Picos de Europa, NW Spain - 6th to 12th July 2021

[David M]

My overall impression was, like in the UK this year, that although the range of species was excellent, individual numbers of butterflies weren't particularly impressive. Many of the 80+ species I saw were either singletons or in low, single figure numbers.

Papilionidae

I only saw one member of this group, and that was Apollo. I get the impression they are not that common in this region - I only saw 7 throughout the trip, even though I found plenty of the LHP. I wasn't prepared to go racing after them (I only actually saw one land; and that was very brief) so no images.

I was quite surprised to see neither Swallowtail nor Iberian Scarce Swallowtail, which were the two other members of this group resident in this area.

1. Apollo

Pieridae

There were plenty of Small Whites, quite a few Green Veined, but only TWO Large Whites during the trip.

I saw just 3 Black Veined Whites, and all three were looking worn.

I had a Bath White fly past me on Day 3, which was the only one I saw all week, and even Clouded Yellows weren't numerous, with no more than a couple of dozen seen.

I didn't see any Berger's Clouded Yellows until this female appeared 1,300m up a mountain on the penultimate day:

I saw a couple more later that day as well as a handful on my final day.

Brimstones popped up here and there, and Cleopatras were extremely frustrating. I kept seeing them flying by the roadsides when I was driving, but I only saw two when I was on foot.

Even Wood Whites were scarce. I thought I was going to miss out till I saw two on a woodland path on my second to last day. I then saw two more the following afternoon.

2. Small White
3. Green Veined White
4. Large White
5. Bath White
6. Clouded Yellow
7. Berger's Clouded Yellow
8. Brimstone
9. Cleopatra
10. Black Veined White
11. Wood White

[selbypaul]

Great start to the report David!

I'm so glad you managed to get away, and to an area of Europe I also want to visit at some point in the next few years too. Garvanie Blue, Chapmans Ringlet and Dusky Large Blue are three species I have yet to see!

Look forward to reading the rest of your report too.

Thanks, Paul. Yes, if you've never been to this region, you won't have ever seen Chapman's Ringlet. Gavarnie & Dusky Large Blue are pretty scarce elsewhere too.

Had I have had the energy to undertake a 5 hour round trip I might have looked for Forster's Furry Blue (near Burgos). That's another you won't see outside northern Spain.

I am lucky enough to have seen Forster's Furry Blue when I visited the Spanish Pyrenees in July 2017. It was just outside the village of Berdun. We had hoped to see Garvanie Blue on that trip also, but on the day we went to their known local location in the mountains, we had torrential rain!

[David M]

I am lucky enough to have seen Forster's Furry Blue when I visited the Spanish Pyrenees in July 2017. It was just outside the village of Berdun. We had hoped to see Garvanie Blue on that trip also, but on the day we went to their known local location in the mountains, we had torrential rain!

Win some, lose some, Paul. To be honest, looking back I wish I'd have had a go as the change in habitat/location might have thrown in a few other species too. One for another time!

[BarrieS]

Really enjoying reading your write up to this great and beautiful area - did you see Wallcreeper at Fuente De? From what you've said so far David, you have done well to see good numbers of the area'a specialities and i'm looking forward to see what else is on your list. There is a limestone area in the Castilian Plains we visited one August where many 'grayling' types were found, but I would imagine you may have been just too early. I heard today your Montes Universales trip is on for next week, so good look with that and I'll kook forward to reading your report soon.
When will you be venturing out to Eastern Europe?

[David M]

Hi Barrie. I didn't see any wallcreepers, but I was accosted by three hungry alpine choughs the moment I stepped onto the massif!!

Yes, it was a bit early for the Grayling 'storm', but I hope to reacquaint myself with that in Montes Universales in a couple of weeks. The trip is scheduled to go ahead, but the way things seem to be changing on an almost daily basis I wouldn't consider it a done deal at the moment.

As for eastern Europe, I'll be dipping my feet in as soon as this blasted pandemic allows me to!!

[David M]

Lycaenids - Coppers

Purple-Edged Copper was the most commonly seen of this group, with quite a few sharing the damp habitat where I found Dusky Large Blue. Quite a few popped up in a couple of other damp spots, and I also managed to stumble upon a mating pair:

Here's a male:

...a female:

I don't know what the hippothoe equivalent of caeruleopunctata is, but this female had a very attractive row of blue hindwing spots:

I didn't see Purple Shot Copper until the penultimate day, with a couple more turning up on the last day:

The only other members of this group seen were two Sooty Coppers:

I looked hard for the local miegii form of Scarce Copper on the final two days, but was unable to locate any.

12. Purple Edged Copper
13. Purple Shot Copper
14. Sooty Copper

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Hairstreaks

Fair few of these around, mainly in the drier locations.

Commonest was undoubtedly False Ilex Hairstreak, with 50+ seen:

Sloe Hairstreaks weren't far behind in number:

Ilex Hairstreak was about, but I only saw a handful and this is the best image I could get:

Two others seen - I disturbed a Purple Hairstreak in the oak forest leading up to the high, open mountain slopes at Fuente Dé. I didn't manage an image of that one but I did get a few shots of the solitary Blue Spot Hairstreak seen, and it was a beautiful and immaculate individual:

I looked out for Spanish Purple Hairstreak, but sadly didn't see any.

