WILD ECHO

18.07.2012

Second ever Cleopatra seen in Bulgaria

On 30th June, on our butterfly and macro photography tour we have recorded the second ever Cleopatra seen in Bulgaria. We were near to the Rila Monastery, in one of the river valleys and were ready to head to the hotel late in the afternoon. On the track we saw one of the many Poplar Admirals during the day, but could not resist giving it a go again – to my experience this is one of the most difficult butterflies to photograph. The butterfly was surrounded and I have step back about 20 meters away from the car to check the teasels along the river for any nectaring butterflies. A flush of yellow and red caught my eyesight and immediately I had a taught - a Balkan Clouded Yellow – as we were near one of the prime sites for this rare and beautiful butterfly. I ran back to the car to get my bins and returned in a matter of seconds to find the butterfly again. But it wasn’t, as there was no black on the margins at all. The rest of the group, just seeing me rushing around arrived too. This should be Brimstone I taught. But it wasn’t this one too, and then next to me Jeremy shouted – Cleopatra! It was indeed.

The butterfly then shot off up the river, with me running after it for a record shot but I lost it in 100 meters. However, when I returned near the car the Cleopatra was there again, and have been photographed (picture courtesy of Nick Milne) pretty well to prove it – the second ever record in Bulgaria, the first one being seen back in 1989.

On our Early Butterfly tour back in April, on Halkidiki peninsula in Greece, our group have seen found the Cleopatra to be very common this year. Perhaps this is the reason why single individuals wander far from their home range.