Tenerife Butterflies - June 2023

We had a week’s break in Tenerife at the start of June. It wasn’t planned with butterflies in mind, but more of a week’s relaxation in the sun. We stayed at a lovely hotel in Costa Adeje, which was kept immaculately clean. Sadly, that meant that there was very little biodiversity and I only counted ten different creatures there in the seven days! Costa Adeje is a bit of an urban sprawl in a very dry part of the island, so there weren’t many opportunities locally to wander off to look for butterflies.

I went for a longer-than-expected walk on the first day to locate the car hire office and saw fleeting glimpses of Small Whites, Pieris rapae, Long-tailed Blues, Lampides boeticus, and an African Grass Blue, Zizeeria knysna.

Before I went I had arranged to hire a car on the Wednesday to take a trip to the north east of the island, where it is much more vegetated, with beautiful villages, cave houses, terraced vegetable gardens and lovely walks. However, on Monday a note was slipped under our hotel door telling us that Storm Oscar was arriving on Tuesday and Wednesday with strong winds and thunder and lightning. We were advised to remain indoors and keep windows and doors shut. This sounded serious, so I changed my hire car to the Thursday. However, Storm Oscar turned out to be nothing more than a couple of showers and a pleasant breeze where we were!

I was keen to head to Punta del Hidalgo, where Peter Buchanan has seen Plain Tigers, Danaus chrysippus, on three previous winter visits. I was surprised to learn this, as I didn't realise they occur in Tenerife. However, Peter has some great pictures on his blog, so they are certainly there.

I followed his instructions and parked in the village. I found the walk that he had been on, but sadly it was all very dried out and there were no butterflies at all. There were loads of lizards, though!

I could see higher in the mountains that there was quite a bit of tree cover, so I headed back to the car with the intention of driving up there. Back in the village there was a turning circle, where they were re-surfacing the road. I noticed a Lantana plant growing on the island, so thought it was worth checking it out for butterflies. Imagine my surprise when a Plain Tiger drifted around one of the diggers and then landed on a plant next to me. It stayed in the area for quite a while feeding on a blue flower.

On my way back to the car on a weedy patch next to the road I checked out some white butterflies. Most of them were Small Whites, but there was one Bath White, Pontia daplidice.

A male Canary Large White, Pieris cheiranthi, came flying by, chasing off all of the smaller whites as it looked for a mate. Sadly it didn’t stop and soon flew over a fence.

As I was slowly driving out of the village a Monarch, Danaus plexippus, flew past the car!

I headed up into the hills and parked on the outskirts of Pedro Alvarez and walked up the road in the direction of Bejia. The road quickly became quite forested, but there were wild flowers and brambles growing profusely at the side of the road.

Unfortunately, it very quickly clouded over, but not before I saw a few Canary Speckled Woods, Pararge xiphioides.

Back at the car I was watching a Small White fly among some plants and noticed it showed a particular interest in one plant. I took a look and saw a Geranium Bronze, Cacyreus marshalli, roosting on a flower head. Funnily, I had been checking all of the geraniums in the window boxes and gardens in the village for this species earlier with no luck!

It had clearly been raining quite heavily in this area the previous day, judging by the gravel washed onto the roads. I decided to take the more scenic return journey along the north of the island and it rained most of the way back. However, the south of the island had been dry all day.

There is a large, rather un-loved park running through the middle Costa Adeje. 

Much of it is very dry and gravelly but there was one shady spot where there were some flowering shrubs and dried out weeds, which seemed to attract Long-tailed Blues. Normally, when I have seen them around the Mediterranean they have been flying singly in gardens and shrub land. But, in this park there were hundreds of them flying low over the dried up weeds and grassy areas. They would occasionally land in the trees and on a particular plant that was still in flower in a couple of shady spots.

There were a few African Grass Blues, flying among the Long-tailed Blues, but far fewer. I am used to seeing these flying low to the ground over grass and wild flowers.

Everywhere I went there were always one or two Small Whites, flying by.

On my last day I checked out the park again. As well as the butterflies I had seen previously there was a Clouded Yellow, Colias croceus, feeding on a flowering plant. Another Canary Large White flew past, but it was on a mission, so didn’t stop.

