Destination countries: Slovenia. Arrive and depart Ljubljana.

Next schedule:
- 22 July - 29 July, 2011

Duration: 8 days (extensions available)

Price: 1190 GBP +150 GBP single supplement (excl. airfare)

Accommodation: Three-star hotels with all rooms en suite.

Numbers: Up to 15.

Transport: 2 x 9 seats minivan.

Description: "...Despite its small size (20,256 km2) Slovenia has a very diverse and exremely gorgeius landscape. The country is in the a centre of Europe, where four biogeographic regions meets. There are high craggy alpine peaks with gorgeous meadows, midd-altitude extensive forests and hills, lowland at the Pannonian plane, and and a small portion of the mediterranean at the extreme southwest. At the moment 181 butterfly species registered in Slovenia, which is far the highest in Eastern Europe, even more than in the much larger Romania. During this tour we will concentrate o the diversity of the high altitude species, but we will spending some day in the middhills and at the mediterranean as well to have the highest possible list of butterflies we can manage..."

Target species of the tour:
Papilionidae: Swallowtail, Scarce Swallowtail, Apollo, Clouded Apollo.
Pieridae: Yellows (Clouded, Pale-clouded, Berger's Clouded), Woods (Common, Fenton's, Duponchel's), Whites (Large, Mountain Small, Green-veined, Southern Small, Eastern Bath), Cleopatra.
Lycaenidae: Arguses (Brown, Mountain Argus, Geranium), Coppers (Green-underside, Large, Small, Sooty, Purple-edged), Blues (Alpine, Little, Long-tailed, Lang's Short-tailed, Alcon, Ligurian Large, Scarce Large Blue, Silver-studded, Reverdin's, Idas, Adonis, Chalk-hill, Chequered, Turquoise, Meleager's, Baton, Mazarine), Hairstreaks (Sloe, Ilex, Black, Blue-spot, White-letter, Brown, Purple).
Riodinidae: Duke of Burgundy Fritillary.
Libytheidae: Nettle-tree Butterfly.
Nymphalidae: The Pasha, Purple and Lesser Purple Emperors, Admirals (Poplar, White, Southern White), Southern Comma, Camberwell Beauty, Large Tortoiseshell, Hungarian Glider, Cardinal, Map Butterfly, Fritillaries (High Brown, Dark-green, Niobe, Silver-washed /valesina form too/, Marbled, Lesser Marbled, Weaver's, Pearl-bordered, Small Pearl-bordered, Asian, Titania's, Shepherd's, Queen of Spain, Heath, Nickerl's, Assmann's, Glanville, False, Spotted, Lesser Spotted, Knapweed).
Satyridae: Heaths (Pearly, Alpine, Chestnut, Small, Large), Graylings (Common, False Great Banded, Tree), Great Sooty Satyr, The Hermit, Dryad, Gatekeeper, Balkan Marbled White, Marbled White, Browns (Woodland, Wall, Large Wall, Northern Wall). "Erebias": Arguses (Scotch), Ringlets (Lorkovic's Brassy, Common Brassy, Mountain, Large, Silky, Yellow-spotted, Black, Lesser Mountain, Bright-eyed, Blind, Sooty, Water, Styrian, Stygian), Arran Brown.
Hesperidae: Skippers (Mallow, Chequered, Large Chequered, Silver-spotted, Large Grizzler, Dusky Grizzled, Alpine Grizzled, Oberthür's Grizzled, Safflower, Red underwing, Lullworth, Small, Essex, Large).

Note: We are not giving out more specific itineraries as a result of illegal and unwanted collecting activities.

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Itinerary

Day 1: After arrival to Lubljana, we drive for about two hours to our hotel, in a stunning location next to Lake Bohinj, among the craggy peaks of the Julian Alps. If time permitting, we'll stop en route at Lake Bled. Overnight Lake Bohinj.

Day 2: This morning a cable car takes us up to Mt. Vogel where we will enjoy spectacular views over the snowcapped Julian Alps, among them Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia (2,864 meters) and Lake Bohinj below. We get acquainted with the legend of the Triglav and Zlatorog (a Chamois), and will see our first Alpine species and Erebias. Overnight Lake Bohinj.

Day 3: We spend the morning in the Bohinj area again. We will discover beautiful alpine pastures, meadows and the country's largest peatbog, Sijec Bog, home to colourful flowers and many interesting butterflies and dragonflies. Later in the day we drive to our next spot to the western side of the Julian Alps, to Mt. Mangart, which is the highest road of the country and home of some very special butterflies. Erebias and Apollos are in full swing there.

Day 4: Full day on Mt. Mangart and its slopes in search for rare Erebias, Blues and Apollos. Among the birds we will see Ptarmigans, Wallcreepers, Snowfinch, Alpine Chough, Alpine Accentor, Golden Eagle and we might enjoy some spectacular Alpine Ibex, Chamois and Marmots as well. We will aslo see one of the rarest lizzard of Europe, Horvath's Wall Lizzard too.

Day 5: After breakfast we drive to and explore the magnificent Mt. Nanos, a huge island-rock, which stands like a secret garden above the surrounding plain, full of amazing flowers. The mountain has a very interesting flora and fauna, and holds many rare butterflies. Lots of interesting reptiles live here including the enigmatic Nose-horned Viper, and Nanos is home to Golden Eagle and Chamois too. For overnight we drive to Rakov National Park is a famous nature reserve, showing many typical karst features. Most of the park is a limestone plateau with trees and with seasonally vanishing waters. In this plateau, several deep river valleys can be found ('Poljes' in Slovenian, a word adopted by geologists worldwide for this kind of karst feature). Overnight Rakov Skocjan.

Day 6: Another day at the foot of Mt. Nanos. At the afternoon we shortly visit Lipica, and depend on common decision we can see an hourly horse-ride performance to make our tour even more interesting. Add to the variety, after our afternoon search for butterflies, we drive to Trieste, Italy for dinner and enjoying the atmosphere of this famous historical port, before we drive back to Rakov Skocjan for overnight. There are no big distances here...

Day 7: During the morning we visit the area of Lake Cerknica, a seasonal lake in Inner Carniola, a region of Slovenia and a world-ranking attraction. When full, for about half the year, it is the biggest lake in the country. It starts to disappear in spring and leaves behind a field where farmers cut hay through the summer. There are huge expanses of reed, sedge and wet grasslands, and some remnants of raised peatbogs on the east shore. At the afternoon we hike two hours in Skocjan Cave, which is a world attraction and a must for everyone, visiting the country. We will walk 90 meters high above a giant underground river, and finish the trip on the bottom of a huge, hundred metre deep gorge, from where a cablecar returns to the starting point. We also explore the karst forests and meadows around the cave, on the slopes of Mt. Sneznik. The area excellent for butterflies.

Day 8: Drivig back to Ljubljana, departure day.