Monday 6 July: early start for Heathrow

Alan picked me up at 3.15am heading for Heathrow. By 4.30 we were waiting at the Turkish airlines desk for the others to arrive. An unexpected and pleasant surprise was the appearance of Steve and Andy, late bookers for the trip. Check-in was smooth. The first leg of our 3-flight journey to Istanbul gave us a 3+ hour stopover before we boarded again for Ankara. Our departure was late, somewhat disconcerting as we had very little time in any event to make the connection for Erzurum. But full credit to the airline staff for rushing us through the terminal (straight in and out again) onto the waiting plane. Once in Erzurum, and re-united with Safi, the group was taken to a local restaurant for some much-needed proper food, our first traditional carved kebab of the tour! Turkish staff included our driver, Mert, a National Park Warden, Egemen and his assistant Younis. A three-hour journey followed squeezed into a 10-seater Transit. The Otel Barcelona at Yusufeli couldn’t come quickly enough – 11.30pm in fact. All of us were very tired.

 

Tuesday 7 July: Bahceli and a late visit to Sereindere

Awoke to a lovely sunny morning. Al had managed to get himself locked in his (ground-floor) room, and even the window was jammed. Crude leverage with a screwdriver on the window frame forced the first opening and Al duly climbed out: not only had the opening mechanism failed but summer heat had caused the pine resin to form a perfect seal! The door lock was bludgeoned to death with a lump hammer – no thought, apparently, to try a spot of oil first – and Al was relocated. All this before buffet breakfast at 8. An hour later we set-off in the van for a local-ish day, given yesterday’s travel marathon.

 

Most of the day was spent up a side valley near the small village of Bahceli to the north of Yusufeli and off to the west. Little Tiger Blue followed quickly by an Orange Hermit set the tone for the day with more than 60 species seen in no more than half-a-mile of hot valley. The Turkish crew laid out lunch by a stream in the shade of some trees where Balkan Fiery Coppers nectared on the mint flowers and Ionian Emperors took minerals at the stream edge. Felt that we were intruding a bit on the lives of the local women who were filling their water carriers nearby.

 

A late second stop was taken south of Yusufeli at a gorge near Sereindere but by the time we got there ¾ of it was already in shade: at least a pair of Southern Commas were making the most of the heat radiating from the rockface as we drew the day to a close. And what a stunning day it had been!

 

The hotel was reached by 5.30pm and cold Efes beers welcomed! The hotel pool intrigued us all, being pea-green and more like a wildlife pond than a recreational facility. Dinner was served at 7pm, and everybody hit their respective rooms/beds well before 10pm.

 

Wednesday 8 July: an unusual and eventful day…

Younis had left us unexpectedly and was replaced by Bulent who seemed shy and not willing to engage very much. The Coruh river, running fast, wide and clear immediately across the road from the hotel, had provided background music since our arrival. Another blue-sky start, and already hot by the time we set-off at 8.30am with Bulent sitting on the roof rack to make a round anti-clockwise trip to the east of the town, setting-off initially to the south. Our first stop was at a small roadside spring where we encountered Scotch Argus and Alcides Skipper, but the bulk of the morning was passed in a small dry valley with butterflies ‘everywhere’ hardly ever stopping. Species included Persian Fritillary, Osiris Blue, False Chalk-hill Blue, Amasian Satyr, and so on. With so few photo opportunities, and my net in the hotel, I felt ‘not with it’ for most of the time and needed to get a grip. Think I was still tired from the journey on Monday.

 

A late-morning snack was planned for the Ogdem Plateau with splendid views across the serrated mountain peaks. Species were relatively few, despite the wonderful flowers, and the wind made photography difficult. Lunch had been arranged for 1pm in the hamlet of Kilickaya to where we now headed.

