, but it did not like rapid movements. A very special close encounter with one of Europe’s rarest butterflies!

False Comma, taking salts from a trackside ditch.

Its distribution is not limited by the source of food as their caterpillars have quite a wide range of food plants including common birch, willow, poplar and elm species. So, the recent decline in Europe is thought to be climate related. False Commas are thought to have quite specific climate requirements, favouring prolonged and stable sub-zero temperatures during hibernation (in such places as old wood stacks and disused buildings) but they do not do well when early warm spells are followed by severe frosts. When they emerge, they do not seek nectar but other substances including sap and animal excrement. Eggs are laid in shady and damp spots in woodland, not in direct sunlight as with some other nymphs. N. vau-album is also strongly migratory (especially to the east of Europe) and this may have influenced records in eastern Europe but the consistent presence of fresh adults in Serbia means it is certainly breeding there and therefore must be a habitat and climatic sweet spot.

The spectacular False Comma, a life-changing experience for butterfly enthusiasts!

False Comma retreats to the trees when disturbed, or just when it has taken on enough salts.

False Comma keeping an eye on us from the canopy.

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ECUADOR'S CHOCÓ 20 YEARS LATER

May 18, 2025

*Giant Antpitta, Refugio Paz de las Aves (Mike Watson)*

In 2005 I made an epic visit to Ecuador with János Oláh, targeting birds he had not seen on his previous visit, but this meant lots of tough-to-see species, particularly antpittas. We had an incredible time, but my tripod broke on day 1 so no digiscoping or any kind of photography for me. This was one year before I got my first DSLR and as time went by, some of the rarer birds got easier to see and to photograph with the explosion in feeding stations at lodges. I had a couple of days to fill in Quito before my Galapagos tour this year so, where better to spend them than the cloud forest of the west slope of the Andes? Unfortunately, the timing of my visit did not coincide with recent sightings of some of my most-wanted Choco specials, like Banded Ground Cuckoo, Rufous-crowned Antpitta and Tooth-billed Hummingbird but there were still plenty of new ones possible and it would be great to photograph some old favourites.

Arriving in the afternoon, tired after a long journey I got biffed instantly by Europcar at Quito airport for ‘their insurance’. They refused to recognise the insurance I had bought with the car rental via booking.com. So, don’t bother with the booking.com insurance was the answer and don’t use them again. A disappointing scam. Also, I should also have hired a more powerful car than the little Chevvy Groove SUV, there are some long uphill climbs and goodness me, the entrance drive to Tandayapa Lodge is steep and has some wicked turns. It was interesting to do this now unfamiliar drive in the dark and 20 years after I was last there! The staff at Tandayapa are excellent and looked after me very well, the food was great and it was simply magical to stay at a lodge in the cloudforest again, surrounded by hummingbirds! Tandayapa Valley is the world capital of hummingbirds and one of those true world birding Meccas that everyone goes to eventually. It had lost none of its charm in the last two decades and in fact it has got even better, more of this later.

*Rose-faced Parrot, Mashpi Amagusa (Mike Watson)*

With so little time, this meant a 4AM start next morning bound for Mashpi Amagusa. This lodge was not on the established birding circuit last time, but it has gained a reputation for birds that are more difficult in the Mindo area, including some that I missed in 2005. After at least one million bends, dodgy mapping and some sketchy tracks I finally rolled up at 6.30AM. Without trying to drive up a path to someone’s house and in daylight it was much quicker on the way back! My local birding guide Sergio, the owner of the lodge met me at the gates, and we got down to birding immediately, starting with the moth trap. This is another modern phenomenon that offers an opportunity to see insectivorous birds very easily, attracted to a large white sheet covered with moths. I can’t imagine that moth lovers like it though, watching a wide variety of stunning moth species being eaten for breakfast in front of them, there goes another hawkmoth down the gullet of a woodcreeper. It is a very efficient way to see birds in a short space of time. This was not the only feeder here though, there were bananas and papaya too for fruit lovers. Bird activity was great before my own breakfast! I added some good new birds: Purple-chested Hummingbird, Rose-faced Parrot (at least 12 came in to the bananas first thing, something of a Mashpi speciality now and such a welcome catch up as I had missed it at Rio Bombuscaro in 2005 with stomach trouble while my pals all saw it), Uniform Treehunter, Bronze-olive Pygmy Tyrant, Choco Tyrannulet, Black-billed Peppershrike, Choco Vireo, Golden-collared Honeycreeper, Indigo Flowerpiercer and Glistening Green and White-winged Tanagers. Best of all were the three Black Solitaires we found in the forest away from the lodge. Hanging around the feeder for Dark-backed Wood Quail or trying for the solitaire was an easy choice. Jonas had shown me a log on which a Black Solitaire had perched 20 years ago, and we failed to find it, so I had wanted to see one ever since. What a smart bird it is too. The white pectoral tufts came as a surprise. Other good birds on what ended as a 95 species day were two of the best hummingbirds: Green-fronted Lancebill and Velvet-Purple Coronet (from the breakfast table), plus Golden-headed Quetzal, Bicolored Antbird, Orange-breasted Fruithunter, Golden-winged and Club-winged Manakins, Lemon-rumped, Flame-faced and Black-chinned Mountain Tanagers and the excellent Bangsia, Moss-backed Tanager, which I had seen in the mist 20 years ago. Here it was a couple of metres away while eating breakfast! Thanks to Janet and Doris too, for making my short visit a very enjoyable one. I will be back! I love watching the mist swirl up the forested hillsides, with occasional gaps revealing a wonderful tapestry of cloud forest trees. It is the steep slopes that cannot be cultivated that has saved this precious habitat. I had a little time back at Tandayapa spent watching the hummingbird feeders, which were incredibly busy. No lifers but a cool 12 species including Sparkling Violetear, Violet-tailed Sylph, Fawn-breasted and Green-crowned Brilliants and White-necked Jacobin. What a way to spend your time!

