Spring 2012 newsletter - Butterfly Conservation

Butterflies in Kefalonia David Chandler
In July 2011 Kathryn & I took our annual summer
holiday in Kefalonia. The island is found in the
Ionian Sea, further south down the Greek mainland
from Corfu. A large number of tourists visit
Kefalonia during the holiday season but, as one of
the bigger Greek islands, its economy is geared to
comfortably handle sun-seeking visitors.
Most tourists stay in or around Lassi, a popular
resort for Britons a few kilometres from Argostoli
and in the villages Skala and Katelios to the south
of the island where there are sandy beaches. Tourist
numbers have increased since the best-seller,
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, was made into a film
in 2001 and was shot on the island in and around
the port of Sami. We enjoyed finding by chance
some of the film’s locations.
Many people from all over Greece and the world
visit Kefalonia but most foreign tourists we saw
came from Italy possibly because of its close
proximity. We stayed at a hotel in the village of
Karavomilos near Sami on the quieter, greener
eastern side of the island, which proved a good
choice for the variety of the butterflies I found.
There were gardens full of flowers surrounding
the pool in the Ionian Emerald, the hotel we were
staying in, and, without too much effort after
breakfast, I could find at least a dozen different
species flying there at any one time. The most
commonly found butterfly, inappropriately named
in this case, was the Scarce Swallowtail.
Also found around the pool were: European
Swallowtail, Wall, Meadow Brown, Common Blue,
Long-tailed Blue, Short-tailed Blue, Brown Argus,
Chapman’s Blue, Idas Blue, Small Copper, Large
White, Small White, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady
& Southern White Admiral.
What was different from home in the UK,
however, was the butterflies’ behaviour.
11
Perhaps it was a function of the heat for I’ve only
seen this behaviour before in similar hot places
like Qua-Zulu Natal in South Africa, because the
butterflies were up and flying around at breakfast
time but by lunch-time and into the heat of the
afternoon many had disappeared for the rest of
the day. By tea-time, in what I would call ideal
conditions for your typical British butterfly, very
few could be seen.
We hired a car for a few days and toured the
island, often on steep winding, twisting roads and
found the island to be quiet for high season; one
taverna owner said that business was slack because
of the Greek financial crisis and pressure on the
Euro. Different other species seen on our tours
around the island were: Bath White, Cleopatra,
Grass Jewell, Pale Clouded Yellow, Tufted/
Marbled Skipper, Small Heath (Karavomilos). Ilex
Hairstreak (Myrtos). Southern Comma, Two-tailed
Pasha (Assos). Eastern Wood White, Large Wall
Brown, Rock Grayling, (Moni Agrillo). Silver
Washed Fritillary, Mountain Small White, Bergers
Clouded Yellow (Mount Ainos). Langs Short-tailed
Blue (Fiskardo). Holly Blue, Southern Gatekeeper
(Poros).
Kefalonia is a good island for butterflies and well
worth the trouble of getting there.
A European Swallowtail perched on David’s cap!