Late July is a fantastic time in Hungary to look for butterflies – and Hungary is fantastic location for a suite of highly desirable species.
Our late summer tour will take us to the hilly, northern part of the country, where we anticipate connecting with eastern European specialities including localised Pallas’s Fritillary, Lesser Clouded Yellow, and Assman’s Fritillary.
The Lycaenidae in the region are a particular treat, and we hope for no fewer than FOUR species of Phengaris ‘large blue’ – Alcon Blue, Dusky Large Blue, Large Blue, and Scarce Large Blue. Their supporting cast is simply superb too, including the likes of Anomalous, Meleager’s, Osiris, Eastern Baton and Chequered Blue. The coppers shouldn’t disappoint either, with Large, Scarce and Purple-edged all there for the finding.
The supporting cast is also enjoyable, and we have a good chance to find Mountain Small White, Purple and Lesser Purple Emperors, Large Chequered Skipper, and Hermit amongst other desirables.
Hungary is in the centre of the Carpathian Basin and holds most of the Hungarian Great Plain. However, for butterflies the foothills of the Carpathians are more productive, so for this focused tour we will explore the most north-easterly Zemplén Hills as well as the Mátra and Bükk Hills too. At the end of the tour, we will also spend a little time close to Central Europe’s largest freshwater body, Lake Balaton.
The country has a 1,000-year-old and amazingly varied history from the Ottoman ruling to the union with the Habsburgs. No doubt we will learn more about the Hungarians during this tour, a proudly horse-riding nation with the mighty Saker Falcon their national bird. Our tour leader, János Oláh, is a Hungarian naturalist and tour leader with decades of experience behind him, and a great story-teller. We will be in the very best of hands both for our butterfly-watching and immersion in the colourful heritage of this fascinating nation.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries many butterfly collectors were visiting Hungary – it was, unfortunately, famous amongst collectors of the day as a rich hunting ground for a great many species, one of which was Esper’s Marbled White – a species that, tragically, was locally collected to the point of extirpation.
Happily these days a more responsible attitude prevails. With János coming from a family of eminent professional entomologists, we will be visiting the best sites to see the country’s butterfly riches and doing so, as we always do on all of our tours, in the most responsible manner, taking only photographs and happy memories as our trophies.
Also in common with all of our butterfly tours, this holiday will generate a donation to the European Butterflies Group branch of Butterfly Conservation, specifically focused upon supporting conservation research targeted upon helping Europe’s endangered and vulnerable butterfly species.
Butterfly diversity in Hungary remains amazing and, if the season is favourable, we could see around 80 species of butterflies on this tour. As usual there will be other interesting nature that we will encounter, with some striking wildflowers in bloom and, especially, some great birds to see like Eastern Imperial and Short-toed Eagles, Red-footed and Saker Falcons, Syrian and Black Woodpeckers, and lots of lovely Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrikes.
Spending several days near the Tokaj World Heritage area provides us with a chance to sample another aspect of local culture, and it would be a shame not to do so. King Louis XIV described the local Tokaji Aszú wine as “the king of wines, and the wine of kings”. On our final evening in the Zemplén Hills we will enjoy a wine-tasting dinner at a wine cellar in the Tokaj area.
We may not be kings, but by then we should be celebrating having seen some European butterfly royalty!