By the end of the week, I had only see ten species of butterflies, but it was still an enjoyable week. I would have loved to have seen some of the other species I saw on my previous visit ten years ago, but at least I have added Plain Tiger to the list of species I have seen in Tenerife!

Malaga Butterflies - April 2019

Since 2012 we have spent four summer holidays in a villa near Alora, 45 kilometres north west of Malaga. Each time we have been there it has been early July and very hot! The roads were lined with dried up wild flowers and grasses and everything was brown, other than the orange groves and a few private gardens. We would often say that it would be interesting to see the area in the spring, when everything would be green.

So, this year my wife and I found ourselves able to go away by ourselves now that the children have moved out and we decided to return to Alora in April. This time we stayed in an apartment in the village, so it wasn't quite so easy to pop out and look for butterflies.

Unfortunately, we didn't choose the best week to go away. Firstly, the village was the middle of incredible Easter celebrations, meaning most businesses were closed and it was almost impossible to move at times. Also, while the UK was basking in unseasonably hot weather, southern Spain was suffering from unseasonable cloud and showers!

When we arrived the village was in complete gridlock, so it was a good excuse for me to take a quick trip to my old butterfly spot near the villa we used to rent. This was an area where I saw numerous Southern Gatekeepers and Dusky Heaths in the summer months, but I was too early for them this year. Interestingly, Spanish Gatekeepers, Pyronia bathseba, took the place of the Southern Gatekeepers and I wondered why I had not seen them on my four previous visits to this spot.

Although it was relatively cool and there were only occasional sunny spells there were still a reasonable number of butterflies flying, including Small Whites, Pieris rapae, Southern Blues, Polyommatus celina, Meadow Browns, Maniola jurtina

and Clouded Yellows, Colias croceus.

As in previous visits I saw a few Geranium Bronzes, Cacyreus marshalli, which seemed a little out of place in this natural environment.

There was also a faded Long-tailed Blue, a Small Copper, a Southern Brown Argus and a Large White. Not bad for an hour on a cloudy day.

In the summer this area is full of flowering Thyme, Lavender and Rosemary, but in April there were a lot of annual flowering plants but the more woody herbs were not yet in flower.

The following day I decided to check out my other favourite spot down by the Rio de Guadalhorce. In the summer there is a great patch of mint in flower, which attracts a lot of butterflies. Of course it wasn't yet in flower, but there were plenty of other wild flowers there.

I was frustrated that it clouded over before I arrived and there was quite a strong wind blowing. After about 15 minutes there was a bit of a break in the clouds and a Painted Lady was the first butterfly to brave the conditions. It didn't hang about, but at least it proved that it was warm enough for butterflies.

Not long afterwards I spotted a lovely Long-tailed Blue, Lampides boeticus, in some grass and it slowly opened its wings to absorb a few of the sun’s rays.

As I watched it a Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas, landed on a stem close by.

I walked further down stream and found a Southern Brown Argus, Aricia cramera.

While I was watching it, I disturbed a Bath White, Pontia daplidice, which landed on the ground and once warmed up a bit flew to a flower for a feed.

Although it was frustrating that there was so much cloud, at least the cooler weather meant that the butterflies were easier to photograph.

I had specifically gone to this area, as I have always found African Grass Blues here in the summer, but despite extensive searching I didn’t see any on this visit. However, the sun came out and after a while the place was alive with butterflies. Mostly Small Coppers, which looked beautiful glinting in the sun.

There were also a number of Southern Brown Argus flying with them and by far the most numerous, Clouded Yellows were everywhere I looked. There were the occasional Wall Brown and Meadow Brown, some more Bath Whites, a few small whites and one Southern Blue, Polyommatus celina.

And then, as if they had had too much sun they all appeared to disappear!

The following day I decided to walk up a track above the cemetery. This ran between olive groves and what appeared to be fallow fields.

There were plenty of wild flowers and a number of butterflies flitting from flower to flower. They were all white or yellow, being Small Whites, Large Whites, Clouded Yellows

... and what I assumed were more Bath Whites. However, when I examined my photographs back at the apartment I saw that they were all Western Dappled Whites, Euchloe crameri.

