A couple of days before we left Spain I decided to visit Casarabonela, which is a beautiful village about 20 minutes drive from where we were staying. I have visited a couple of times before and always noted how much greener it is there. Even this time during the extreme dry spell there was still water running in a stream there and I could hear water running in a deep ravine in the middle of the village.
Looking at Google Maps I chose a car park on the northern edge of the village, high on the hill. I was a little disappointed when I arrived, as it was a dry dusty area below a Pine woodland. However, I spotted a couple of butterflies in the car park - a very ragged Geranium Bronze and a Southern Brown Argus.
As I set off on a marked trail up the mountain I spotted an area of Thyme growing above the car park, so I scrambled up to it and I was delighted it was covered in butterflies.
These included Southern Marbled Skippers, Sage Skippers, Small Whites, Dusky Heaths and Southern Blues.
I was also distracted by the arrival of an Iberian Scarce Swallowtail.
I continued up the trail and saw an extremely worn Blue-spot Hairstreak and the odd Dusky Heath on my way.
After a while I came across another area of Thyme. This time there were Small Coppers, Spanish Gatekeepers and Clouded Yellows as well as numerous Dusky Heaths.
And then a little further up the path I saw two large Lavender bushes. There were two Cleopatras continually flying around them, briefly stopping for less than a second on a flower before doing another couple of laps.
They were occasionally joined by a Clouded Yellow and more Dusky Heaths!
I noticed that the Thyme close by was covered with butterflies and this area appeared to be a real magnet for them. There was a Striped Grayling, Southern Brown Argus and loads of Dusky Heaths.
There were also some Large Whites, as well as more Wall Browns and Meadow Browns. It really had been worth the climb!
Before I left Casarobonela I decided to check out a ravine in the centre of the village. This had housing and a street above one side with olive and citrus trees growing down the other. In the bottom of the ravine were fig trees and small areas of vegetables. I could only view this area from above, but as on my previous visit I saw a number of Holly Blues flying amongst the fig trees, as well as some Large Whites.
It had been a fantastic two-week holiday to Spain. I now have various favourite spots to visit to look for butterflies when I am there. All together I saw 50 species on this trip, which was primarily a family holiday! It was great to see that butterflies appear to be doing well despite the extremely dry year they have experienced in Spain.
