• After spending nearly two weeks in the remote Apuseni Mountains in the north-west of Transylvania, I ended up spending two days in Cluj-napoca, Romania’s second city. After reading the word ‘city’ you would be forgiven for thinking that that would spell the end of my butterflying for the trip; but to go Cluj in early summer and not look for butterflies would be too good an opportunity to miss.

Cluj lies within walking distance of one of Romania’s top butterfly hotspots; a small wildlife reserve known as Fânațele Clujului which translates loosely as the “Fountains of Cluj”. An odd name considering that there are no fountains or springs! It is a small area with a wide range of habitats such as calcareous grassland, fens, light scrub and species-rich meadows.  I was able to find out that some rare species occurred in this area, including the Tessellated Skipper, Spinose Skipper, Zephyr Blue, Eastern Short-tailed Blue and Lesser Clouded Yellow, as well as 90 or so other species.

On the 2nd of June I set off from my hotel early in the morning to allow myself plenty of time to stop and take photos along the way. The city was very quiet at this time which made my walk all the more pleasant. My first job was to climb up a rather lengthy slope, which was a tough job in the increasingly hot morning sun! Some mist was building up as the slope levelled off and it was at this point that I found my first butterflies. A construction site entrance adjacent to a wonderfully rich meadow was home to dozens of roosting blues and Chestnut Heaths. The blues were mostly Silver-studded Blues, but there were a few Idas, Chapman’s and Osiris Blues in the mix, all of which were new species for me. They were also joined by a Wood White and what I believe was a Nickerl’s Fritillary. The mist had made them a bit groggy, so photography was relatively easy for once!

I spent around half an hour photographing the sleepy blues before continuing along the pathway where the meadow opened up and by this stage the mist had almost vanished. The sward here was short and there were fewer butterflies around, but after I passed some locals picking herbs I walked into a more sheltered scrubby area which was teaming with all sorts of species. In addition to the butterflies I had already seen that morning, I found Common Blues, a Knapweed Fritillary, Glanville Fritillary and a Painted Lady and it wasn’t even 10 o’clock yet!

After another 20 minutes I eventually reached the crest of the hill, offering me a nice view over Cluj. Yellowhammers,  Meadow Pipits, Whitethroats, Blackbirds and other songsters were in full swing which made for a wonderful ambience. Here the landscape was slightly different; with fields of lucerne and other fallow crops growing beside damp boggy patches. Walking along the field margins I caught sight of a small orange butterfly, which I immediately thought was some type of copper. I followed it and it landed nicely for me on some low-growing crops and I was able to identify it as a female Lesser Fiery Copper. I was stoked at finding this species as it is only found in SE Europe and within Romania it is rather scarce.

At a small crossroad I noticed again what was another fairly small orange species, but slightly bigger than the Lesser Fiery Copper. It landed in a patch of long grass next to some Greater Water Dock and just as I spotted my very first Large Copper and was about to photograph it it flew away! Despite searching for a good 15 minutes I couldn’t find it again, which left me a little bit frustrated. My frustration soon left me however when I caught sight of a small dark fritillary, which I believe was an Assmann’s Fritillary, a local eastern European species similar to the Heath Fritillary and one of my targets for the trip.  Continuing along the path towards a hamlet I came across a meadow rich in wildlflowers such as Sainfoin, Clover, Nodding Sage and Ox-eye Daisy which in turn hosted numerous butterfly species. Meadows like this are few and far between in Ireland so I spent plenty of time here just appreciating the shear level of biodiversity in such a small space. In addition to the various blues I’d seen earlier that morning, I caught sight of my first Black-veined White, a Pale/Berger’s Clouded Yellow, a Wall Brown and a small brown Lycaenidae butterfly which I recognised as a Geranium Argus, another fairly scarce species in Romania.

The path led me through a small hamlet where I again saw Silver-studded and Osiris Blues flitting amongst the verges, along with a European Swallowtail. By this stage it was getting rather warm; great for the butterflies but maybe not for the walker! The dirt track led me down past a few more houses and a church, across a river and back up another hill where I could now see the reserve and its distinctive dirt mounds, or ‘Copârsaie’ quite clearly. The area where I entered the reserve was an area of short, dry grassland which was alive with blues, mostly Silver-studded and Idas, as well as Black-veined Whites and a few Green Hairstreaks and Chestnut Heaths. I also noticed a large number of Cockchafer Beetles buzzing around and clambering amongst the rose and hawthorn bushes. The dense scrub made parts of the reserve hard to get to but I was able to find a large gap which led to me towards the northern parts behind the copârsaie where the meadows were much more lush and varied. It was here that I encountered a few skippers which I frantically followed trying to see if and of them  were the elusive Spinose or Tessellated Skippers. Unfortunately I was to come away from the reserve having seen neither, but on a more positive note I identified them as Safflower Skippers and Oberthur’s Grizzled Skipper; both new species for me! I spent a good hour or two exploring the rest of this area where I was able to find another target species, the Eastern Short-tailed Blue. As its name suggests it is an eastern European species and it has a patchy distribution so I was delighted to get some got shots of a nice female. Scrambling through some of the dense scrub I disturbed a Black Hairstreak which just hung around long enough for a photo and a lovely male Osiris Blue.

By this stage it had reached around 3 in the afternoon and I decided to head back, as the walk itself would take several hours. Whilst leaving the reserve I managed to get some photographs of the Black-veined White, which despite me seeing many of them earlier that day this individual was the only one that actually landed for me! The salts and moisture on the stony pathway seemed to entice it to stop for a minute or two at last. The walk back past some Lucerne fields threw up another interesting species, an Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow. This species is similar to the Clouded Yellow but has unmarked dark borders and is slightly paler in colour. This is another scarce eastern species which is much more abundant in parts of Asia but migrates north and westwards each year, and another one I’d been hoping to see!

Further back along the path towards the hill I once again searched without success for the Large Copper. In addition to the other species I had failed to find this made me determined to come back some year and try and find them. After another hour or two of walking I was back at my hotel and discovered on my phone that I had walked over 21km, which explained the sore feet! I spent the following day resting bar one small walk I did at the back of the hotel which extended out across a flat grassy plain  adjacent to the airport. It was a cloudier day with little butterfly activity however I was able to add the Provencal Short-tailed Blue to my list of new species. I initially thought it was just a Holly Blue but it was behaving slightly differently and when I got up close I noticed the distinctive underside and was jubilant that once again, I had found a new species that wasn’t particularly common in this part of Romania! All in all it was a fantastic few days during which I managed to see nearly 40 species including a whole mass of first-timers for me. Add into this the species I had seen in the Apuseni Mts and it makes for an impressive list.

I hope this helps to highlight Transylvania’s fantastic biodiversity as well as the fact that Romania is in fact a premier butterfly destination with a huge wealth of different species. It is somewhere I would love to go back to so here’s hoping I get the chance!