United States
£ GBP
This disc is protected to play on players that are encoded for certain regions, and might not work in other countries. For more information, please consult the FAQ.
The author's trip began in Sofia during the last week of June with a local guide and wildlife expert, Assen Ignatov. They headed east to their first destination the Arda Valley, before turning west and spending three weeks heading back to Sofia across Southern Bulgaria through the Eastern and Western Rhodopi Mountains, into the far South West of the country then North via the Pirin and Rila Mountains.
The author searched for certain large enigmatic species such as the Camberwell Beauty, Poplar Admiral and Freyer's Purple Emperor. Certain small butterflies found only in eastern areas were watched such as Eastern Baton Blue and Little Tiger Blue plus the only definite record of Grass Jewel, new for South Western Bulgaria. Other Eastern specialities including Ottoman Brassy Ringlet, various Anomalous Blues plus Nicholl's and Bulgarian Ringlet were all found in some spectacular riverine and mountain scenery.
This production was filmed in broadcast quality digital format. The footage has been captured onto two DVD's showing approximately 160 minutes of high quality uncompressed digital video with complete menu accessed using your DVD player's remote. The two discs include a full narrative which is not included on the trailer.
Watch a trailer below:
"The Searching for Butterflies in Southern Bulgaria DVD is a great watch. However on a cold winters day it's a brilliant watch. You feel the warmth of the Bulgarian countryside bounce off the screen lifting your spirits and starting your mind wondering towards travel plans. It is well structured from the onset with an introduction of each section of the journey accompanied with a map of the locations visited. The photography is at Paul's usually high standard and regardless of experience you will not fail to pick up some gem of information. It is filled with relevant facts which will not only help you identify the species but also lead you to their best habitat and importantly at the right time. Each species, when obliging, has been given just the right amount of screen time so that you can admire all the relevant field points. Together with the inclusion of some of Bulgaria's colourful wildlife this makes this DVD a must watch and a really good journey."
– Gary Hulbert – 28 March 2013.
"Southern Bulgaria is an under-explored corner of Europe boasting a wealth of butterflies. This informative and engaging DVD explores the regions key sites, their butterflies, flora and fauna. The viewer is introduced to the key species of each site and provided with a short natural history; both familiar British and non British species are given equal consideration. This is an excellent DVD that I would recommend to anyone visiting Southern Bulgaria and South East Europe."
– Les Hill for Butterfly Conservation – Butterfly Magazine Summer 2013
"I have to say, having watched every minute of this 2-DVD set, that this is his best work to date for several reasons. The first is that the footage highlights diagnostics that help distinguish one species from another [...] Another is that commentary has more depth to it than Paul's previous productions, with elements of life history, habitat choice (including altitude), larval food plants, nectar sources, behaviour and flight period described for many of the species seen. [...] The butterfly footage itself is up to Paul's usual high standards. [...] The only minor criticism is that, given the length of the production (over an hour of footage on each DVD), it's easy to "lose your way" in terms of the geographic location of sites and it would have been better to have reintroduced the overview map as the DVDs progress. There's also a small amount of repetition in terms of species shown, but this is in keeping with a discussion of the different sites visited. All in all, this is a magnificent piece of work and perfect viewing over the winter period. It certainly brought back memories of my own trip to this part of Bulgaria a few years ago, and it was a pleasure reviewing this pair of DVDs. Highly recommended."
– Peter Eeles, UKButterflies – 14 December 2012
