The weather was actually good today. A little cloud in the afternoon but otherwise impeccable. I got to my hilltopping site shortly after 10h00, in full sunshine, and the very first hilltoppers were beginning their frolics. Walls always call the first shots, closely followed by long-tailed blues. Soon, several Spanish marbled whites were up there with them but before it really got going I headed off for the Provence hairstreak site to see if they really were over. It seems so - at this site at least. Not a sniff of one, and I know they fly there in good numbers. On the way there, I encountered another indication of what an incredibly early season it is - a Spanish gatekeeper. In total, I saw half a dozen of these during the day. These should not really be on the wing before the end of April. Black-eyed blues were common during the day and I caught up with a few Spanish festoons, though not many. Other new species for the visit were both swallowtails, speckled wood and Cleopatra, of which I saw just one female. I came down relatively early in yet another mission to find Ziz Knys Finally, success - I found a single, rather weary (but also wary) male. For a moment, I had in my field of vision Europe’s largest and smallest butterflies - a monarch, swooping around the Lantana, and an African grass blue creeping around in the dirt.
Here are a few pictures:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/2apr2019a.jpg)
(A tranquil scene up in the hills)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/melanops2apr2019a.jpg)
(black-eyed blue)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/rumina2apr2019b.jpg)
(Spanish festoon)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/ines2apr2019b.jpg)
(Spanish marbled white)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/bathseba2apr2019b.jpg)
(Spanish gatekeeper)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/machaon2apr2019a.jpg)
(swallowtail)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/feisthamelii2apr2019b.jpg)
(Iberian scarce swallowtail)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/feisthameliialmond2apr2019a.jpg)
(another, on a wild almond tree)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/phlaeas2apr2019a.jpg)
(Small copper)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/crocea2apr2019a.jpg)
(clouded yellow)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/helice2apr2019a.jpg)
(helice)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/knysna2apr2019a.jpg)
(African grass blue)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/plexippus2apr2019a.jpg)
(monarch)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/swifts2apr2019a.jpg)
(swifts at my hilltopping site)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/boeticus2apr2019a.jpg)
(a pair of long-tailed blues at that site in the afternoon - this is what they go there for)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/beeeater2apr2019a.jpg)
(bee-eaters were rarely far away - but almost impossible to photograph)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2019/stonechat2apr2019b.jpg)
(stonechat)
Must get some sleep now, to be up in time for more action tomorrow. According to my iPhone stats, I’ve walked more than 100km in total over the last three days (31km on Sunday, 39km yesterday and 33km today) and my feet are feeling the strain.
Guy