Yesterday afternoon (12th) I saw a female Long-tailed Blue showing interest in a Gorse bush with some flowers out on the Bournemouth cliff-top. She soon decided that it was not what she wanted and flew off without having her picture taken.

M.

Nick It could possibly be the ssp. nevadensis of the Idas Blue. In the Sierra Nevada the male upper sides of Idas and Silver-studded are barely distinguishable. However, the undersides are the key; the Silver-studded being "chalky white" to quote Tolman, while Idas has greyish undersides. ...

Looks good to me. It's very like the "Scottish specimen" illustrated in Waring & Townsend.

M.

Nobody else has commented so I will. I feel your Southern Small White posted on 20 May is actually a Green-veined White female. I think we may have met briefly at Kozhukh hill while in search of Iolas Blues. Thanks to Mario's help we saw them next day near Kerkini.

M.

Female Common Heath, and the larger moth Ophiusa tirhaca, La Pistachière.

M.

Not sure what the marking on the right hind-wing is doing, but this is Itame vincularia.

M

Plenty of sun, but a coolish north wind, suggested a walk in the shelter of the cliffs. Not a lot about, other than Small Whites, but I did see my first Clouded Yellow of the spring. I had missed out on the one seen by False Apollo (Mike Gibbons) on the 25th. Today's was decidedly undersized, about ...

Russ, it,s a Pine-tree Lappet Dendrolimus pini iberica.

M.

Russ, your burnet is Zygaena lavandulae. It feeds on Dorycnium and Anthyllis.

M.

The cocoon reminds me of that of the Fox moth, however you are within the range of the closely related Macrothylacia digramma, which replaces the Fox moth in most of Iberia. One of its larval host plants is the Pistachio, hence its French name Bombyx du pistacier.

M.

Phil. The grasshopper looks very like Heteracris littoralis. However, there is another Heteracris in Spain, H. adspersa, which seems to be very similar, and in the absence of any literature on Spanish orthoptera, I can"t say which it is.

M.

I think your orchis is the Giant Orchid Himantoglossum robertianum. Older books will have it in the genus Barlia.

M.

It was -3.3C this morning, colder than for at least the last two winters. This afternoon at around half past two, in the Lower Gardens, Bournemouth, I decided to have a look in the rockery that catches the afternoon sun, thinking there might be a Red Admiral, as I had seen one nearby on 23 December....

The caterpillar could well be the Scarce Bordered Straw (or Old World Bollworm) Helicoverpa armigera. The larvae of this species are exceedingly variable, hence my hesitation. They are polyphagous.

M.

For your interest the spider looks very much like Aculepeira annulipes aka the Teide spider, endemic to Tenerife. A great find.

M.

Have just seen your posting of 4 Dec., and the unidentified bush-cricket. It is a final instar nymph of the Wartbiter.

M.

This is a difficult one, and I'm prepared to be shot down in flames, but I'm not convinced that this is a Scarce Tortoiseshell. I would welcome an opinion from Pieter.

M.

Guy Val d'Aran is on north slope of Pyrenees, Andorra on south slope. galathea comes south of the watershed where the passes are not too high, e.g. eastern Cantabrian mts (Reinosa area) and western Pyrenees. In the central Pyrenees and the higher parts of the eastern Pyr. it's galathea to the north ...

Two marbled whites occur in Andorra - lachesis and russiae. See: http://www.iea.ad/cartografia-de-papall ... -d-andorra Scroll down for list of species, and click on right hand name for map.

M.
It seems the link doesn't work.

Russ I've been pondering on your orange butterflies, and like David I suspect they are day-flying moths. The time of year is wrong for Oak Eggar, and there is another candidate in the shape of Lemonia dumi , the Patrician's Shrub Moth, or if you prefer Brune du pissenlit which flies in the autumn. T...