continued on from part 6
Then I was into some good ole’ ever-present Southern Gatekeepers a butterfly I’d grown rather fond of over the time I’d spent here
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
. Strangely though all bar one appeared to be females
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
.
Heading back to the others I entered the apartment block gardens through the back gate and immediately spotted a Speckled Wood on a lanterna bush
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
.
The Specklie wasn’t the only butterfly. A small fast-flying blue (could it be a Long-tailed
![Idea :idea:](./images/smilies/icon_idea.gif)
?) was also flying around the bush. It wasn’t long-tailed but a Lang’s Short-tailed Blue, a first for this holiday (and an expected species that was a long time in coming)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
.
Lang’s Short-tailed Blues had featured in both my August 2015 trip to France and December trip to Spain in that same year.
For the afternoon, we took a trip to the beach at Cabopino. As ever I found a little bit of time to explore the dunes. My first capture was a small striped lizard which turned out to be another Fringe-toed Lizard in its striking juvenile colours
![Cool 8)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
![G 2017.08.18 IMG_9932 Acanthodactylus erythrurus, Fringe-toed Lizard, Dunas de Artola o Cabopino.jpg (920.72 KiB) Viewed 1670 times evidence that smokers have been amongst the dunes. Careless as there’s plenty of tinder for fires](./files/thumb_10062_4a51f4c61aeddf832799583f87e06198)
- evidence that smokers have been amongst the dunes. Careless as there’s plenty of tinder for fires
On the dunes, I put in a lot of searching hoping to find another Wall Brown but all in vain. There were plenty of Grasshoppers; Cicada’s using the boardwalk uprights as staging posts; the black and white Cuckoo bee and the ‘ginormous’ Carpenter bee. However, there was one new discovery, and that was a striking two-tone geometrid moth which I was able to identify as
Itame vincularia a moth which as far as I know has never been recorded in the UK.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
My only butterfly record for that visit was the Common Blue (or should that be Southern Blue
Polyommatus celina).
Paella again for dinner. For a family of 4 best bought as a 2 x 2 rather than 1 x 4.
19/08/17. And so, the last day. Despite the early evening flight back my other half was concerned of the possibility of delays from extra security checks at Malaga airport following the Barcelona terror attack. Any plans I had for squeezing in a quick visit to Benalmadena butterfly house were scuppered
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
. As it turned out, our early return to the airport (following the return of the hire car) left us with loads of time to kill waiting for our flight (exacerbated by the fact it was 50 minutes late anyway)
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
. Touring the airport shops using up the last of our money was not my idea of fun. Airport checks were no different than normal
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
.
The morning was spent getting our stuff together for a 10:00 check-out at Santa Cruz reception on the main resort. This had been our initial port of call on our arrival on the 5th. The family wanted to pass the time of day at Santa Cruz relaxing around the pools but there was no way I was going to rummage through my case to unpack my cozzie. This was a perfect excuse to nip off and do one last recce of my MP areas. Before that though, I searched around the Santa Cruz gardens and came up with my first and only Humming-bird Hawk-moth of the holiday
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
.
Nothing was seen at MP3 so I went on to MP2 where I found a Mallow Skipper. I was able to get a reasonable slice of the underside too
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
. Another Crimson Speckled moth (in better condition) was also seen and a Scolid wasp species (not a Mammoth wasp)
Back at Santa Cruz the others were still by the pool and I volunteered to make myself useful by guarding our belongings by the sun loungers. Close by, two flowering ornamental bushes of the fabaceae family ensured my attention wasn’t undivided as the occasional geranium Bronze dropped by and then a Lang’s and finally Lampides boeticus a Long-tailed Blue. It was fitting that this was my last butterfly of the holiday and somewhat of relief after confidently assuring Wurzel and others that this species is a “given” sighting wherever/whenever abroad
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
. A last minute one for me on this holiday
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
.
So that’s it folks. For me it was a good holiday made into a great one
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
. I saw 9 "lifers" (Charlie Wilson; Ronnie Knight ….
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
(8 photographed): -
Muschampia proto (Sage Skipper);
Gegenes nostrodamus (Mditerranean Skipper);
Charaxes jasius (Two-tailed Pasha);
Pyrgus onopordi (Rosy Grizzled Skipper);
Argynnis pandora (Cardinal);
Neohipparchia staltinus (Tree Grayling);
Coenoympha dorus (Dusky Heath);
Pseudotergumia fidia (Striped Grayling) and
Hipparchia alcyone (Rock Grayling). Two others were confirmed: -
Pyronia cecelia (Southern Gatekeeper (slight doubt on the one in France)) and
Iphiclides feisthameli (Southern Swallowtail (also doubt on the one in France)).
In addition, there were the Common Blues and Brown Argus’s. I’m confident that my Common Blues were celina or Southern Blues. I think it is now classified as a separate species rather than a sub-species of Icarus
![Question :?:](./images/smilies/icon_question.gif)
Icarus may have been seen too.
Regarding Brown Argus I need some expert help on this one as I believe the classification and distribution of Aricia is more complicated? Are my Brown Argus’s
Aricia agestis agestis or
Aricia agestis cramera or
Aricia cramera the Southern Brown Argus? Both
celina and
cramera add two more lifers and it is academic whether they are species or sub-species as they cannot be seen in the UK. Of course I may have seen
A. agestis agestis a form of which just happens to have bold underside lunules
The confirmed whites were Small (
rapae). The others: - Geranium Bronze; Speckled Wood; Small Copper; Swallowtail; Holly Blue; Clouded Yellow; Lang’s Short-tailed Blue; Mallow Skipper; Long-tailed Blue and a possible African Migrant I have seen before some in the UK, some abroad and some both in the UK and abroad. In all a minimum total of 24 species and that’s not forgetting the moths; spiders; wasps; bees; beetles; bugs; grasshoppers; dragonflies; etc. etc. plus the 6ft Montpellier snake; lizards and a couple of new bird species to boot
![Cool 8)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
. So not bad for a two-week holiday that on the surface didn’t seem to promise much
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
.
If you ever find yourself out on a family holiday to Spain in the heat of August and you need a bit more than the usual holiday trappings, take the time to explore, check-out the waste ground, the gardens and if possible the national parks …. there
is plenty to see
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
.
Phil