In Arcadia Ego

Things have been quiet here for the last week because P and I have been in Arcadia, the central highlands of the Greek Peloponnese whose name has became a byword for rural bliss. Appropriately so, although this is not a land of gentle meadows where nymphs and shepherds play their flutes and dance. The landscape is green but magnificent, with deep gorges where monasteries cling giddily to cliffs and remarkable ancient temples stand in the middle of nowhere.

The butterflies are marvellous too; there were eight Silver-washed Fritillaries on the plant in my first picture Update: thanks to my brilliant commentor, below, I now know this to be Bupleurum fruticosum which is certainly a butterfly magnet, taken below the Monastery of St John the Baptist in the River Lousios Gorge. Flying alongside them were lots of that beautiful creature, the White Admiral, with its magpie top and rusty underwings Update: Thanks to my wonderfully knowledgable commentor, below, I can tell you that this is a Southern White Admiral rather than the version we have here in the UK. Many thanks!

A few days later, we were sitting in the non-stop sunshine watching both major varieties of European Swallowtail playing in the breeze among the ruins of Kyparissia's crag-top castle. The 'English' species, Papilio machaon, (named after the Greeks' doctor at the siege of Troy), agreed to settle for this photograph below, but the Scarce Swallowtails, Iphiclides podalirius, which are striped like pale yellow tigers, swirled around in either mating dances or simply enjoying flight. You could see exactly how important their long tails are to the stability and angling of their aerial manouevres. It was better than seeing them at rest.

The garden of our B&B at Stemnitsa in Arcadia provided the next two butterfly sightings - a Small Copper and some kind of relative of the Englihs 'browns' as well as a number of small moths which were drawn into our room by its lights.

I have started to Google the second butterfly  Update - and have now established to my own satisfaction that it is a Large Wall -  and the moths below to track down their IDs but please don't expect rapid results, certainly in the case of the moths. Greece has so many brilliantly-coloured butterflies, that little room on the various Flckr etc websites for their small, browny-grey nocturnal relatives is limited. Update: it may be a Fern - see Comments again.

Where's the wine gone?

I'm sure there was some in here a moment ago

This last one will, I fear, remain anonymous for ever. You can only see it's slightly scalloped wing edges below the ivy leaf, again in the Lousios Gorge, where the species was common but very unwilling to come out from beneath the shrubbery.

Finally, it was a treat to encounter that bizarrely-shaped creature the Praying Mantis again, after an interval of many years, picking its way unconcernedly across the astounding ruins of the ancient walled city of Messini. Update: actually almost certainly an African Green Mantis, identified by my commentor by the white spot on its wing - thanks yet again.

And the fascinating remains of ancient Olympia afforded a still more curious insect, buzzing furiously but uncomfortable about. It seemed initially to be some fearsome sort of beetle or wasp, alarming to approach, but proved to be two firmly mating dragonflies. Final update from Comments - they are probably Southern Skimmers.