Spainish Sites near Malaga end of May 2016

[Lee Hurrell]

Hi all

I am lucky enough to have a week in Spain, near Malaga with nothing to do except explore and take photos. I will have use of a car.

Are there any sites nearby that anyone knows of and would recommend?

I am staying in the village of Los Romanes, north east of Malaga in the last week of May.

Thanks in advance,

Lee

[NickMorgan]

Lee,
I was waiting to see if someone who knows more than me answered this, but as no one has here goes!
I have only visited the Malaga area in July and found it to be quite parched and butterflies were only in the higher mountains or in river valleys.
The two places I did find that were very good were Gibraltar and the Sierra Nevada. Both quite a drive from Malaga.
I was delighted to find so many species in the Sierra Nevada in July and would recommend going there to anyone. Late May will be quite different from July. I went to the main ski resort at Hoya de la Mora (I think that's how it is spelt!) and walked from there. In July there was still a little snow in the higher shady areas, but plenty of flowers and butterflies. I also stopped a couple of times on the road back down the mountains and found a couple of hot spots. I am sure that the lower sites will be good in May.
Have you seen this book http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/medioamb ... lr=lang_es I bought the book, but it is available as pdfs on this web site. It will give you an idea of what is flying in the Sierra Nevada in May.
Also I hear that Sierra de las Nieves is good for butterflies, but I haven't been there.
I am intending to go back to the Sierra Nevada in July when we will be on holiday in Malaga. Well worth the three hour drive.

[Lee Hurrell]

Hi Nick,

Many thanks for your detailed reply. I was hoping that be being just before high summer it wouldn't be quite as parched as southern Spain can be.

Funnily enough I do want to visit both Gibraltar and the Sierra Nevada but was thinking they might be to far for a day trip. We'll see!

Thanks for the link too

Best wishes,

Lee

[Pieter Vantieghem]

You might find this website informative, although the lay-out is a bit oldfashioned. It is the site of an Andalucian lepidopterist, Felipe Gil-T. - and gathers all his published papers, lot of them - not all - are about Andalucian butterflies.
http://gil-t.comze.com/publications.htm

[Pieter Vantieghem]

And for the period you want to go, I would suggest some Lycaenids to focus on.
- Plebejus hespericus is an Iberian endemic, most of the populations can be found in the centre of Spain, in the mountains from the Madrid region to Teruel. A few populations however still exist in Andalucia. From one location I once accidently found a pdf, search for larval foodplants on this location: http://iesaricel.org/w/images/9/97/Info ... Elvira.pdf
- Another taxon I would suggest you can search for is Iolana iolas, the Spanish/North African populations of this species are sometimes considered as a different species than the populations in the rest of Europe, Iolana (iolas) debilis. There are some vague locations in this paper: http://www.sea-entomologia.org/PDF/Bole ... 17-085.pdf
The trick will be to find the larval foodplants Colutea arborea, once you have found these you can be really on the lookout for this species.
- Tarucus theophrastus should be easily found at Cabo de Gata, searching for larval foodplants.
- There are 2 taxa of Cupido of interest that can be found flying in that period in Andalucia; Cupido lorquinii and Cupido minimus carswelli. The first one should not be a big problem to find, for the other one you should have some more information

[Lee Hurrell]

Hi Pieter

Many thanks for the information and links - very interesting.

I'm excited about what I may find!

Best wishes,

Lee