I found it interesting that there were no Bath Whites amongst them. Presumably, just a little change in habitat meant that this area was more favourable to Dappled Whites and the flowers down by the river suited Bath Whites.

I had been keeping an eye on the forecast, which had been pretty accurate. Monday looked like it was going to be sunny in the morning and so I planned to go to a area of limestone mountains about 30 miles north. I will report on what I saw there next. Sadly, however, that was to be the only other day with sufficient sun for me to look for butterflies. Typically, the weather improved considerably from the day we left!

The day before we left I drove past the area near the river where I had seen so many butterflies to discover that it had been completely grazed to the ground by a large herd of goats. Although this was rather frustrating, I was pleased that I had been able to visit the area before this had happened. I did wonder where all of the butterflies would go, though!

More Malaga Butterflies

We had three species of butterflies that were resident in the garden of the villa we were staying in. I have always noticed Long-tailed Blues, Lampides boeticus, flying around the garden there, but it was only this year that I realised that they were laying eggs on a bush in the garden, which I now think is Polygala myrtifoli.

I have previously found the eggs and caterpillars of Lang's Short-tailed Blues, Leptotes pirithous, on a Plumbego bush in the garden. This year I could find plenty of eggs, but I didn't find any caterpillars. I suspect that they may have been inside the flower buds judging by the holes I found.

There seemed to be more Geranium Bronzes, Cacyreus marshalli, than in previous years. This was confirmed by the number of eggs I found on the Geranium flowers around the garden. Most flower heads had at least one egg on it.

Other visitors to the garden included Large Whites, Pieris brassicae, Clouded Yellows, Colias crocea, and most commonly the Small White, Pieris rapae.

No trip to southern Spain would be complete without me seeing an African Grass Blue, Zizeeria knysna.  I usually see them down by the river, but this year it took two visits to the Rio Guadalhorce before I saw one. I later saw some on the banks of the lakes at Emblase de Guadalhorce.

While I was there I briefly saw a Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria.

There was also a Bath White, Pontia daplidice, flying among the grass there.

On our last full day at the villa I thought I would walk further along the road to see if I could find any other sites similar to my favourite butterfly spot. A couple of kilometres further up the hill I saw a track heading up into the olive groves, so followed it.

It was a worthwhile detour as almost immediately I saw a Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui.

There were a lot of Common Blues, Southern Brown Argus and Bath Whites flying around the few bits of green vegetation at the side of the track along with a little Red-underwing Skipper, Spialia sertorius.

Under an old olive tree I saw a couple of butterflies having a bit of a squabble. They turned out to be a Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina...

 And a Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus. This is the summer form that occurs around the Mediterranean.

On a trip to walk the Caminito del Rey I only saw Speckled Woods and Bath Whites, which was a little disappointing as I thought there may have been various species of Graylings there.

However, a trip to the Sierra Nevada was fantastic. I will be posting about that in the next week or two.

Malaga, Spain - Butterflies - July 2014

For our family holiday this year we spent the first two weeks of July in southern Spain. We returned to the villa that we rented in 2012 near Alora, about 40 kilometres north west of Malaga. When we were there two years ago Spain had been experiencing a particularly dry spring and hot summer and everything was really parched. This year the weather patterns had been more normal and it was a little greener, but strangely, fewer butterflies seemed to be in the air. Not surprisingly most of the species I saw were the same as last time!

As soon as we walked out of the airport I saw a Large White, Pieris brassicae, flying across one of the flower beds. I saw a few more of them during our holiday, but they never seemed to land!

The first morning I took a walk up the hills behind the villa and came across some Wall Browns, Lasiommata megera, in the same location I had seen them before.

On the way back down I saw a few Dusky Heaths, Coenonympha dorus. These were a lot smaller than I had remembered and I thought they were a different species, until I checked in the book! They are beautiful little butterflies with a silver line running along the edge of their wings, although those I saw this time were quite faded.

What was strange was that these were really common two years ago, but I only saw about six or seven of them that morning and no more on my other saunters around the countryside near the village.

