Croatia

I was SO right to look at these again on the PC rather than just my phone.... magnificent stuff so far Cin, thank you

Thank you ILR and I'm so pleased you have had good experiences of the Island 

Thank you PB - here are some more - doing this is helping cement my memories of the trip so it's a great benefit to me 

There was plenty of birds singing around the area as well 

 most these again are distant 

Black-headed Bunting 

a very distant Cirl Bunting (I think)

Way off Golden Oriole - 

and 2 much more obliging Turtle doves - 

It started to gently rain while we had lunch and so it was time to move on and head back to base

en-route there was a stop to look at this delightful old church

and as a special treat for PB

Pygmy dinosaurs

What we didn't realise at the time was that we were in for a really interesting change in the weather 

Overnight the Bura (Bora in Italian) blew in - I've been in some storms over here but I find it very hard to get my head around warm storm force winds and hot rain

We tried to go up into the mountains to find sheltered valleys but it was a no go after we nearly got blown off our feet.

The only wildlife that seemed to be enjoying it were the Roman snails

An alternative plan was devised while drinking coffee at a  cafe in a more sheltered seaside town 

and so we headed inland to the bird transects of our Croatian guide with the option to go to Zadar if it didn't work out 

It did work out and in big style  

Sloe Hairstreak 

Southern White Admiral

Bath Marbled White

Large Tort

Scarlet Darter

Italian Wall Lizard

Pair of Woodchat Shrike

Cicada 

Excellent photos and nice to see,

Now we get to the moment we 'twitched' a butterfly - Driving quite slowly along a small country lane someone spots something really significant.  the breaks slam on, 8 seat belts are released and there is a mad scramble to exit and pursue the object down the road.  Hedgerows are stalked - the butterfly glides into view but it's too high and won't settle, its obvious that it is patrolling so a bit more of the area is investigated  - A shout goes up - it's a different butterfly but an amazing one to see - I look up to see an incredibly neon yellow butterfly float down the road and much to my surprise recognise a Cleopatra

A White Admiral attempts to side track us

then suddenly the object of desire comes into view and deigns to settle for a short while 

Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you  the

Camberwell Beauty 

I tried very hard to get flight shots to get the upper wing but no joy 

As we were leaving the lane after a through investigate we were over flown by a Two-tail Pasha but it was gone before anyone could get a camera up :( 

Happy grins on everyones faces - things always happen for a reason 

Weevil 

More fabulousness Cin!! Trevor, keep an eye out for the Camberwell Beauty, apparently they're seen in East Anglia sometimes!
The Scarlet Darter and Cicada are just beautiful, as is the lizard. Keep 'em coming Cin :o)

I will PB 'cos it actually gets even better ;)

From the lane of plenty we moved onto a reservoir and  via a bit of heathland that reminded me of my transects

Southern Gatekeeper

a Hopper - Ephippiger diurnus

Another delightful Mallow Skipper

Queen of Spain frit

another of the extraordinary Mammoth Wasp

Shield Beetle

Yellow Leg gulls

Southern Darter

Southern Skimmer

 Lang's Short-tailed Blue

Now a bird that TJ may remember - the oddly named 

Zitting Cisticola 

Very distant Bee-eaters

Meat pie - European Pond Turtle 

What started as a potential write off as a day ended up being fabulous

Just catching up Cin, to your earlier posts, you paint a gorgeous picture of your time there and your photos are sublime.