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.

Sierra Nevada Butterflies - July 2016 (4)

By now it was really time to be heading back to the villa, but I had three quick stops I wanted to make on my way back down the mountain. The first was at a viewpoint I had found two years ago. This is at about 2100 metres above sea level and the last time I was there I saw several Swallowtails hill topping.

I thought that the first butterfly I saw there was a very worn Blue-spot Hairstreak, but when I was looking at my pictures later I realised it was a False Ilex Hairstreak, Satyrium esculi.

When compared to the Blue-spot Hairstreaks, Satyrium spini, you can see the subtle difference in the white line on their wings.

In contrast to my last visit, I only saw one Swallowtail, Papilio machaon, this year and it was very ragged. There was also just the one Spanish Swallowtail, Iphiclides feisthamelii, in slightly better condition, but it had still lost its tails!

As with my previous visit there were a lot of Wall Browns squabbling over their territories, but I didn't spot any Large Wall Browns this year. I did see a Clouded Yellow, Colias crocea, which I haven't seen before in that location.

I jumped back in the car and drove down another 100 metres to the spot that Mike Prentice had suggested. There were a lot more butterflies there now than there had been at 9am.

I saw two Graylings, Hipparchia semele, one much lighter than the other. I spent ages checking my photographs to see if either of them were Nevada Graylings, but they both turned out to just be standard Graylings!

There were so many different butterflies flying amongst the vegetation there, including Long-tailed Blues, Spotted Fritillaries and Common Blues. They were very active in the afternoon heat, so many of them didn't stop for a picture! I managed to catch a shot of this Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia.

And I think this is a Large Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus alveus. I have to admit that I find it very difficult to differentiate between many of the skippers.

Other butterflies there included Silver-studded Blues, Marbled Whites, Great Banded Grayling, Blue-spot Hairstreak and Southern Brown Argus. However, I didn't have long to watch them on my whistle-stop descent!

My final stop of the day was a little further down the mountain at about 1800 metres above sea level. This is a little scrubby area next to some Pine trees that I discovered two years ago. As then, I certainly wasn't disappointed with the butterflies I saw there.

Strangely, exactly as on my visit two years ago, the first butterfly I saw was a Marsh Fritillary, Euphydryas aurinia beckeri. Just the one next to where I parked the car.

The place was awash with butterflies, including Southern Brown Argus, Aricia cramera;

Essex Skippers, Thymelicus lineola hemmingi;

Silver-studded Blues, Plebejus argus hypochionus;

And I think this is a female Idas Blue, Plebejus idas nevadensis.

There were also Large Whites, Small Whites, Common Blues, Purple-shot Coppers, Cleopatras, a Rock Grayling and an Oriental Meadow Brown. Just like the last time, I saw one Black-veined White, Aporia crataegi, but this year it was kind enough to allow me to take a picture!

I spent some time following this Iberian Marbled White, Melanargia lachesis, to try to identify it. There are three different species found in the Sierra Nevada, but I have only seen the Iberian Marbled White there.

All too soon I had to drag myself back to the car. I had had an amazing few hours in the Sierra Nevada seeing 42 different species of butterflies, with several of them being species I hadn't seen before. It was certainly worth the three hour drive each way to get there.