Description

We invite you to join us on one of our favourite and truly original Greenwings butterfly tour.  We take great pride in having researched and crafted it ourselves nearly 15 years ago and it has proven popular ever since. No one knows the special places and hidden corners in this wildlife rich part of Greece better than we do, particularly so regarding the butterfly fauna of the area.

A few of the favourite and special 80-100  species we can encounter include Little Tiger Blue, Blue Argus, Iolas Blue, False Eros Blue, Amanda’s Blue, Nettle Tree, Map, Lattice Brown, Common Glider, Lesser & Freyer’s Purple Emperor, Yellow-banded Skipper, Tessellated Skipper, Sandy Grizzled Skipper, Large Copper, Lesser Fiery Copper, Balkan Copper, Purple-shot Copper, Sooty Copper, Eastern Festoon, Cardinal, Marbled Fritillary, Great Banded Grayling, Southern White Admiral, Southern Comma & whole lot more besides!

Our base is in the heart of Lake Kerkini National Park. It is a magical place and an early morning by the shore, watching pelicans, egrets and herons whilst being serenaded by Nightingale, Golden Oriole and Turtle Dove as the sun rises is a wonderful experience. We also treat our guests to a private boat tour of the lake, which is always singled out as a highlight, and a truly unforgettable experience!

The lake is a site of international importance and famous for its rich birdlife and other wildlife. We’ll explore both the immediate surroundings of the lake and further afield. We’ll head up into the surrounding mountains to visit the many special sites we’ve discovered over the years, such as Mount Orvilos & Vrontous to the east of the Lake, and Mount Belles, on the border of southwestern Bulgaria and northernmost Greece. We should be able to enjoy at least 80 butterfly species and usually more, up to around100, making for a great week’s butterflying!

Importantly, the tour is ‘led & supported by locals’. Our tour leader Michael is himself a resident in northern Greece and has been observing and studying wildlife there for decades. He has a particular interest in butterflies, which also makes him perfectly placed to run this and our annual False Apollo Spring tour further to the east.

We also stay with our good friend Nikos and his family, at their hotel close to the lake. They’re strong advocates of ecotourism and we’ve been staying with them since the beginning of Greenwings – supporting local people & the economy is important to us. Nikos will not only look after us on land, but on the water too, as he captains us on his own boat, offering us a unique and in-depth view of the lake, the wildlife, and the culture & history of the whole area.

We also support wildlife & conservation and have a genuine and long-standing interest and commitment to the area.  Through our friends Steve & Hilary Koll from their charity Birdwing (Birdwatching in Northern Greece) some of the proceeds from this tour will be donated to help fund their conservation work. A donation is also made from this and all our butterfly tours to Butterfly Conservation Europe, to help fund vital research & conservation work. Our butterfly records produced on tour are also made available to relevant authorities in Greece.

The butterflies are our main focus, but we will also take note of the bird life.  The species that we can see during the holiday are diverse & exciting. On the lake itself there are Dalmatian Pelicans, White Pelican, Pygmy Cormorants, Herons, Egrets, White Storks, Glossy Ibis and more! As we explore the lake surroundings and further afield, we may also encounter Bee-eater, Roller, Blue Rock Thrush, Red-backed Shrike, Scops Owl, Eagle Owl, Black Kite, Levant Sparrowhawk, Golden Eagle, Whiskered Tern, Black Tern, Penduline Tit, Black-eared Wheatear, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Hoopoe, Grey-headed Woodpecker Black-headed Bunting – and lots more!

The wildlife overall is rich but please note that we will not be rushing to build as large a list as possible. Our emphasis, as it is on all our tours, is to take things leisurely and spend a reasonable amount at time at locations. We believe this is the best way of truly observing, enjoying, and learning about the wildlife and the wider landscape it resides.

We will keep driving to a minimum and spend as much time as possible outside, on easy paced and short walks. For those that wish to bring cameras, there will be ample time and opportunity for photography and to capture those special moments – of which we are sure there will be many!