 

But on our way back towards Yusufeli our road was suddenly blocked by a dark blue land rover type of vehicle and Mert came to a swift halt. Already six rifle-bearing troops had jumped out and faced our bus as three or four beretted officers strode towards us. Summat’s up! We had been reported to the local Gendarma having been seen using nets on the hillside and believed to be collectors. With an officer sitting in the front of our bus, we followed the troop carrier into the compound at Yusufeli where it was duly impounded. Those of us with passports had to hand them over. Poor old Egemen – our supposed ticket of approval - was both embarrassed and annoyed as the group sat around behind the razor-wire whilst frantic conversations took place by the barracks. We knew things were improving when a squaddie came over carrying a tray sporting a tea-pot and glasses – at least that remote ditch high up in the hills wouldn’t be filled with corpses today! After 20 minutes or so an officer came across and in perfect English apologised for the misunderstanding, hoped our holiday hadn’t been spoiled, and wished us an enjoyable remainder. Freedom was sweet!

 

By the time we reached Kilickaya the skies had darkened and the thunder was rumbling around the peaks. A barbecue had been prepared for us by the mayor (?) and a couple of his drinking buddies but just as we arrived so did the rain. Hurriedly the adjacent shed was chosen for cover and a rough table prepared in one corner. The rain was spraying through the gaps in the wooden walls, and everybody was enjoying the drama and special atmosphere of it all. The food arrived after 4pm and was good too as we speculated whether the bucket of barbecued chicken wings had been a job lot from Asda or produced locally. The raki bottle was hit quite hard raising spirits even more. We managed to get in some butterfly searching in the long wet grass and found Dusky Large Blue, Yellow-banded Skipper, and Lesser Lattice Brown to mention three species new to me!

 

After a memorable day, the hotel was reached around 8.30pm, dinner was started at 9, and lights went out a couple of hours later.

 

Thursday 9 July: Taskiran valley en route to Barhal

Up early at 7am to pack ready for a 9am departure to Barhal. Just north of Yusufeli we were held up by roadworks as another section of rock was drilled away and it was interesting to see how complete strangers got out of their vehicles to chat to one another. Wouldn’t have happened like that back home. The road to Sarigol was slow but we stopped here for a conflab with some locals – the town’s mayor again? – before taking the bumpy side road up the Taskiran valley. This was a lush habitat with Silver-washed Fritillaries commonplace on the dwarf elder and bramble blossom. Our first stop produced a Nickerl’s Fritillary (netted by yours truly), the first record for the species in the Kackar. Eastern Brown Argus, Hubert’s Blue and Eros Blues, and Blue Argus were also seen and photographed. The bus came up to collect us for lunch just as the thunderstorm broke, but it didn’t last too long. A black streak away from us downstream was identified as a Camberwell Beauty – what else could it have been?! Al and I wandered upstream and located a loose bank where Geranium Argus were flying. We then retraced our route past the bus until it stopped to pick-up several of us later.

 

Back in Sarigol we stopped at a roadside café for a fruit drink (no alcohol licence) and a Magnum before mounting-up for the leg into Barhal. The Pensyion had a riverside location, much closer and noisier than at the Otel Barcelona, and our accommodation in the recently constructed pine-clad wing was excellent. Alan and I were pleased, again, to have opted for the single supplement as the twin rooms would have been mightily cramped otherwise.

 

The evening started with cold beers, a call to Jean, shower, an excellent dinner at 8pm, and to the room by 10pm.

 

Friday 10 July: Yukeskoba valley

The bright sunny morning, seen initially through unusually bleary eyes, augured well. We set-off heading east following the Barhal Deresi to Kadinkisla where we took a left turn up a concrete road through Ozguven, and beyond. The first stop was at the riverside in an open aspect where we saw Apollo, Eastern Orange-tip, Marbled Fritillary, Marsh Fritillaries, Russian Heath etc., - fantastic habitat. We then moved up the valley to higher pastures around 2,300m stopping only where rockfalls had temporarily encumbered the track. The last rockfall proved too much to clear so we made this our starting point for a gentle walk back downhill. Fantastic views were had from this point, and new species included Caucasian Clouded Yellow and Hewitson’s Ringlet. Lunch was taken where a stream crossed the track and Balkan Coppers clashed with the orange flowers of their Geum LHP, as did the Pearl-bordered Fritillaries that enjoyed sitting on them too. some good late afternoon shots were taken of Russian Heath, Pearl-bordered Friltillary, a pair of Geranium Arguses and an Olive Skipper.

 

After an excellent day in the field we got back to the pension around 6pm. Trout was on the menu for dinner (bit small and not very tasty, but ‘local’) following which we were entertained by  a demo on the local kid-skin bagpipe, mercifully limited to one rather repetitive tune with no encore.

​

Saturday 11 July: Pisenkaya valley

As usual, breakfast at 8 – preceded by white mulberries picked straight from the tree outside our rooms - and off by 9 as far up the valley (to the west) reaching as far as we could get by 10am. Once again the scenery was stunning and we had lovely weather as we began our slow walk back down to where the vehicle would be parked for lunch. Lederer’s Heath was a new species for the trip and Aedon Blue was nice to see.

 

Lunch was taken on a bridge across the river. The day ended with Safi casually indicating a roosting butterfly on a nearby umbellifer for those who might be bothered to take a look – it was only a pristine female Apollo offering great photo opportunities. A Persian Fritillary occupied a fair amount of time whilst Barbara and I waited patiently for the breeze to ease so that we could manage an in-focus shot or three.

 

When we arrived back at the pension I realised that I’d left my net up the valley: without any hesitation Egemen and Mert took me in the van to find it, some 10km distant. On the way back Mert lost the back end accidentally on purpose on the gravely track, to be mildly chastised by Egemen. Bit of a laugh really! I tipped Mert 20 lira for his troubles, a gesture he clearly wasn’t expecting, interrupting him puffing on the hubble-bubble.

 

Back in time before dinner for a beer, to complete the day-list. We had a good night, sharing a small bottle of raki between 6 of us, reaching the room around 10.30. Being a Saturday night, the kid-skin bagpipe was in full squeeze outside apparently repeating the same sequence of notes but mercifully the squealing stopped around 11pm.

 

Sunday 12 July: around Barhal

The usual 9am departure took us a few yards down the road before crossing the river and climbing quickly up through the pines   towards the village of Kilyou. Spent most of the morning wandering along the track to little effect – typical pine forest flora and limited species. New to the trip, however, were Marbled White and Eastern Wood White. Steve netted a very worn, and hardly recognisable Camberwell Beauty and a better specimen was seen nearby along the track. Our intended lunch stop in the meadows near the village was aborted because the terrain was too steep. So, we returned to the bottom road, passing through Barhal, and taking the right turn up the valley towards Amanesket, climbing to around 2,100m. Lunch was taken in the van as a storm raged around us. The rain soon passed and we ascended the ridge to higher meadows some 200m higher up but only Alan, the lads, myself and Tony made it to the crest. Butterflies were fairly quiet but included Caucasian Spotted, Pearl-bordered, and Glanville Fritillaries, plus Alcon Blue.

 

As a further thunder storm built over the mountain tops we made as hurried a descent as we could and reached the van as the first large raindrops fell. I still had time though to rinse my sweating face in one of the burbling irrigation conduits that follow the contours. Flies had been a real problem today. We stopped on the outskirts of Barhal to view the disused, massive Georgian church at Parhali Kilise a throw-back to the time that this part of Turkey was in the Soviet Union. The nearby pension opened up its beer stock to help us relax.

 

Several of us walked the 1k into Barhal reaching the pension around 7pm, nicely timed for dinner at 8pm.

 

Monday 13 July: transit to Yaylalar, and Korahmet valley 

Got up earlier than usual, 6.45am, to pack which didn’t take long! Taking a leaf out of David Dennis’ book, I was in the field just down the road from the pension 25 minutes later looking for roosters. But the sun was already warm and the roosters were on the wing. A good pre-breakfast tally numbered Southern Small, Black-veined, Wood, and Eastern Bath Whites; Sooty Copper; Zephyr and Short-tailed Blues; Dark Green and Heath Fritillaries; Painted Lady; Large, Red-underwing, and Small Skippers; Clouded Yellow; Great-banded Grayling; Meadow Brown, and Swallowtail.

 

We set off at 9am for the 90-minute drive to Yaylalar following the lovely Hevek Deresi valley, one of my favourite locations on this trip. Safi brought the bus to a halt on seeing a Large Tortoiseshell puddling and in true Safi-style he managed to net it only to discover that it was, in fact, a Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell. We all tumbled out and spent the next 30 – 40 minutes doing our thing with me focussing on Marbled Fritillaries and Aedon Blues. Yaylalar was reached late in the morning, our freshly pine-clad pension standing brightly in the small town. We checked into our rooms quickly and were impressed by packed lunches awaiting us from the store across the road (owned by the pension proprietor).

 

A zig-zag journey up the valley across from the town led through – literally – clouds of puddling Marsh Fritillaries to Ahmet Baytas’ home village of Korahmet. Barbara immediately spotted Pontic and Gavarnie Blues taking minerals in the car park and the group paid no attention to the locals who had wandered up to greet us. For a while a problem had occurred – several of us feeling bad about our lack of courtesy to the locals – but the problem lay, in fact, with the National Parks Office who had decided that we couldn’t use nets today. Initially it appeared that we wouldn’t even be allowed up the valley, even though it was outside the National Park. So, as we were effectively grounded it seemed a good time to eat our lunch. Eventually we were given permission to proceed, without nets, and the authority would send out three officials to check us out.

 

We wandered through the next village, Satelef, with its pine plank and cow-pat walls, losing the path for a while. The dramatic valley head loomed ahead and produced Apollo, Twin-spot Fritillaries, Lederer’s Heath, Woodland Ringlet, Yellow-banded Skipper, and many others. Darkening clouds threatened rain but soon passed giving a superb afternoon. Mert got us back to the pension by 7pm, dinner was excellent, and bed was welcome at10pm.

 

Tuesday 14 July: Olgunlar valley

Awoke early at 5.20am and spent a fitful couple of hours before getting up. Went out almost at once up the village street past the mosque to explore the bank about 150m away from the pension finding Blue Argus and Heath Fritillaries.

 

As we set-off at 9am the sky was overcast for the 2 – 3km journey to Olgunlar. The sun was slow to break through as we strolled up the beautiful valley’s gentle incline through flower-rich meadows. Butterflies were not numerous, however. Lunch was taken by a stream towards the gradient leading to the Kackar trek base camp where Russian and Lederer’s Heath confusingly flew together. Alan, the lads, Mike and I made our own journeys to the camp at 2,862m, some 9km and 700m climb from our start-point. The camp site warden offered us glasses of tea, all very civilised. At 3pm we started the return leg in cloudy conditions most of the way. Not sure what time we arrived at the Olgunlar café for another tea, and between us to just about clear the stock of locally knitted house socks as gifts for folks back home.

 

Back at the pension it was Efes time, did day’s list, dinner at 8pm, as usual. Dinner was very good, as was the raki-fuelled crack! It had been a fabulous day, a lovely long walk in fantastic surroundings – pretty much a perfect day.

 

Wednesday 15 July: return to Yusufeli via Barhal and Ogdem Plateau

Up early at 6.20am to pack and out on the dry hillside below the town by 7. Marsh Fritillaries common on the flat flowerheads at the roadside and on the slope were Aedon, Idas, Turkish and Zephyr Blues, Black-veined and Eastern Bath Whites. Bulent came to join me for a while having spotted me from the hotel – I suspected that many other eyes were watching me too!

 

Having settled-up we departed around 9.20am retracing our route to Barhal. Inevitably we had to stop for 20 minutes where the Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell had been seen a couple of days earlier and we were not disappointed – it was still around the same spot but not being too helpful for the cameras. Through Barhal we took a left turn up a seemingly endless ravine on the narrowest of tracks all of us relying totally on Mert’s concentration. By 1pm we had reached the plateau amidst rolling low cloud and rumbles of thunder. A stiff cool breeze told us that rain was on its way. Al and I managed to eat our packed lunch and get back to the van as the rain pelted down but it was only a sharp shower.

 

Pushing on again on a greasy surface we soon encountered three minibuses carrying an Israeli group who had got themselves stuck on a muddy slope. Mert simply went onto the grass, revved-up and hammered past them, much to their clear annoyance. Our descent was ‘hairy’ to say the least – probably the most disconcerted trip I’ve ever made – as Mert caressed the van on muddy, greasy surfaces, past rockfalls, around tight bends with vertical drops until the valley bottom came into view. At this point we all got out with the aim of walking down to the road but a hail shower instantly drove us back inside. The hail turned to rain but left a wintry scene, and a new hazard, for a while. Out we ventured once more taking a few minutes to roll large rocks down the ravine into the river below. Kid’s stuff! The rain rumbled in again and the bus picked us up. At last the tarmac was reached 20km from Yusufeli, and Mert was able to engage his higher gears at last. We made a roadside stop for a cup of tea not far from our destination.

 

The Otel Barcelona was reached at 5pm and beers were ordered. Al and I then walked into town to buy some Turkish Delight etc and bumped into most of the others in dribs and drabs. Packing was looming with thoughts as to what and how to pack the case so that a quick change at the airport after a day in the field could be best accomplished.

 

Dinner was arranged for 8pm coinciding with the start of a tumultuous thunderstorm bringing with it a cold wind and torrential rain. The lights went out two or three times during the meal and we ate by candle-lit lanterns: the restaurant floor was awash. Already Bulent had received reports of landslides. Yesterday some people had been killed in floods in neighbouring Artvin province. I began to have concerns about the river level which, should it top its banks, would pour into the hotel grounds…We dashed through the rain to our rooms around 10pm wondering what tomorrow would bring.

 

Thursday 16 July: Kilickaya, then Erzurum airport

I slept fitfully, kept awake by the heavy rain and the sound of the river, although the thunder had stopped. I got up at 6.15am ready for breakfast at 7 and made a quick inspection of the river. It had changed colour to a muddy brown but didn’t seem much higher than before the storm but continued, of course, to be fast-flowing. A side road leading to the river appeared to have had a few lorry-loads of pebbles and rocks deposited on it, brought down by the rain. The rain had now stopped, though it remained cool and grey.

 

We got underway at 8.30 and discovered that storm debris was limited to the environs of Yusufeli. The road to Kilickaya is good and we duly stopped before the town on a small dry grassy plateau that Safi had not checked-out before. New species included Tree Grayling, Hi Blue, and Adonis Blue. Another small area, this time wet and marshy, produced Dusky Large Blue, Short-tailed Blue, and Southern White Admirals. The rain also started spotting. Stop # 3 was just through the town on a hot, dry, flowery slope, being species-rich: butterflies included Swallowtail (in the damp stram bed), Adonis, Small Anatolian, Anomalous, Hi, Phyllis, and Little Tiger Blues. Then the rain swept in!

 

Lunch had been arranged higher up the now muddy track at the festival site of Aros Yayla at 2,000m. We had to wait a while for an earth-planing machine to tidy-up the road ahead of us. Whilst the barbecue was being sorted we visited a nearby lush and damp meadow and located Yellow-banded Skipper (at last I’d got my underside shot, courtesy of Mike who found the brute and called me over), a pristine female Twin-spot Fritillary, etc. The food had been prepared by the same crew who had hosted us the previous week and we had a lot of fun, banter and raki. A newcomer, the burly retired Istanbul cop called Suleyman still sported his side arm useful, he said, for warding off bears. The annual festival lasted 3 days: day 1 was for wrestling, day 2 for dancing, and day 3 for getting even more pissed!

 

Our time in the field was now effectively at an end and we dropped a couple of the crew in Kilickaya before Mert took us on the ‘short-cut’ over the top towards Erzurum. Views from the top were truly fantastic, quite stunning. Eventually we joined the main road to the east of Uzundere after a long zig-zig descent, commenting that it would be great to spend a lot of time exploring this part of the valley. Dinner had been arranged for 6pm at the new Riza’s Pension on the edge of Uzundere but Egemen had to return at once with a university professor to attend an ecotourism conference in – yes – Kilickaya. None of us felt we did justice to the hospitality and lovely spread laid before us, still being full from lunchtime, and we also had to dash for the airport at 7pm. We arrived at the airport at 8.30pm to discover that our 10pm flight would be delayed for 40 minutes. This was not a problem, as our 7-hour thru-the-night stopover in Istanbul airport would now be a tad reduced.

                                     

Friday 17 July: back home

Al was keen to get some proper sleep and opted to spend an expensive 3½ hours in some local hotel: the rest of us had an expensive beer and dozed as best we could through the night. My sleep across a metal double seat was interrupted by the cleaners – made me feel like I was being ‘moved on’.

 

Dutifully put in the morning call to Al at 6am only to find him standing behind me – hadn’t been able to sleep all that well…

 

The flight to LHR went as planned, suitcases came around quickly on the carousel, and by 1.30pm I was home again.

​

​

​

​