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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jos Stratford" data-source="post: 3425942" data-attributes="member: 12449">4 July. Heavens Open, Twinspot Delight.Second day in a row, cool temperatures, cloudy skies and frequent heavy rain ...a major spanner in the works, absolutely not conducive to finding butterflies! This said however, I still managed to find one of my main targets for the month - Twinspot Fritillary.In Lithuania, this species is restricted to the Sventoji River in central parts of the country, flowery meadows its favoured habitat. Twice in preceding weeks, I had failed in searches for the butterfly and, given the weather, I did not have high expectations for this day. Fortunately, a relatively brief sunny spell brought some hope - many butterflies on the wing at my first stop, a meadow not far from the river. 24 species in all, Lesser Marbled Fritillaries proved particularly common, but searching through them revealed no Twinspot Fritillary.Already beginning to cloud over again, I changed location, this time focusing on a steep slope cloaked in flowers. Still a few Lesser Marbled Fritillaries, plus a dozen Heath Fritillaries and one Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Heavy cloud rolling in, a storm approaching, spots of rain already in the air. Then Lady Luck paid a visit with a single butterfly on a flower top - two rows of neat spots along the margins, a classic individual. Twinspot Fritillary, yet another new species for me!And then the rain started, action over for the day. BALTIC YEAR LIST    84. Twinspot Fritillary  6 July. Cranberry Delights.Heavy skies on departure from Vilnius, prolonged rain and little apparent prospect of change. Had spent a while the previous evening studying weather satellites and had determined that south-east Lithuania probably offered the best possibilities for the day, perhaps sun breaking through. Drove through heavy rain for entire journey down, but miraculously hit the first hints of a break in the weather just prior to arrival in Cepkaliai. Thereafter, the clouds fragmented and blue skies appeared - the day turned out to be mostly sunny, though still with the need to dodge the occasional thunder storm.Spent most of the day at the margins of Cepkaliai Bog and in adjacent forest clearings - many hundreds of Heath Fritillaries and Ringlets flying, plus an excellent selection of added extras, including a bunch of Weaver's Fritillaries, several Spotted Fritillaries, at least 20 Red Admirals and, highlights of the morning, my two main targets - four exquisite Cranberry Blues and two Cranberry Fritillaries, these latter butterflies flying in the same general area as the rather similar Weaver's Fritillaries.With this success under the belt, I then moved to meadows in the vicinity of Margionys, one of the only localities in Lithuania for Safflower Skipper. Didn't find this localized species, but in the continuing good weather I did manage another top class range of species, including eight Geranium Argus, one Dusky Meadow Brown and, finally, my first Swallowtail of the year in the Baltic States.Back to Vilnius I went, back into cloud and rain. 36 species of butterflies this day, not bad given most of Lithuania had sat under a blanket of thick cloud for the entire day. BALTIC YEAR LIST    85. Swallowtail    86. Cranberry Blue    87. Cranberry Fritillary    88. Dusky Meadow Brown  8 July. Home StraightMore decidedly dodgy weather - only 19 C, heavy showers, mostly cloudy between. Hadn't really planned any butterfly spotting this day, but having forgotten my mobile phone at home this day, I needed to pop back midday ...and just by my home is one of the few localities that I tend to see White-letter Hairstreaks some years. Checked out the site several times in the last week or so, but passing I thought I would give it another look despite the unpromising weather. Very few butterflies initially active - one Silver-washed Fritillary, one Comma and several Small Whites - but there, sitting atop a daisy, was the star, one White-letter Hairstreak! BALTIC YEAR LIST    89. White-letter Hairstreak.</blockquote>

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