Four days in the Balkans

[Tim Murphy]

On Easter Sunday a friend and I travelled out to Croatia (Zagreb) with the intention of visiting several hellebore sites. On Monday and Tuesday we visited sites I have been to many times before and on Wednesday & Thursday we visited new (to me) colonies much further south. We travelled home from Dubrovnik.

Our hotel for the first two nights is a short drive from Zagreb Airport in a small town called Samobor. From there we were well placed for our first day travelling to Slavonia (northeast Croatia). The whole area has seen an awful lot flooding lately, probably due to a mix of snow melt and rain. The first species we came across was Helleborus odorus flowering on a sunny roadside slope (photos 1, 2 & 3).

Further north in the Vocin area and we saw Helleborus dumetorum growing in and around sparse woodland. You can see that some of the plants are under water (photos 4, 5 & 6).

The next Helleborus dumetorum site is in the same general area. I first visited this site in 2004 and found one plant with very slight violet markings. I remembered the rough whereabouts of the plant and was pleased to find it growing happily. I must also admit to visiting this colony in 2006 and not being able to find it (photos 7, 8, 9 & 10).

[Tim Murphy]

Further north towards the border with Hungary we visited a large colony of Helleborus croaticus. There are thousands of unflowered plants in the woodland, but as the locals thin the trees out (using a style of woodland management that we could do with implementing here), many of these unflowered plants will start to flower as more light reaches them. Corydalis was growing with the hellebores forming groundcover in places. (photos 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5).

On Tuesday we made the long journey from Samobor to Cavtat just south of Dubrovnik. We had planned to stop at several colonies west of the Plitvice National Park a couple of hours south of Zagreb but due to very heavy recent snowfall I had to change the itinerary. We headed into northwest Bosnia to the largest colony of Hellebourus torquatus I know of. We didn't escape the snow but it wasn't as heavy as it had been in Croatia (photos 6, 7, 8 & 9).

[Tim Murphy]

On Wednesday we travelled into Montenegro to look at Helleborus hercegovinus. We found this plant in vast numbers at a few places.

[Tim Murphy]

Rather than drive back the way we came, we looped back to Dubrovnik by driving through the southwest corner of Bosnia (Republika Srpska). All the the place name signs are in Cyrillic here, which makes things interesting

We found some more sites of Helleborus hercegovinus. It was growing with other interesting things including frits and Cyclamen hederifolium. Can anybody id the snake species in the last photo? I almost stepped on this one and came close to doing the same again on two other occasions at this site.

[Tim Murphy]

Finally, some Cyclamen hederifolium in Croatia, close to the border with Bosnia.

[Maggi Young]

Tim, what a super whirlwind trip you have taken us on!
The hercegovinus foliage is superb... the large plants look like green "Cousin It" from the Adams Family!
 Your snake is a slow worm... very nice indeed
The pretty frits are F. messanensis, I reckon... they're nice, too

[Tony Willis]

Tim glad you had such a good trip. Smashing pictures and good to see the plants in the wild

[Tim Murphy]

Thanks for the "snake" id, Maggi. It was around a metre long, maybe a bit more with a diameter of 2 1/2 inches. I'm glad it was nothing venomous! I had a feeling the frits were messanensis but wanted confirmation, so thanks for that too.

[Gerdk]

Tim,
Isn't the region a paradise for plantlovers? - Unfortunately sometimes a hell concerning the weather.
Wonderful pics, love the different Cyclamen leaves!

Gerd

[Hjalmar]

I'd say the "snake" is a scheltopusik (Ophisaurus apodus) rather than a slow worm (Anguis fragilis). In any case, a lizard.

[David Nicholson]

Enjoyed the trip Tim, thanks for posting.

[Maggi Young]

I'd say the "snake" is a scheltopusik (Ophisaurus apodus) rather than a slow worm (Anguis fragilis). In any case, a lizard.

Yes, Hjalmar, I'm sure you are correct. I did wonder when Tim said the  length of the "snake" was around one metre..... I have never seen a slow worm bigger than about 5ocms !.....thanks for your clarification.

[assybish]

Hi Tim,
As the concerned friend I had looked up th snake but hadn't had time to tell you.
Yes it is indeed the European Glass lizard or legless lizard - non venomous so we were ok! Phew

I shall post on GB's next week have been a bit busy.
Great to see the photos and relive some good memories.

[ian mcenery]

Nice pics Tim particularly like those hercogovinius. Thanks for sharing

[Hans J]

Hi Tim ,

Thanks for the pics !
Did you see also Epimedium alpinum in this area ?

Greetings
Hans