Ghostly Vision
Well-known member
Hello all
Just returned from a trip to Montenegro, the southernmost former Yugoslavian Republic Country.
The trip was a multivariate one, with targets for birds, butterflies, dragonflies and herps, as wel of course as Orchids.
Although I was not expecting much, given the timing of our visit, and that some of the species on my want list were Ophrys and therefore would be well over, we did however have an absolutely excellent selection - 30 species in all, most of which were in flower or close to it!
I will post a trip report on here at some point but in the meantime here are some pictures from the trip.
The main speies to get while in the area was the Balkan Lizard orchid, which I saw in rosettes last year when we went in April, but which wee this time in full flower, and recorded from a number of places.
Other highlights were Orchis pallens, Neotinea tridentata and Cephalanthera rubra - one plant in full flower at a site which held twelve species in total! For me, the small-flowered helleborine, Epipactis microphylla, was also new in flower, as I've only seen that before after it had finished.
The Anacamptis palustris, very similar to the Loose-flowere orchid we get in the Channel islands, was completely new to me, and the only one we saw!
Montenegro is highly recommended for enthusiasts of all kinds of wildlife - quite a small country, lots of variety, nice hotels, very inexpensive, friendly people, stunning secenery, and great weather. You get the feeling it is quite unexplored (though it isn't really, just that we aren't exposed to all the work that goes on in the background).
Just returned from a trip to Montenegro, the southernmost former Yugoslavian Republic Country.
The trip was a multivariate one, with targets for birds, butterflies, dragonflies and herps, as wel of course as Orchids.
Although I was not expecting much, given the timing of our visit, and that some of the species on my want list were Ophrys and therefore would be well over, we did however have an absolutely excellent selection - 30 species in all, most of which were in flower or close to it!
I will post a trip report on here at some point but in the meantime here are some pictures from the trip.
The main speies to get while in the area was the Balkan Lizard orchid, which I saw in rosettes last year when we went in April, but which wee this time in full flower, and recorded from a number of places.
Other highlights were Orchis pallens, Neotinea tridentata and Cephalanthera rubra - one plant in full flower at a site which held twelve species in total! For me, the small-flowered helleborine, Epipactis microphylla, was also new in flower, as I've only seen that before after it had finished.
The Anacamptis palustris, very similar to the Loose-flowere orchid we get in the Channel islands, was completely new to me, and the only one we saw!
Montenegro is highly recommended for enthusiasts of all kinds of wildlife - quite a small country, lots of variety, nice hotels, very inexpensive, friendly people, stunning secenery, and great weather. You get the feeling it is quite unexplored (though it isn't really, just that we aren't exposed to all the work that goes on in the background).
