Early butterflies tour
12 day butterfly holiday, focused on the early flying butterflies of Bulgaria
Our early butterflies tour starts at the beautiful Bulgaria’s Black sea coast, where we’ll be looking for some early butterflies and local highlights like - Grecian Copper, Assman’s Fritillary, Marsh Fritilary, Dusky Meadow and Oriental Meadow Brown, as well as Large Chequered Skipper and Oriental Marbled Skipper.
From the sea we go into the desolate forests of Strandzha nature park and eventually make our way to the stunning Rhodopi mountains – Eastern and Western part – to explore various habitats and altitudes for butterflies like Kruper's Small White and Small Bath White, Balkan Marbled White, Little Tiger Blue, Lesser and Freyer’s Purple Emperor, Camberwell Beauty, Apollo, Balkan Copper and more.
During the tour we will also see good number of orchids and other interesting or endemic plants, as well as number of reptiles and amphibians and of course many birds in their breeding plumage.
The tour ends back in Burgas.
Day 1 Arrive at Burgas and short transfer to our hotel. Depending on flights we can go for butterflies in the area of the hotel.
Day 2 Today we’ll explore the coast south of Burgas for various butterflies, the highlights been: Dusky Meadow Brown, Grecian Copper, Eastern Baton Blue, Lesser and Twin-spot Fritillary, Lattice Brown and Oriental Marbled Skipper.
Day 3 We move further south along the coast to check various habitats between the sea and the forests of Strandzha mountain for Large Checkered Skipper, Grecian Copper, Twin Spot Fritillary, Swallowtail and Scarce Swallowtail.
Day 4 Today we’ll explore the majestic woods of Strandzha mountain, looking for Hungarian Skipper, Oberthure’s Grizzled Skipper, Blue Argus, Southern White Admiral, Large Tortoiseshell, Lesser-marbled Fritillary, Assman’s Fritillary, Cardinal, Eastern rock Grayling and Dryad.
Day 5 Drive to Eastern Rhodopi mountains for three night stay with several stops on the way in Strandzha Nature park, Sakar mountain and Eastern Rhodopi for Eastern Bath White, Duke of Burgundy, Purple-shot copper, Green and Black-veined White and many more.
Day 6 Today will explore Arda valley for Hungarian skipper, Eastern festoon, Small bath white, Little tiger blue, Southern white admiral, Camberwell beauty, Large tortoiseshell, Freyer’s Purple Emperor.
Day 7 Another day in Arda valley, this time heading to Madzharovo and Studen kladents reservoir for Kruper’s Small White, Little Tiger Blue, Eastern Festoon, Grecian Copper, Eastern Baton Blue, Niobe, Dark-green and High-brown Fritillaries.
Day 8 Drive to Western Rhodopi Mountains with several stops on the way for Chapman’s Blue, Anomalous Blue, Chequered Blue, Reverdine’s Blue Berger’s Clouded Yellow, Southern Small White, Eastern Wood White, Marbled and Knapweed Fritillary and others.
Day 9 Today we’ll explore the high Dobrostan plateau for some more mountainous species – Apollo, sometimes Clouded Apollo, Balkan Copper, Chequered Skipper, Osiris Blue , Amanda’s Blue, Iolas Blue, Blue Argus, Turquoise Blue, Large Blue, False Eros Blue, Chestnut Heat, Mountain Small White, Northern Wall Brown and many others.
Day 10 Day in Chepelarska river valley exploring different habitats for – Ripart’s Anomalous Blue and the endemic Kolev's Anomalous Blue, Mountain Alcon Blue, Zephyr Blue, Marsh and Nickerl’s Fritillaries, Eastern Large Heath, Camberwell Beauty, Purple Emperor, Large, Bright-eyed and Woodland Ringlet and many others.
Day 11 Drive to Burgas for one night stay with stop at Stara planina to check for Purple Emperors and Lesser Marbled Fritillary, Small, Scarce and Sooty coppers, Provencal Short-tailed Blue, Meleager’s Blue and others.
Day 12 Departure from Burgas airport.
