Last organized butterfly hunting trip to the Karstic region in 2008
And we went to the Karst one more time this year. This year, we were one week earlier compared to the last year, when we were there in the first-ish week of September. The weather was pretty similar, at least temperature wise. When we got to the hillside above Osp (Kastelec), we were met by Burja - a wind blowing from the hills to the sea side. This prevented a lot of butterflies to have a nice stroll in the park and our job a bit harder, because you had to almost step on the butterfly to see it. You can see by Marko’s net that the wind was blowing, and to convince you that this happens on a regular basis here, you can see that the pine tree is growing sideways (kinda like f
uki-nagashi (?) bonsai tree). After a lovely stroll just south of village Kastelec, where the pristine Karstic region is being destroyed by piling rocks or succession, we split up into different groups and checked out specific locations. I was sent to near the border with Croatia (hill Kuk), but just as last year, found almost no species. At about four o’clock, we regrouped in the local restaurant and counted, all in all, 51 species of butterflies.
Here are two pictures of butterflies. The first one is Pseudophilotes vicrama (Eastern Baton Blue; šetrajev sleparček), and the catterpillar is from Iphiclides podalirius (Scarce Swallowtail; jadralec).