Back down to my usual butterfly patch and I saw a blue butterfly which I expected to be a Common Blue. However, it turned out to be a lovely fresh Lang's Short-tailed Blue, Leptotes pirithous.

Over the holiday I would regularly visit the area where I had seen so many butterflies exactly two years earlier, but I was always a little disappointed by how few there were there. I suspect that this little valley with a lot of Thyme, Rosemary and Lavender in it was like an oasis to butterflies two years ago, but this year there was more choice for them to feed in other areas.

I think I only saw two Common Blues, Polyommatus celina, this year, whereas last year I saw several of them each day in this area.

I saw a few more Southern Brown Argus, Aricia cramera, which are really beautiful little things.

The butterfly that was the most common two years ago was the Southern Gatekeeper, Pyronia cecilia. These seem to like any slightly shaded ravine and I remember walking along a dried-up stream last time and hundreds of them flying up in front of me. This year I probably only saw about ten in total!

I think the butterfly below is a Sage Skipper, Syrinthus proto, and it patrolled a short section of the track leading to our villa. Without fail it would be there any time I walked past flying up and down a section about 20 metres long, seeing off any other butterflies that should dare to enter his area!

The other skipper that I saw was new to me. I think this is a Mediterranean Skipper, Gegenes nostrodamus.

One morning I had a brief view of a Clouded Yellow, Colias crocea, and managed one quick photo before it continued on its way.

Most of the other butterflies I saw were ones that flew through the garden of the villa. Many of them didn't give me a chance to grab my camera, including a Holly Blue, Celastrina argiolus, and a Brimstone, Gonepteryx rhamni. We regularly had a Small White, Pieris rapae, visit a Lantana plant near the swimming pool. I not sure if it was the same individual that came back day after day, but it only seemed to be attracted to this one plant.

I saw this Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina, in the garden and I saw a couple more in the hills close-by.

Geranium Bronze, Cacyreus marshalli, were the only butterfly that I saw more of this year than on my previous visit. Normally, I have only seen them in parks or gardens, but this time I came across them out in the countryside quite regularly. I imagine this must be because there were more flowers available for them to feed on this year. This Geranium Bronze was enjoying the fruits of a Lantana and it stayed in this position for over half an hour one evening.

On our last visit I saw one Bath White, Pontia daplidice, very briefly along a track. This year I also saw one, but this time in the garden and it stayed around a Lantana plant for a while allowing me to take a few pictures!

This Long-tailed Blue, Lampides boeticus, flew manically around the garden all day without stopping. Eventually, one evening it decided to refuel, allowing me to positively identify it and get a picture. A shame it didn't stop in brighter weather to allow me to get a better picture, though!

I went for a walk down to the river in the village, where last time I had seen quite a few butterflies. Unfortunately for me, there was a lot more water in the river this year, so I wasn't able to cross over to the better side. However, the next morning I drove down to another shingle area by the river where I saw some Speckled Woods, Pararge aegeria aegeria, and my target species, African Grass Blues, Zizeeria knysna. No trip to southern Spain is complete for me without me seeing these!!

Having checked through my butterfly book before we left I thought that there were about 90 species of butterflies occurring in this part of Spain at this time of year. By the end of the holiday I had only seen 19 species! I know that many species will have quite specific habitats and thinking of the butterflies that occur back home, you really have to know exactly where to look to find some small colonies of butterflies. When I had climbed to the top of the hill behind the villa I had looked down into the valley on the other side and wondered if there would be different butterflies on the northern slopes of these hill. So, on the last day of our holiday I drove round to the other side of the hills for a short walk.

As soon as I stopped the car I saw a large, dark butterfly land at the side of the road. It flew off before I could spot it, but within a few metres I saw another and it turned out to be a Striped Grayling, Pseudotergumia fidia. Another new butterfly for me. I walked up into the Pine and Eucalyptus forest and saw a Striped Grayling about every 20 metres. They seemed much bigger than the illustration in the book, but I was thrilled to see a new species before we left Spain.

It was great seeing all of these butterflies. Although there weren't as many as I saw during my previous visit, at least I saw almost as many species. However, the butterflies I saw on a visit to the Sierra Nevada mountains more than made up for the lack of butterflies around the villa in Alora. More to follow...