The old chalk quarry just outside of Virpazar on the road to Rijeka Crnojevića is a sheltered sun trap. Rank grassland and shrubs have not developed, perhaps because of the shallow soils and regular grazing by goats from the nearby smallholding. Hence it is floristically diverse and this, in turn, supports a range of butterflies. A…
Category: Balkan Wildlife
Lake Skadar’s Resurrection Plant
Today I found Ramonda serbica on a sheltered, small, north-facing cliff face on the south side of Lake Skadar along the winding road from Virpazar to Ostros. This plant is endemic to the southern Balkans and known as one of the few so called ‘resurrection plants’. This is the ability to dry out to a brown crisp during…
Plavnica Water Meadows
The road from Golubovci runs arrow straight for six kilometres, so the sign says, to the isolated riverside resort of Plavnica through a flat landscape of small farms. Each holding and their house is different but nearly all are growing vegetables in neat plots, with cabbage and lettuce being most prominent. These are planted out by hand with a long…
April Blues
Two species of blue butterfly (the Lycaenid family) are now out, both flying low in patches of rough grassland between Virpazar and Rijeka Crnojevića. One is the chequered blue (Scolitantides orion) and the other the short-tailed blue (Cupido argiades). The first is quite different from most blues with its lovely dark shades and heavy marking and…
The Road to Gluhi Do
Just to the south of Virpazar, the twisting road to Gluhi Do runs alongside a stream, wet pastures and woodlands and then across the edge of a large expanse of abandoned, thorn-covered farmland. There is distant traffic noise from the fast road to the Sozina Tunnel on the slope above, as well as occasional trains from the nearby line…
Komaji, near Čilipi, Croatia
On the way back to Montenegro from the airport at Čilipi on the 13th April, I stopped below the village of Komaji where what looks like part of an old railway track runs along the hillside. I think this was built between Dubrovnik and Herceg Novi in the early 20th Century when all belonged to Croatia and…
Biogradska Gora – Spring Melt
The path up to the lake on 11th April was, in contrast to my last visit, almost clear of snow. Plants were up in the leaf litter under the high forest. White butterbur (Petasites albus) was most numerous but the vivid blue hepatica (Hepatica nobilis) was more eye-catching. Wood anemone (Anemone nemerosa) and a borage species were…
Vranjina’s Pelicans
We came back the other evening down the main road from Podgorica to Virpazar across Lake Skadar. Just before the small fishing village of Vranjina, there is a section of open water fringed by spring green willows that over the past two weeks has had a pair, sometimes three, Dalmatian pelicans. These have always been loitering…
Ascent of Rumija
Yesterday, we set out to climb Rumija mountain, well a goodly part of its 1,595m. The mountain tops were still snow-covered but the target was to reach the steep beech forests at around 1,200m. We began in the ancient sweet chestnut woods and followed the way-marked path, passing through the hamlet of Gornji Briska. The…
Seoce
We walked from the outskirts of Godinje up the long hill to the old village of Seoce. The weather brightened and the east wind was blocked by the hills for most of the way. Blackcaps were as numerous and busy as ever in the roadside trees. There were many Fritillaria messanensis and these were most abundant in…
Ulcinj Solanas
The old town of Ulcinj with its fort above a small, deeply incised bay can trace its history back to the Illyrian times. Yesterday, on a warm Spring evening the smart cafes and restaurants were full, the promenade busy and the air was welcoming and civilised. Earlier that morning, a few kilometres out of town, I…