www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi everyone,

Just a few words and some photos from my recent trip to Turkey 1st week in June. I stayed near Fethiye and saw Common Swallowtails regularly in my parents' garden, which I always think is a real treat. It had been raining and cool up until the day before I got there so everywhere was green with plenty of wild flowers.

Please bear in mind i'm relatively new to butterflies (after years as a marine biologist) so may be wrong with my ID. The photos aren't great but I was travelling light and only had a point and shoot compact camera with me.

I spend quite a lot of time in Turkey but this was my first late spring trip and the difference in butterfly numbers compared to later in the summer was very noticeable, definitely the right time of year.

Fethiye

At home there were Large Whites, Common Swallowtails and a browny coloured Skipper that I haven't been able to ID.
In the town by the harbour we spotted a Scarce Swallowtail.

This was one of the skippers, exactly the same but photo taken last year


16.08.10 day 13 by legless2007, on Flickr

Kaya Koy

The 'ghost village' was absolutely covered in wild flowers. Species I know i definitely saw included

Powdered Brimstone (male and female - I was confused by the 'giant whites' (females) for a bit!)
Clouded Yellow
Speckled Wood
Large White

probably Levantine Skippers, I think.

and the following which I can't ID
1.

060611-12 by legless2007, on Flickr

2.

060611-19 by legless2007, on Flickr

3. small skipper?

060611-21 by legless2007, on Flickr

Butterfly Valley

Butterfly Valley is just East of Olu Deniz, reached by boat taxi. We stayed over in one of the wooden bungalows next to the beach (£20 pppn dinner, bed and breakfast) to give me maximum butterfly time. If you are there between 11 and 1 the valley is so busy with day boat tourists it isn't really worth trying to find butterflies. They have 20 minutes to get up the valley and back and invariably, due to route march pace, come back down huffing that there are no butterflies.

The beach leads to farmland run on biodynamic principles and then into a wooded valley, currently pink with oleander which you can walk up as far as steep waterfall.

Luckily I chose the night when a professor from Antalya university (waiting for confirmation of his name) was presenting his findings on the number of species in the valley. Wine, on a beach, with a man talking about butterflies, i was convinced I had died and gone to heaven. He has found 53 species of butterfly in the valley.

I saw

Common Swallowtail (nectaring on lantana and pelargoniums near the restaurant)


080611-42 by legless2007, on Flickr

Brown Argus


080611-17 by legless2007, on Flickr

Speckled Wood


080611-07 by legless2007, on Flickr

Large Wall Brown


080611-27 by legless2007, on Flickr

Possible Levantine Skipper?


080611-33 by legless2007, on Flickr

Loew's Blue


080611-55 by legless2007, on Flickr

Small Copper


090611-02 by legless2007, on Flickr

another skipper!


080611-58 by legless2007, on Flickr

Also Two-Tailed Pasha (woo hoo!)
Powdered Brimstone
Clouded Yellow
Black Veined White (so beautiful, appear transparent)

Jersey Tiger


080611-23 by legless2007, on Flickr

All in all a fantastic trip, with enough non butterfly stuff to keep my mate amused. Loads of other insects and crickets as well, I'm really pleased I went in June.

Looking at Rezamink's photos on Flickr, it seems I was in Tlos and Saklikent at exactly the same time, the only butterfly I managed to photograph was a speckled wood


040611-16 by legless2007, on Flickr

Jo

Thanks for posting the report, Joe. It's interesting to see what I missed by not going to Butterfly Valley last year.

I'll have a crack at identifying the mystery butterflies based upon my limited knowledge of Turkish species and with the help of the Turkish Butterfly Guide.

The first Skipper at your home is a Millet Skipper.
Kaya Koy 1. Eastern Meadow Brown (Male).
Kaya Koy 2. Common Blue? (Male).
Kaya koy 3. Levantine Skipper? (Female).
Butterfly Valley Skipper 1. Levantine Skipper (Female).
Butterfly Valley Skipper 2. Marbled Skipper (Male).

Cheers,
Vince

Yes, I definitively agree with you Vince for the identification of the first skipper as Millet Skipper (pelopidas thrax). They are quite common in this part of Turkey at this time of the year.
Sylvie

Thank you both!