Expedition to the Elton region

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Zhuk, 22.08.2007 18:45

So, yesterday I just returned from an expedition to the Elton region (Volgograd region, village. Elton). A lot of impressions, etc. from the trip. I went with my parents. We lived in a sanatorium, then with relatives.
P. S. I will try to schedule by the days of stay (12-21. 08. 2007)
Go...

12.08. We left Moscow at 6 am (although later we realized that we should have left even earlier). Already outside the Moscow region, a broken road began, so it wasn't possible to go fast (the M6 highway). A bunch of trucks with watermelons and melons were going in the opposite direction. Somewhere before reaching Frolov, the first, terrible breakdown occurred: a spring burst on the front, right suspension! I had to make a small stop. But everything worked out fine, as a piece of the spring flew off, but most of it remained in place, and we moved on, although Malek's car was skewed. And now, closer to Kamyshin, settled areas began to appear. The first picture of the steppes was not very pleasing, as everyone burned dry grass, and where they did not burn, cattle ate everything. At 9 pm we were already in Kamyshin on the Volga River crossing. For a very long time we stood between empty trucks, of which there were a huge number. The first butterfly! Lythria purpuraria flew into the car from somewhere, but I let it go, because I was too lazy to go for the bag. The river is very impressive! It was already dark, and the lights of the city were reflected in the water. The journey through it took about 40 minutes. And here we are on the other side, in a real steppe, although it is already very dark. A lot of butterflies fly in the headlights. We went to visit our relatives in Pallasovka for the night. There, the light from the chandelier caught the first trophy - a small elephant with white hairs. There were also a lot of fireflies and some small moths.

13.08. Early in the morning we moved towards Elton and, somewhere at 10 o'clock, we were already in place. Although the sanatorium looked normal, the picture of the village was not particularly impressive: broken fences, leaning houses, garbage everywhere. Just registered, and I wanted to escape to fishing, but I had to go to medical procedures, which were salt and mud baths, which I immediately well, just really disliked. As soon as I was free, I immediately went to the steppe. The temperature in the shade is +40, and in the sun 45-50. I had to carry 2 bottles of water with me. Most of the flora was already dry, except for some shrubs I hadn't seen before. Tentyria nomos blackbirds and a bunch of ants and locusts were crawling everywhere. Chironitis sp and Sphaeridium scarabaeoides were found in cow dung. I also caught Odice arcuinna and Polyommatus icarus. I didn't catch anything else, it was getting late. When it got dark, I walked under the lanterns on the territory of the sanatorium, since there was nowhere to hang the screen with the lamp. Из улова Protoschinia scutosa, Agrotis segetum, Aletia pallens, Anarta trifolii, Calocestra dianthi, Caradrina sp, Tyta luctuosa, Macroglossum stellatarum, Hyles euphorbiae, Eupithecia sp, Neognopharmia stevenaria, Rhodometra sacraria. Of the beetles, there are many different Cybister sp beetles, water lovers and floaters that I haven't watched yet. Still in the mass flew some red grinders. Caught Adoretus nigrifrons. Mantises of plum and iris were everywhere, perched on the bushes.

user posted image

14.08. In the morning, I finally went out to the steppe, to the lake, in a normal way. Pontia daplidice, P. icarus, Plebejus argus, Hyponephele lycaon and Chazara briseis flew on the roadside where there was at least some green left. Tentyria nomos, Opatrum sabulosum, and Penthicus sp. were found under the rocks in the mass. Isolated Anatolica sp. Gymnopleurus mopsus poked at the poop. Then I decided to go fishing by the lake. There was nothing special there, but Trigonoscelis sp. was caught under the rocks. In the middle of the day, I had to go back to procedures, to which I also added inhalation. After all this, fishing in the steppe was no longer possible. In the evening, I walked under the streetlights again, and again a bunch of beetles. Polystichus connexus and Calosoma denticolle were found. H. euphorbiae, Xestia c-nigrum, Calophosia opalina, A. trifolii, C. dianthi, R. sacraria, and Microloxia herbaria also flew. Well, of course, praying mantises.
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Salty lake shore:

15.08. I was in the vicinity of the lake near the mineral spring. Water tastes like borjomi. You have to drink immediately, because then it starts to stink and precipitate. There again flew P. daplidice, P. icarus, P. argus, C. briseis. Caught an abnormally small daplidice with a wingspan of 2 cm! He also caught female Colias chrysotheme, Heliothis peltigera and H. nubigera. I spent half an hour chasing an incomprehensible butterfly across the steppe, and when I caught it, it turned out to be N. euphorbiae (I don't understand what he flew in the dry steppe during the day). I saw 30 pieces of G. mopsus on cow poop. Then I went to Mount Ulagan (it is better to write the mountain in quotation marks, although it is considered the highest place in the Elton region, 69 m above sea level, however). Did you catch Melitaea there ?trivia and Arethusana arethusa, which made me very happy. I spotted a very fresh breezoid. While I was chasing this bastard, I almost got sunstroke, fell under some bush and lay there for 10 minutes. I never caught her. Then, on the way home, I looked at a well from which water was escaping(apparently cows are watered there). It turned out to be a canal from the Volga. There was a lot of poop around the well. In them I collected Copris lunaris (for the first time I saw it live), Scarabaeus pius (also for the first time) and Euoniticellus pallipes. I also caught C. erate and M. ?trivia there. The same species still flew from the daytime ones. In the evening, I didn't catch anything new at the light, and it flew less.
Mineral spring area:
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The endless distance of the lake...

mount Ulagan:

Borehole:

