Sierra Nevada Butterflies - June 2024 Part 2

My next stop was a little further down the mountains at a viewing area about 2,250 metres above sea level. It isn't obvious from the road, but this has proved to be a real hot spot for butterflies and is a must to visit.

As soon as I arrived I saw a fritillary on an enormous thistle. It was a Cardinal Fritillary and was one of six flying there.

Amongst the Small Whites were some Clouded Yellows and a couple more Bath Whites. One of what I thought was a Bath White turned out to be a Western Dappled White.

There were Wall Browns everywhere dashing around chasing other butterflies. They would settle briefly before spotting another butterfly and chasing after it.

As I approached the viewpoint, which overlooks the Canales Reservoir, I could see Swallowtails flying. This is an amazing spot for hill-toping butterflies of all sorts of species.

There were also some Iberian Scarce Swallowtails joining in the fun.

I noticed a really small butterfly, which turned out to be a Panoptes Blue. I think I saw two of them, but at this stage I was joined by a friendly German motorcyclist who was keen to tell me about his exploits! He told me that the Spanish drive very slowly and part of his annual holiday allowance goes towards his inevitable speeding tickets!

I felt a little rude as I slowly moved away from him when I saw in interesting butterfly! Eventually he departed and left me to my strange obsession! There were some Dusky Heaths joining in the chasing about.

By far the most aggressive butterfly was this very worn Spanish Marbled White. It would chase anything that landed within a couple of metres of it!

Amongst the shrubs there were Blue-spot Hairstreaks.

And some Purple-shot Coppers.

It was quite intoxicating watching all of this butterfly activity.

On my way back to the car I saw various Skippers. The only one I could identify was this Southern Marbled Skipper.

Again, I wished I could have stayed there far longer, but I still had my favourite place to visit.

Sierra Nevada Butterflies - June 2022

No visit to the villa in Alora would be complete without a visit to the Sierra Nevada. This year I visited on the 3rd of June, almost exactly a month earlier than normal. It is a three-hour drive to get there, but well worth it for the range of butterflies that occur there. There are three different locations that I normally visit, each with its own selection of butterflies.

Initially I drove up to the Hoya de la Mora carpark, which is as high as you can drive. From there I walked down into a valley with a lovely clear stream running through it. Normally, there is quite a variety of butterflies down there, but I started to worry after a few hundred metres and I had seen no butterflies.

Eventually, as I reached the stream I saw a Small Tortoiseshell. A little further along I saw a Small Copper. I was starting to get a bit fed up, as I had traveled all this way to see two butterflies, both of which I had seen in my garden before I left Scotland!

However, I soon cheered up when a Provence Orange Tip flew past me. Frustratingly, I saw at least two of them, but neither settled at all. Eventually, I just fired off my camera in their general direction and managed to get a picture of a little yellow and orange dot, a few pixels wide, just to prove I had seen them!

At least it now seemed worthwhile struggling down into the valley. On the way back up towards the carpark I saw a couple of Clouded Yellows and Queen of Spain Fritillaries.

So, just five species. Usually, in July I will see about 15 species on this same walk.

I then walked up to the small area where Zullich’s Blues are found. I anticipated I would be too early to see any, but thought it worth checking as I was there. I have sat on a rock up there in the past, eating my lunch, watching Zullich’s Blues sparing with Spanish Argus with the occasional enormous Apollo gliding past. Sadly this year, none of those species were flying yet.

On my way back down to the carpark I did see some Painted Ladies and quite a few Small Tortoiseshells. Also some Wall Browns and a Bath White.

Driving back down the mountain road, I stopped at the viewpoint I have visited in the past. This is a very reliable site and as usual, there were Swallowtails and Iberian Scarce Swallowtails hill-topping there. Also a lot of Wall Browns amongst the scrub. This year there were also quite a few whites flying. Those that stopped allowed me to identify them as Small Whites and Western Dappled Whites.

I was really excited to see a little Panoptes Blue flying there along with two Purple-shot Coppers.

There was also a mystery Skipper that didn’t land for long enough for me to photograph it and a large orange Fritillary whizzing around, which I had no chance to identify! Next I drove down to my favourite spot - a scrubby meadow. 

I will continue this in my next post.

Malaga Butterflies - June 2022

At long last we made it back to Spain this summer  after having to cancel our planned holiday for the last two years. We went to the same villa we have visited on and off for the last ten years, but this year we were joined by our now grown up children and their partners. The villa is on the outskirts of a village called Alora, which is about 45 kilometres north west of Malaga. And this year we went during the first two weeks in June, whereas previously we visited in July, during the school holidays.

Of course, I was interested to see what butterflies I would see one month earlier in the year and not surprisingly, things were quite different. Southern Spain had experienced an unusually wet spring this year and despite a hot spell since, it was noticeably greener than we would see in July. Also, being a little earlier in the year some of the olive groves hadn’t yet had the ground rotovated, so there were still a lot of wild flowers flowering.

Around the villa there were a lot of Painted Ladies, many of them heavy with eggs. I am not sure if this is normal in June, or if they were just having a good year. Every time I walked past a Lantana plant on the drive three or four would fly up.

There were also a lot of Cleopatras flying around the villa and surrounding area. 

There were also a few Brimstones, but they were outnumbered by Brimstone by about ten to one. I don’t think I have seen them before when we have visited in July. Certainly not in the numbers there were this June.

I regularly saw a Long-tailed Blue flying around a Polygala bush and zipping around the garden. However, it never appeared to land for more than a second. Other garden visitors were Small Whites, Geranium Bronzes and the odd Bath White.

Out on the track that ran past the villa was a steep bank, covered in Thyme, which was a big attraction to butterflies (and consequently me!). Here I would regularly see Meadow Browns, Southern Gatekeepers, Spanish Gatekeepers, Small Skippers and Western Dappled Whites.

Early one morning I set off up a steep path to the top of the mountain behind the house. Here I was pleased to see a lot of Wall Browns. It was strange that I only saw them there and not lower down.

There were also beautiful Dusky Heaths along with Clouded Yellows and various other species seen nearer the villa.

A visit to an area next to the River Guadalhorce specifically to look for African Grass Blues. Eventually I managed to find a couple of very worn individuals which were being chased by Mediterranean Skippers.

Other butterflies there were Southern Brown Argus, a Southern Blue and Mallow Skippers.

Generally, I think this was a better time of year to visit, as there were certainly more butterflies flying around. The one butterfly that I normally see in the summer is Lang’s Short-tailed Blue, but we were too early for that. I find it interesting visiting the same area at different times of year. We have now been to Alora in April, June, July and September.

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!