This site uses cookies, by continuing to use this site you are agreeing to their use. Learn More

Slovenia 3.6.18

Went down to the meadows near the church before breakfast; most beautiful light.

Scabious along the road

Leucanthemum vulgare - ox eye daisy

White campion

Fields in the mist/low cloud

Lamium

Tragopogon pratensis - meadow salsify

Comfrey - symphytum officinale

Massed grasses and salsify

Sun through the barley

Poppies

Campanula glomerata

Bygones

The winters are cold

St Michael's Parade sets off around the village

Shrine on the road

Meadow flowers

Branch put out to celebrate St Michael's parade

Sasha made us omelette with frankfurters for breakfast

Command post for the caves

There are over eleven thousand caves in Slovenia. We visited Križna jama which means Cross Cave it is also called Cold Cave, which it is. We were issued with wellingtons and hand held lights for the tour of the caves

Map of the caves

Found in the caves

Cave cricket, there was a moth too, but the photo failed

We were here...

The largest scull in the case is that of a cave bear larger than any species alive today. Below some teeth

The Volcano 'Cotopaxi'

Our Guide

Stalactites

If you are a photographer this will look like a bear sitting on a rock at the edge of a pool, if not it is just another rock.

We went on a short trip round the underground lake in an inflatable.

Centipedes white from the lack of light

Shiny rock where a bear rubbed against the stone

Aruncus dioicus / sylvester

The male plants, with many stamens per flower, are more attractive plants to insects and gardeners than the female ones which have 3 pistils per flower.

Plant of shady moist places

Cirsium erisithales

Fragrant orchid - gymnadenia conopsea

Plantago media

Fritillary

Grizzled skipper

Burnt orchid - Orchis ustulata

Twayblade - Listera ovata close-up below

Marsh Fritillary

Adonis blue

We had lunch at Kontrabantar

Entrance to the stable

Resident dog

Where we ate our lunch

Chicken on the roof

Breads

Lovely floral displays

Lake Cerknica the valley that once was a cave.

American annual erigeron

Lake Cerknica is an extensive karst plain, which is flooded in spring and autumn, forming the largest lake in Slovenia. In the beginning of summer, water retreats to stream beds, and the bottom of the lake turns into diverse grassland. The fish return with the water in autumn.

Mini toad

Timber

White admiral

Bird's nest orchid - Neottia nidus-avis

Deadly nightshade - Atropa belladonna

Lesser butterfly orchid - Platanthera bifolia

Aquilegia vulgaris

A group of Lesser butterfly orchids - Platanthera bifolia

Wood white on ragged robin

Veratrum album

Orchis morio

Gladiolus and black veined white

Campanula glomerata

Prunella vulgaris

Wonderful meadow

Floral mix

Another wonderful meadow

Wet meadow with Iris pseudacorus, euphorbia, silverweed and buttercups

Striped frog

Gladiolus

Red admiral

Sanguisorba

Grass snake

In knots

The R. Jezerscica where we hoped to see yellow wagtails. Ann and Helen saw a corncrake

We divided into two groups for bear watching. Our group did not have to wait long before a female came out of the forest to find the food. She was followed by a large male bear. We were sitting in a hide, accessed by a metal ladder.

The female

Both bears

Keeping politely at a distance

A very fine beast.

We came home via a place where we might see an olm. The olm or proteus (Proteus anguinus) is an aquatic salamander, the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe. In contrast to most amphibians, it is entirely aquatic; it eats, sleeps, and breeds underwater. Living in caves found in the Dinaric Alps it is endemic to the waters that flow underground through the extensive limestone bedrock of the karst of Central and SE Europe, specifically southern Slovenia.

I saw an olm's face looking out of the end of a pipe. Above a picture from the web