Today we had two more butterfly sites planned in the northern part of the country, both back-ups in case we missed Scarce Fritillary on the previous day. We didn’t, but stuck to our plan anyway — some more images of the fritillary would be good and they're potentially good sites for butterflies generally.

Our first site was a little valley in the heart of the Suha Reka. We arrived nice and early at 7:25am, with part of the valley still in shade. A brief search for roosting butterflies had a little success: a few Azure Bluet and Ornate Bluet, the first Chestnut Heaths of the trip, and a Green-underside Blue. The first time I’ve been able to get good photos of the latter. It would actually be the last we saw of the trip.

After it had warmed up we began a walk down the valley, at first through a stretch of riverside trees. A good range of butterflies seen included 2 Eastern Festoon, 5+ Queen of Spain Fritillary, 2 Sloe Hairstreak and 5+ Cardinal. We then came to a small stream crossing where there were the first Southern Skimmers of the trip, a few Small Bluetail and Azure Bluet, and a Balkan Wall Lizard.

Across from the stream was a more open area with some steep cliff faces. In the past Eagle Owl has bred here but a brief scan didn’t turn up anything. In the distance we spotted a Short-toed Eagle, which no doubt breeds somewhere nearby. Other bits and pieces seen from this area included 4 Adonis Blue, the geometrid Scopula immorata (or Lewes Wave), and most of the butterflies we had seen already. We met another nature group who in addition to the things we’d seen had got lucky with a flyover Osprey.

On the way back we found a long awaited new species for me in Bulgaria: a Large Copper. We chased it for a few minutes but it didn’t land once before it was out of sight. We had two similarly frustrating flybys of a Clouded Apollo (or two), my first for a couple of years. A Spotted Flycatcher also posed nicely.

The main target, Scarce Fritillary, had so far eluded us, a surprise given how many we’d seen yesterday. However, just before we were about to set off, we spotted two near the car. We left soon after, but perhaps a longer look now it was much warmer would have turned up more. A final thing of note also in the vicinity of the car was a Yellow-banded Skipper.

After a quick stop in a nearby village for some lunch, we drove a short distance to a rather obscure site, a seemingly random track in the middle of nowhere. It soon became clear however that it was a fantastic site for Scarce Fritillary. Within minutes we were into double figures, and before long we had given up counting. In the end we settled for 75+ Scarce Fritillary, certainly a much larger count than we had expected of what we begun to forget was a rare species in Bulgaria. With so many individuals about I was able to get a varied selection of images, and a significant improvement over yesterday’s efforts. Most will appear in a separate post.

In general this site had a similar mix of species to the previous one. Walking a little way along the track in one direction, we found another 2 Large Copper and a Clouded Apollo. This time the coppers were more obliging, but photography was tough in challengingly harsh light. Nearby we were also pleased to find the attractive (and tiny) Noctuid Spotted Sulphur, a new moth for me. Other butterflies included Pearly Heath, Niobe Fritillary, Dark Green Fritillary, Lesser Spotted Fritillary, Chestnut Heath and Yellow-banded Skipper.

Heading along the track in the other direction, we came to a patch of flowery bushes, that as well as hosting the ubiquitous Scarce Fritillary, had both an Eastern Baton Blue and a Chequered Blue posing nicely. It was the first time I’d seen these similar species together like this, and I probably achieved my best photos of both species. A final highlight was finding one of my favourite European butterflies - The Map. A slightly tatty specimen, but pleasing nonetheless as I haven’t seen many before.

We finished at 5:30pm and then began the two hour drive to the Black Sea coast to begin the next leg of the trip. The followind day we'd got an early start scheduled to look for Paddyfield Warbler.