*Green-fronted Lancebill, Mashpi Amagusa (Mike Watson)*

*Ornate Flyctcher, Mashpi Amagusa (Mike Watson)*

*Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Mashpi Amagusa (Mike Watson)*

Velvet Purple Coronet, *Mashpi Amagusa (Mike Watson)*

Moss-backed Tanager, *Mashpi Amagusa (Mike Watson)*

Black Solitaire, *Mashpi Amagusa (Mike Watson)*

Black Solitaire habitat, *Mashpi Amagusa (Mike Watson)*

Next day saw another modern classic world birding hotspot, Refugio Paz de las Aves. Everyone who is interested in world birding goes here at least once in their life! Accessed by another rutted, bumpy track this place shot to fame soon after my visit to Ecuador with its habituated antpittas. We had toiled in the forest, hiding on precipitous muddy slopes in the hope of luring them into view and although I was thrilled to see them, including Giant, Moustached, Scaled, Crescent-faced (all the tough ones) I have nothing to show for it 20 years later bar some sketches and fading memories. So, I was keen to take some photos! The action-packed morning starts with a visit to one (!they have more than one!) of their Andean Cock-of-Rock leks. Another annoying gap from 2005! Janó had seen it before of course and we only heard it on his second visit. They are difficult to see away from their leks. It was a noisy and exhilarating experience to finally set eyes on this bird! At least seven males were spread around the trees in front of the hide, with one dominant bird in the centre, who had several scraps with potential usurpers, kicking them back out to the periphery. The light was poor, the distance was too great, the birds often facing away, excuses, excuses, excuses but I loved it. They are laser dot red in the darkness of the forest and what a racket they make, constantly screeching at each other. Cotingas really are the Birds of Paradise of the Neotropics! Crested Guan was new here as well but apart from these two, everything else was an old friend.

*Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Refugio Paz de las Aves (Mike Watson)*

Angel Paz and his brother Rodrigo have created something very special here and their ‘show birds’ are a classic example of what can be accomplished in grass roots conservation. The reserve is a working farm with steep, forested slopes and gullies, where the special cloud forest birds cling on. Rodrigo was down one of these slopes already and was joined by Angel. After a tense wait Angel returned with the news that Maria was there. We descended at least one million steps into a world of mossy, bryophyte-covered trees and slippery, muddy slopes to a contour trail where Maria was. She is actually at least Maria III, all their Giant Antpittas are called Maria after the first bird they started feeding around 20 years ago. We enjoyed some terrific views of her as she came for the food put down for her, she didn’t eat it but took it back into the undergrowth where we could just about see her well-grown chick. Fab-u-lous! A tip. Don’t push the ISO up too high. Lower the shutter speed instead. The antpitta will freeze for you every now and again and you can rely on IS and super-steady hands instead.

A pair of Swallow-tailed Kites circled the valley, and we broke off for breakfast at the Paz restaurant. More unexpectedly great facilities and especially great locally grown coffee! How times have changed in this region. After breakfast we had another couple of antpittas to see. First on the agenda was Yellow-breasted. Another I had seen very nicely on the old Nono-Mindo road all those years ago but no lasting memory aid. I don’t think the Yellow-breasted has a name, but it showed beautifully. ‘Where do you want it?’ ‘The middle of the waterfall would be good’ and so it was, with a watery background. Incredible! Shakira was next on stage. That is what they call every Ochre-breasted Antpitta. They use a nice mossy branch for this one, great for close ups. It had started to rain now. Exactly what they taught us about rain forests in school. ‘How long do you think it will rain for?’ ‘No idea’ ‘Could it rain all afternoon, or could it stop soon?’ ‘Yes’, to both. Back at Tandayapa, where it also rained all afternoon, the hummer activity was intense and Lesser Violetear was a new one I’d missed in ’05.

*Yellow-breasted Antpitta, Refugio Paz de las Aves (Mike Watson)*

*Ochre-breasted Antpitta, Refugio Paz de las Aves (Mike Watson)*

*Rodrigo, KC, some other guy and Angel at Refugio Paz de las Aves (Mike Watson)*

I had hardly stepped outside the lodge garden at Tandayapa, so it was time to explore here a little before heading back to Quito this afternoon. There are still a few birds I haven’t seen in the valley even now after adding Crowned Woodnymph on the hummer feeders, Pallid Dove and the very sneaky and tiny White-throated Spadebill. I also had some very nice looks at the lovely Toucan Barbet, Strong-billed and Spotted Woodcreepers and Russet-crowned Warbler at the all-you-can-eat moth buffet. The local form of Red Brocket Deer was a surprise. So ended my time in the Choco, it must be one of my favourite habitats. One of the most diverse in the world and there are still plenty of birds left for me there. It is also just a terrific way to spend your time watching the endless comings and goings at the lodge feeders. Next time! I won’t look forward to the sodding one million enormous speed humps on the road back to Quito though.

*Violet-tailed Sylph, Tandayapa Lodge Mike Watson)*

*Strong-billed Woodcreeper, Tandayapa Lodge Mike Watson)*

*Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Tandayapa Lodge Mike Watson)*

*Toucan Barbet, Tandayapa Lodge (Mike Watson)*

*Pallid Dove, Tandayapa Lodge Mike Watson)*

*Russet-crowned Warbler, Tandayapa Lodge (Mike Watson)*

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BOG FRITILLARY

climene!

FALSE COMMA

ECUADOR'S CHOCÓ 20 YEARS LATER