I am no expert photographer, preferring to capture the moment than get a perfectly composed shot. The pictures on my blog are either taken with a compact Canon, a Panasonic Lumix FZ150 or on my phone.




Wednesday 21 September 2022

Antequera Butterflies June 2022

Two days before the end of our holiday, on 11th June, I decided to drive up to Antequera to walk along an amazing little track I found in 2019 when we were last in Spain. This track runs along the north side of El Torcal de Antiquera, which is an amazing area of limestone rock. In April 2019 I had seen an amazing variety of spring butterflies and when I returned in September that year there were still a lot of butterflies there, despite the local goat herd having grazed all of the flowers down.


I had great hopes for this year, but noticed as I drove up that the wind was getting stronger and stronger. When I arrived it was incredibly windy, but as I was there it would have been silly not to have gone for a walk. The gusts of wind whipped up sand from the track and bent the vegetation. Despite this, there were still a few hardy butterflies hanging on! They were mostly species I had seen elsewhere on our holiday, such as Bath Whites, Clouded Yellows and Sage Skippers.

There were one or two Spanish Gatekeepers and Southern Gatekeepers sheltering amongst the vegetation.


I was really pleased to see an Iberian Marbled White.

There were also Small Whites, Large Whites, Painted Ladies, Meadow Browns and Mallow Skippers. I didn’t want to pursue any of them for pictures, as when they took off they were immediately taken by the wind and I was concerned they would be blown into some scrub and sustain damage.


I was amazed to see a Swallowtail doing some acrobatics, trying to feed on a flower that was blowing violently in the wind.

The last butterfly I saw was a Red-underwing Skipper. Normally I see a lot of these, but this was the only one I saw this holiday.


Despite the wind I saw 15 species. I couldn’t manage a decent picture of any of them, as they were being battered by the wind and so was I! I can only imagine how many more butterflies there would have been had it not been windy.

4 comments:

  1. Hola Nick.
    A pesar del viento las fotos son muy bonitas y se puede disfrutar de las hermosas mariposas. Un abrazo..

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  2. Hello Nick :=)
    I just lost my comment, so I'll start again. Despite the windy conditions your photos turned out just fine. It really is astonishing how many you saw, and although they look like such delicate creatures, they must be tougher than I imagined to withstand those kind of weather conditions.

    Your vibrant blue flowers must look beautiful in a stone trough. :=)
    All the best, enjoy your passion, it is wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sonjia,
      I think butterflies are pretty tough, but I did see a poor Small White being pinned to a shrub in the wind. It did manage to get free, but I am sure it must have caused some damage to its wings.

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