Hvar's Butterflies

Marion Podolski casts her expert artistic eye over Hvar's butterflies.

Hvar butterfly at work, July 2016 Hvar butterfly at work, July 2016 Vivian Grisogono

Butterflies always seem so fragile, so transient. So it came as quite the surprise when I read that (a) there are butterfly fossils dating back around 56 million years, and (b) the Painted Lady appears to hold the record for the longest return migration, from Africa to the Arctic circle and back!

Painted lady

Vanessa cardui ~ Painted lady ~ Stričkovac

This photograph was taken at Vorh on Hvar, altitude around 500 metres. European ivy is known for having flowers high in nectar, and was swarming with butterflies and bees in September. The Painted lady migrates from North Africa and the Mediterranean northwards in the springtime, and southwards in the autumn. The 9,000 mile round trip between tropical Africa and the Arctic circle may take as many as 6 generations! Was this butterfly on a refuelling stop for its Autumn migration?

This summer I’ve been more aware of butterflies on Hvar, possibly due to my recent interest in wildflowers. It’s a good sign, as flowers and butterflies mean a healthy ecosystem. Though sometimes they were nowhere near any flowers!

Red admiral

Vanessa atalanta ~ Red Admiral ~ Ljepokrili admiral

As I was sitting on the Soline beach near Vrboska, painting with my art group, this visitor was very interested in my paintbox! Luckily I had my phone to hand, and managed to capture the moment! And as I didn’t really feel that paints were proper nourishment, being toxic and all, I closed up the box, so it decided to try some wine instead!

Red admiral likes a glass of wine

My Red admiral likes a glass of wine!

While some (adult) butterflies live only for a few days, other species survive for almost a full year. Those living longer can feed on nectar from flowers, and they are in fact important pollinators for some kinds of plants. Although they can’t carry as much pollen as bees, they are able to take it over longer distances. They’ll also sip water (and wine!), are sometimes  attracted to dung, rotting fruit, or the salt in human sweat for other essential minerals and nutrients. Their “taste” receptors are apparently located on their feet, so they can determine whether a leaf is suitable for laying eggs on (ie the caterpillar kids can eat it!)

Red admiral underside

Red admiral underside

I spotted this Red admiral near the peak of Sv Nikola, up in the high country (628 metres). Good view of the underside of the wing. Red admirals also migrate, spending summer in northern Europe, and winter near the Mediterranean.

In Croatian, a butterfly is called a leptir, for once easy to remember as it’s clearly related to lepidoptera (from the ancient Greek  lepís=scale + pterón=wing). It’s less certain why the English saw any association with butter, though the name has been around for some time in old Dutch and German. Were there only yellow butterflies in northern Europe, I wonder?

Two-tailed pasha also going for my wine

Charaxes jasius ~ Two-Tailed Pasha ~ vještica

Another butterfly that was keen to share our wine was this Two-tailed Pasha with exceptional taste at restaurant Laganini on Palmižana! It did, in fact, take a dive headfirst into my glass and had to be rescued at the expense of the wine!

Two-tailed pasha

Two-Tailed Pasha enjoying some lemon sorbet

A fine butterfly, and a great poser with his proboscis stuck into a drop of lemon sorbet (with vodka and prosecco) for a good long drink! Two-tailed pashas produce two generations in a season, flying May/June and August/October. Clearly, they also like a drink!

Two-tailed pasha underside

Two-tailed pasha underside and clear view of head

The beautiful colour of butterfly wings is due to the scales. While the dark blacks and browns are melanin pigments, and yellows come from uric acid and flavones, the other bright blues, greens, reds and iridescence are all caused by the structure of the scales and hairs.

Cardinal

Argynnis pandora ~ Cardinal ~ Pandorin šarenac

Meanwhile, back at the popular ivy flowers, was this lovely Cardinal which is a fairly common butterfly around southern Europe from April to September. Sadly the photograph doesn’t quite do justice to the shimmer of that pale green colour. Very pretty in real life!

Cardinal in Stari Grad

Cardinal in Stari Grad

The second Cardinal was spotted in a garden in Stari Grad. Good view of the antennae, and the proboscis stuck into the flower. It looks to have only 4 legs, but that’s apparently normal for some types of butterflies, the front two legs are much reduced.

Wall brown

Lasiommata megera ~ Wall Brown ~ mali pjegavac

Hmmm, the field notes say the Wall brown is very alert and difficult to approach for taking photos – well, that’s certainly true! This guy was spotted beside the path on the way up to Sv Nikola, and this is the best photograph I could manage!

A recent (2011-13) study of butterflies on Hvar recorded 49 species, some of which are very rare within Croatia. All in all, 57 species have been recorded on Hvar, giving it 4th place among the islands for butterfly diversity. I have a long way to go to spot all those!

“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”
~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

© Marion Podolski 2016

More about Croatia’s butterflies:

Project Noah: Butterflies and Moths of Croatia

Euro Butterflies by Matt Rowlings

Wikipedia list of butterflies and moths in Croatia

Annoted list of Croatian butterflies with vernacular names (PDF file for download)

Contribution to the knowledge of the butterfly fauna on the Adriatic island of Hvar, Croatia

This article has been reproduced with kind permission from Marion's blog Go Hvar, Ramblings about a far island. Visit the blog for all kinds of information about Hvar, from artistic to epicurean!