16.08. In the morning I left the building and noticed that pigeons were rushing around on some bean tree. Caught. It turned out to be Lampides boeticus, very fresh! I didn't expect to meet them here. Then I found out that in the north of the lake, in the valley of the Hara River, there is a so-called Biological gully. I decided to go. When I arrived, I was almost blown away! The river valley is covered with some blue flowers like a haze. And all this in the middle of a dry steppe! In the middle of the gully flowed the mineral river Khara, which later flows into the lake. C. briseis, P. napi and C. erate flew there in wagons. I don't say anything about pigeons at all. Just mow on the grass and in the net immediately 30 pieces of individuals. Fly the same ones, but still come across T. thersamon. I came across one Chrysochares asiatica, which I noticed for 10 meters, sparkling in the sun. I walked towards the lake. At the confluence of the river with the lakes, there is a huge variety of birds, camels walk along the shore. On the shore of the lake, a huge number of Cephalota elegans are carried on salt clay shallows. Because of the strong wind caught a little. And so we went back and somewhere in the middle of the road, in a remote steppe, on the north-western shore, where there is not a soul, the spring from the suspension finally flew out! The road was flat, and we decided to speed up a little bit soon, but then there was a small bump, a crack, a spring flying out to the right, a rumble, dust, the smell of burnt tires... We started to disassemble it, but some tools are missing, and we don't know what to do yet. And at that moment, a column of dust appears in the distance, someone is driving. An old Zil emerged from the dust with some pieces of iron sticking out of the body. It stopped near us, and two Kazakhs got out and asked if we needed help. One, still a young guy, deftly disassembled the suspension, put everything in place and put everything back together in 15 minutes. They asked where to get spare parts, and an older Kazakh said that there was a guy in the village named Dimka, a Chechen, who could fix everything. Thanking them for their help, we asked them what they were doing in such a remote place. It turned out that they were camel drivers that I had seen earlier at the lake. Somehow we got to the sanatorium. In the evening, again under the lanterns and again fly different scoops and beetles. I didn't catch it for long because I was very tired.

17.08. Repaired. On this day, a fair came to the village, where my father bought a broken spring. So we're back on wheels and it's time for the Magpie Beam. Only there was nothing particularly interesting on it. I was pleased with the acrid length of about 10 cm. and a big black buzzer with a white backside. I decided to go back to Biologicheskaya Balka. Caught C. erate, Carcharodus alceae, T. thersamon, P. icarus, P. argus. Beneath the camel's ears were small pale beetles with a black spot on each elytra. I also saw a tarantula and some big earwigs. In the evening I caught the light. The same scoops and moths flew, but Mythimna albipuncta was also added. From water-loving beetles Hydrophilus sp, beetle Acinopus sp. and, like, something from Broscini. A. nigrifrons arrived again.

18.08. Last day in the village of Elton. In the morning I decided to rest and was released from the procedures in the late afternoon. We decided to go to Kazakhstan, as we found out that there is an old arboretum there. We were driving through Vishnevka, where there was a passage across the border. But, at the border, we had to fill out too many papers, which had their own problems, and we changed our mind. But! But in the border post, on the window caught 2 Cucullia argentina! Very beautiful scoop! I also took Mycteroplus puniceago, Odice arcuinna, R. sacraria, M. herbaria there. On the way home, not far from Vishnevka, because of the heat, the car began to boil, and I had to stop. I also caught C. erate and A. arethusa on the roadside. As soon as we arrived, I also caught L. boeticus, Hesperia comma and a very large, dark black buzzer on the same bean tree near the hull. In the evening, the light again caught the ear and other beetles. Chlaenius festivus came running, which was very surprising, since the nearest reservoir was 2 kilometers away. From butterflies, too, plus M. vitellina and Tephrina murinaria. I didn't catch it for a long time, because I had to pack my things.

19.08. Early in the morning we left the sanatorium and went to Pallasovka from which we then went to Limannyj. And here we are in the middle of the day. There's nothing special about it. The steppe is broken and ruined, with garbage and cows everywhere. Near the Targun River, which flowed through the village, he caught C. briseis, H. lycaon, C. erate and C. alceae. In the poop of Onthophagus sp. In the evening, I finally went fishing normally for the light, for my lamp. A lot of things flew: H. euphorbiae, A. segetum, A. trifolii, C. dianthi, M. albipuncta, M. ferrago, X. c-nigrum (very much), M. vitellina, Caradrina sp, Acantholipes regularis, Emmelia trabealis, T. murinaria, L. purpuraria. Also flew a lunar copra and a bunch of some beetles and 2 small chernotelki, which I do not know. It was the last fishing trip, and we were leaving the next day.

20.08. We left at 7 am and bought some watermelons and melons on the way. The return trip was accompanied by a huge number of trucks. We crossed the Volga River on a bridge, and not on a ferry, as last time. We went to Volgograd to see Mamaev Kurgan. Because of the terrible heat, we did not have to walk for a long time and we moved on. But then, in the evening, on the way through Frolovo, our car started boiling again. It was already dark, so we decided to spend the night in the car. But, Dad remembered that he had friends there and we stayed with them. It turned out that they were Cossacks, very good people. The car was repaired again the next day. Then they took us to the Don River for a swim. I first visited this huge river. In general, the area around the village is sandy soil, overgrown with oaks and pines. On the other side of the river, I looked at the chalk slopes, but I didn't get to them, because it was already time to start. Somewhere at 3 o'clock in the afternoon we left Frolovo and at 4 o'clock in the morning we were in Moscow.

The trip was a bit extreme, but that didn't stop us. I advise everyone who goes there: go in May-June and better in a good car! Otherwise, you'll find adventures on your ass like me .

This post was edited by Zhuk-04.08.2008 19: 25