For several days I participated in a annual
counting of Poplar Admiral, organized with
our mostwestern National Park, called Õrség
NP and project-manager Szabolcs Safian, one of our most active
butterfly-conservationist. There were about 20 people involved
in the annual counting and we tried to check all the available
habitats of the western border. However we had some bed days
with severe storms, we counted about 5-6 Poplar Admirals.
Unfortunatelly numbers are going down years by years as a
result of abnormal forest management, groundwater loss and
climate warming, also the species' foodpland is considered
to be a kind of a pest among foresters. Used to be we had
records from all over the northeastern hills, western border,
even there was a 1899 record from Budapest, but now we only
have probably 3-4 viable populations. On this count we also
got news from 2 specimens from Sopron, and an exceptional
record of 22 from the NE, Josvafo area. Apart from the Admirals
there were enormous numbers of other good species, including
mass of Lesser Purple Emperors, Black-veined Whites, Maps,
several Fritillaries, incl. the gorgeous Lesser Marbled, False
Heath and Assmann's, tonns of Large and Scarce Coppers, and
even two Small Tortoiseshell. We also have seen a mass gradation
of Green Club-tailed Dragonflies and Beautifull Demoiselle.
Of course every day was finished with light-trapping and very
memorable night-outs:)
10 June, 2009
The annual counting team discussing results at the first
morning.
The
largest butterfly of Eastern Europe, the incredibly gorgeous
Poplar Admiral. I first encountered this species in 1989,
when I was 17, and still remember the complete shock I got
from the beauty of this beast. Archive photo by Szabolcs Safian.
Lesser
Purple Emperors were everywhere, f. clytie mixed with the
nominate form.
The
same specimen from another angle.
Lesser
Marbled Fritillary. Restricted to the NE and the Western border
of Hungary. We also have historical specimens from Vertes
Hills, and one from the Kiskunsag NP.
False
Heath Fritillary. Probably my favourite Fritillary, incredibly
elegant, lets say, glamorous.
We
have seen probably hundreds of Large Coppers everywhere. Well...
Better to say thousands! Really!
...
same story we had with Scarce Coppers.
During
my childhood time I never really gave attention for Small
Tortoiseshell, it was so common. Today??? No question, I would
pay for it! On this tour we have got two.
Every
night we had lightrapping. It would be too long to give a
list, but we were very happy with the large number of Diachrysia
zosimi, one of our most attractive owlet moth.
Finally
a shoot about the loveliest moment of the whole tour...
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