You are here: Home Nature Watch Hvar's Butterflies

Eco Environment News feeds

  • The 1,274-hectare Bradford Pennine Gateway links eight nature sites and includes landscape that inspired sisters

    The sweeping landscapes of the Pennines inspired the Brontë sisters, and now those lands are being protected as one of England’s biggest nature reserves.

    A huge new national nature reserve, to be called the Bradford Pennine Gateway, is being announced by the government on Tuesday. It will give Bradford, one of Britain’s largest and most nature-deprived cities, easier and more protected access to green space

    Continue reading...

  • It broke my heart to see a seal so injured by a £1 plastic toy. Now I campaign to ban them – and it has changed my life

    There was an incident seven years ago that changed my life. I saw an adult grey seal with a plastic pink flying ring toy so deeply embedded in her neck that she was practically dead. It was stopping her from feeding because it was digging into her and she couldn’t extend her neck – the wounds were horrific.

    It broke my heart. From that moment on, I became obsessed with seals and protecting them from the dangers of plastic flying rings.

    Continue reading...

  • Bioplastics, heralded for supposedly breaking down more quickly, can cause similar health problems to other plastics

    Starch-based bioplastic that is said to be biodegradable and sustainable is potentially as toxic as petroleum-based plastic, and can cause similar health problems, new peer-reviewed research finds.

    Bioplastics have been heralded as the future of plastic because they break down quicker than petroleum-based plastic, and they are often made from plant-based material such as corn starch, rice starch or sugar.

    Continue reading...

  • Exclusive: Andrew Bowie says Kemi Badenoch could pull UK out of Paris climate agreement

    The Conservative party’s energy spokesperson has attacked leading climate scientists as biased and claimed Kemi Badenoch could take the UK out of the Paris climate agreement.

    Andrew Bowie, the acting shadow secretary for energy, told the Guardian that the target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – passed into law by Theresa May – was “arbitrary” and “not based on science”.

    Continue reading...

  • Hitchin, Hertfordshire: We have a local speciality here, the rue-leaved saxifrage, poking up in street cracks and wall crannies. It’s worth lying on the pavement for

    I’m a proud member of Happy (the Hitchin association of pavement plant yokels), so-called by my friend Phil, a fellow wildflower enthusiast. You’ll find us roaming the town centre, scanning brick walls and peering into paving crevices on the hunt for the tenacious species that thrive in these oft-overlooked habitats. I had my pavement epiphany a couple of years ago outside the chemist on Hitchin high street when I saw a little lass bending down, scrutinising the paving stones. Her dad soon whisked her away and I went over to look. She’d noticed a community of self-seeded plants growing in a semicircular crack. The diversity of the miniature garden astonished me: mosses, meadow grass, goosegrass, common whitlowgrass, sow thistle, fleabane, and there, among the annual plants and perennial cigarette butts, a seedling with trilobed leaves – a Hitchin speciality – rue-leaved saxifrage (Saxifraga tridactylites).

    Now it’s early May and this three-fingered rock-breaker’s tiny white flowers have opened in the sun, the foliage blushing redder the drier and sunnier its location. Looking closely, you can see sticky hairs lining the fleshy leaves and stems – but be prepared for funny looks if you lie prostrate on the pavement to examine this low-growing annual.

    Continue reading...

  • Sustainable farming initiative is part of payment package that replaced EU’s common agricultural policy

    Ministers wrongly refused nature funding to 3,000 farmers in England when they shut the post-Brexit subsidy scheme, the government has admitted.

    There was anger earlier this year when the environment secretary, Steve Reed, suddenly paused a key post-Brexit farming payments scheme with little information about what would replace it and when.

    Continue reading...

  • Exclusive: Campaigners call for energy profits levy to be made permanent to enable ‘just transition’ from fossil fuels

    Making permanent the UK’s windfall tax on oil and gas producers would generate enough cash to enable North Sea workers to move to green jobs, research has found.

    Cutting current subsidies to fossil fuel producers would free up yet more funds to spend on the shift to a low-carbon economy, according to the report.

    Continue reading...

  • ABC’s The Kimberley showcases rare footage by a crew working alongside Indigenous rangers, traditional owners and scientists

    The Kimberley’s winding ochre gorges, coral sunsets and celadon crocodile-filled rivers feature in a new ABC documentary series about one of Earth’s last great tropical wetlands.

    Filmed on cinema-grade cameras in the remote and vast north-west Australian region, The Kimberleycaptures an intimate portrait of its ancient landscape and offers ecological and cultural insight across three episodes.

    Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

    Continue reading...

  • Under pressure from Reform and from the former PM, Keir Starmer is facing a series of tests of his resolve on green policy

    Populist politicians are striking a chord with the public in their attack on “the green agenda” because they are right – climate policies are elitist. So says the man standing to be the next leader of the Green party in England and Wales.

    “We should all be angry about net zero,” argues Zack Polanski, currently the Greens’ deputy leader. “The poorest people in our society are being expected to step up to tackle the climate crisis. But it’s the government’s fault, not the people’s fault.”

    Continue reading...

  • On the remote Channel Islands, a draw for researchers and divers, preservation has transformed the ecosystem

    Just 14 miles (23km) off the southern California coast lies a vast underwater paradise.

    Giant sea bass the size of grizzly bears and schools of sardines glide together through swirling strands of golden kelp, whose long stalks preside over a world exploding with life and color. Playful harbor seals dance into the depths of undulating pink, green and orange plants, alongside spiny crustaceans and vibrant sea stars that embrace the volcanic rock that slopes to the sandy seafloor.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds