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Eastern Large Heath
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Rila Mts,
Bulgaria, July 2004 |
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Rila Mts,
Bulgaria, July 2004 |
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Rila Mts,
Bulgaria, July 2004 |
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Rila Mts,
Bulgaria, July 2004 |
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Rila Mts,
Bulgaria, July 2004 |
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| A grassland specialist, this Heath
loves open places above the treeline dominated by grasses. It doesn’t seem
worried about the length of the grass but it seems to show a slight
preference towards short sward. It visits flowers when it can but often
these are very sparse at higher levels. We’ve found it in Greece and
Bulgaria where it occurs on the higher mountains from about 1600m. In the
Rila Mts of Bulgaria we found it commonly upto 2400m. It was well passed
its best in mid July. It also occurs sporadically
further north in the Balkans and further flung on Mte Baldo in Italy.
Oddly enough a few other mainly Balkan species are found on Mte. Baldo,
such as the Ottoman Brassy Ringlet, E. ottomana.
It is very similar to the Large Heath,
C. tullia. This is a very variable species with many regionally
distinctive races and subspecies across central and northern Europe. C.
rhodopensis replaces it in the SE. In appearance it could simply be
another ssp. of tullia but other studies demonstrate its specific
rank. |
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