We landed in very breezy weather conditions, picked up the hire car and headed straight to the coast not far from the airport, hoping to find Common Tiger Blues. The wind was keeping most insect life grounded, but in a sheltered spot we found our first butterflies,
Green-striped White and Black-eyed Blue, both of which we would go on to find at many other locations over the next few days.
Common Tiger Blue was proving elusive, and after about an hour of searching we were on the verge of giving up when a tiny Lycaenid briefly took to the wing in front of us. This proved to be the one and only Common Tiger Blue of the entire trip. Unusual weather conditions prior to our visit (including 4 metres of snow on the Sierra Nevada) were playing havoc with emergence times of quite a few species, and Common Tiger Blue appeared to be one of those affected.
We eventually gave up on the windy conditions and headed for what would be our home base for the week, a villa in the Sierra de Los Filabres, making a brief supermarket stop on the way.
Sunday 25th March
Today we headed to a coastal site not far from Vera, where we hoped to find Desert Orange Tip. The weather was overcast and still quite a cool 12 degrees when we arrived, but conditions gradually improved and a few Wall Browns began to appear on the wing, along with Green-striped White, Southern Brown Argus and Southern Small White. These were joined by a Lang's Short-tailed Blue and a Swallowtail, but still no sign of our main quarry. I had just gone back to photograph one of the Caper plants and as I approached the plant, I flushed up a male Desert Orange Tip, much to our delight! Soon we had another male, and as the temperature rose, three females appeared and began egg-laying enthusiastically right in front of us. We observed several eggs being laid on the unopened flower buds, but surprisingly the females seemed to be more interested in ovipositing on dead pieces of grasss, twigs, or other debris, deep down in amongst the Caper plants. I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has had experience of this species egg-laying in such a manner.
My only previous experience of Desert Orange Tip was at this same site two years ago, but two weeks later in the season. On that occasion, I spent a frustrating hour chasing two hyperactive males up and down the slopes, desperately trying to photograph them. It seems that this species was on the wing earlier this year, and the butterflies were much better behaved, allowing some good photo-opportunities. We left this site very happy with our findings, moving on a little further north up the coast, where we encountered more Black-eyed Blues, along with western Dappled White and Mallow Skipper. Bob had by now picked up three new life-ticks, and I had seen my first female Desert Orange Tips and got some half-decent shots, so we celebrated with a couple of bottles of red wine that evening!
Monday 26th March
Today we visited the Hoya de Baza, where we met up with Peter Cawdell, fellow enthusiast, good friend, and invaluable source of local knowledge of Spanish butterflies. Arriving at 11am, it was cold and cloudy as we walked towards our target site, a high ridge with prominent hilltops, where we hoped to find the rare and vulnerable Spanish Greenish Black-tip. The weather really wasn't looking promising and as we reached the hilltop itself, the breeze had stiffened considerably. A few breaks appeared in the cloud, and by 12 noon we had a couple of windows of opportunity. Some smallish white butterflies began to make their way up the slopes. I recognised these from previous experience as probable Portuguese Dappled Whites, and we soon confirmed this.
Lafranchis makes the following comment on this butterfly - "flight usually low and rather slow" - but that certainly was not our experience, watching these small but determined butterflies battling against a very stiff breeze to reach their hilltop assembling points!
Other whites up on the hilltop included Green-striped White and Bath White, but there was still no sign of our main target. I was about to wander along the ridge to the next hilltop when Bob let out a cry of "BAZAE!", and there it was, small, bright deep yellow, and unmistakeable; the Spanish Greenish Black-tip! Over the next couple of hours we had plenty of visits from hill-topping males, but the Spanish Greenish Black-tip is notoriously difficult to approach and photograph, as it rarely stops for long. I only managed a few poor shots at full zoom, of which this is probably the best, heavily cropped:
After the thrill of seeing one of Europes rarest butterflies in its unique habitat, we were all set to head home in a very happy state of mind, but first, Peter had offered to take us a little further north to a site near Galera where he had seen Provence Hairstreak some years back. The weather was clouding over as we left the hilltops, but given that Provence Hairstreak was my "most wanted" species, we just had to drive on and take a look.
Despite the mainly overcast conditions, it wasn't long before Peter had found us a Provence Hairstreak, much to my great delight! We saw two on this site, and I had gained my first "Lifer" of 2018! Needless to say, we arrived back at our villa tired but delighted with our experiences, and the red wine was duly imbibed in celebration once again!
Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th March
We spent the next two days in the Sierra de Los Filabres, surveying the areas around our villa and nearby hillsides and the local Rambla. On some old terraces at an altitude of around 530m we found more Provence Hairstreaks at a site that Peter had mentioned to us as having previously had this species. We also found it at a couple of other localities, and I was indescribably happy to have the opportunity to take a few photographs:
They are stunning creatures! This was without doubt the highlight of the trip for me. It was great to get to know them. They really can be difficult to follow in flight, perhaps not surprising for a butterfly that looks like the bastard offspring of a Green Hairstreak and Small Copper, but once you have your eye in, they are unmistakeable in flight. The difference in size between the females and males was something that I hadn't been expecting. We watched males patrolling territories, saw an unsuccessful attempt at courtship, and followed an egg-laying female as she cased out a terrace rich in Medick for egg-laying sites.
Other species present in the area included Cleopatra, Clouded Yellow, Geranium Bronze, Western Dappled White and Iberian Scarce Swallowtail, the latter two being photographed below:
We also found plenty of Southern Brown Argus and Mallow Skippers, although there is a possibility that some of the Mallow Skippers may have been False Mallow Skippers.
A single Nettle-tree Butterfly turned up along one of the Ramblas, but despite giving us a lovely upperside view, it didn't hang around long enough to be photographed...
We also found what I believe is a Rosy Grizzled Skipper. Given the markings, time of year and habitat I can't think what else it could be:
And another butterfly who's ID might be open to debate is this one - rather a poor shot but to me this looks like a good candidate for the Southern Blue, or Austadt's Blue, P.celina
Thursday 29th March
Today we embarked on a 250 mile round trip to take in a couple of sites further west. This involved a drive west from Almeria along the Mediterranean motorway (A7), and the drive was quite a depressing experience as we passed mile after mile of intensive agriculture, in the form of tens of thousands of acres covered in plastic greenhouses, a veritable ecological disaster for the area. In places every available piece of flat ground was covered for as far as the eye could see, not only depriving the local flora and fauna of any habitat, but also apparently affecting the local microclimate. All of this just so that the rest of Europe can enjoy tomatoes, cucumbers, vegetables and other "seasonal" fresh produce all year round. It was quite an eye-opener, and not in a good way.
We eventually reached our target site, a coastal area near Motril, where we hoped to have a chance to see Monarch and Plain Tiger, but we were out of luck, and after an hour with just a single Large White sighting we left. Bob navigated us to a cracking roadside site in the foothills near La Garnatilla, where we stumbled onto a good colony of Spanish Festoons.
Beautiful creatures! They were flying on hot dry slopes rich in flowers, in the company of Clouded Yellows, Cleopatras and Provence Orange Tips.
Friday 30th March
The weather began to deteriorate on our last day, as rain moved into the hills, so after a last early morning walk down the Rambla, we packed up and prepared for our return journey early on Saturday.
What a fantastic week! Many thanks to Bob for putting up with my company all week, and to Peter for invaluable help with site locations. Roll on my next European trip - France in early June!
Thanks for sharing!