15. False Ilex Hairstreak
16. Ilex Hairstreak
17. Sloe Hairstreak
18. Purple Hairstreak
19. Blue Spot Hairstreak

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues

As well as Dusky Large Blue and Gavarnie Blue, there were plenty of other members of this family around, although several were seen in disappointingly low numbers.

One which bucked that trend was Long Tailed Blue. They were extremely common (probably approaching 200 during the course of the week):

I was delighted to find several Short Tailed Blues, as I don't often encounter this species. They were frequently found in scrubby fields and even in a vegetable garden near my hotel. Sadly, all I saw were quite worn meaning that their flight season must have been coming to an end:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues, cont...

In contrast to Long Tailed Blue, the other migrant that can appear in numbers, Lang's Short Tailed Blue, was scarce. I only saw four all week:

Similarly, Escher's Blue was thin on the ground, with only two definites seen at the same site on the Thursday:

Even the normally common Mazarine Blue was only found in low numbers. I found about half a dozen at lower altitudes:

A few more were seen higher up, including this aberrant:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues, cont...

Silver Studded Blues were quite common between 1,000 and 1,300m. The local specimens here have very broad black margins:

Several lovely Turquoise Blues were seen, always in isolation, which I find to be the norm with this species:

There were two species where I found just single individuals. The first caught my eye after I'd stopped to look for Chapman's Ringlet at the roadside on Day 1. This can only be Green Underside Blue:

The other was seen at a flowery roadside on Day 3. It was Small Blue size but had blue uppers. It's a worn specimen but I'm confident it is Osiris Blue, especially seeing how it kept settling on sainfoin, which is what they do in the Pyrenees in late spring when I often see good numbers of them:

20. Dusky Large Blue
21. Mazarine Blue
22. Turquoise Blue
23. Silver Studded Blue
24. Long Tailed Blue
25. Green Underside Blue
26. Short Tailed Blue
27. Holly Blue
28. Common Blue
29. Lang's Short Tailed Blue
30. Brown Argus
31. Osiris Blue
32. Escher's Blue
33. Mountain Argus
34. Adonis Blue
35. Gavarnie Blue
36. Small Blue

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Aristocrats...

As is often the case, there weren't too many of these seen. I reckon I encountered about a dozen Red Admirals, but I only saw two Painted Ladies, although this one was so fresh I couldn't resist it:

The odd, random Small Tortoiseshell would appear at altitude, whilst lower down there were a handful of Commas. Perhaps my greatest surprise was seeing two Peacocks; that's one vanessid I don't expect to see in southern European mountain ranges.

I went looking for Southern White Admiral on the last two afternoons, in lightly wooded locations near rivers. I thought I'd found one but my image proved that it was camilla instead:

37. Small Tortoiseshell
38. Painted Lady
39. Red Admiral
40. Comma
41. White Admiral
42. Peacock

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries

In contrast to the previous group, Fritillaries were well represented. There's no doubt Cardinal is amongst the most highly prized of this family, and I duly managed to see three, which was a little disappointing but I spent a good 15 minutes with this one during a relatively cloudy period:

[essexbuzzard]

You did well to organise it and get out there, David. Having been to the Picos a few years back, I was struck by the scenery, among the finest I have encountered. And the cable car at Fuente De is quite something, isn’t it! There was a spectacular show of flowers when I was there, too.

Fortune favours the brave, David. Well done.

[David M]

Thanks, Mark. In actual fact the logistics weren't too onerous. It was the apprehension beforehand as to whether the rules would suddenly change that was the worst part.

As for the scenery, yes, it's right up there with the mountains rising very sharply and the countryside being very green for Spain. Add in a few endemics/near endemics and it's really a place everyone should visit at some point, although there will doubtless be a few who will baulk at the cable car ride.

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries, cont....

Apart from Cardinal, the other member of this group that gave me most pleasure was seeing so many Queen of Spain Fritillaries. In the Alps, I normally come across the odd singleton at altitude but in the Picos they were common at lower altitudes as well. I certainly saw 50+:

By contrast, Spotted Fritillaries which I usually see in good numbers, were scarce, with fewer than 10 individuals seen, although I did see both males and females:

Knapweed Fritillaries were also thin on the ground with only single figures recorded:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries, cont....

One species that always makes me work hard at the beginning of a trip is Lesser Marbled Fritillary. For some reason, I'm never expecting them so when an infuriatingly dithery, medium sized Frit suddenly turns up in a damp area I'm always eager to take a closer look.

It was an effort to properly identify the first few, but in actual fact, as I quickly realised, there were decent numbers about:

Another Fritillary that gave me a start was this one:

It looked just like Grison's Fritillary with the little 'dumbbell' at the base of the forewings, but only one problem - that species doesn't occur in Spain!

It had to be a rather oddly patterned Provençal Fritillary:

There were fair numbers of these about, including a few females which are much easier to identify:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries, cont....

Plenty of the UK Frits were seen. As ever, Heath Fritillary was commonest:

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries were easy to find in the damper spots:

A handful of Glanvilles here and there:

Just the one Marsh Fritillary, although it was in decent nick:

There were several Dark Green Frits seen, as well as a solitary, rather faded Pearl Bordered Fritillary. In fact, the only UK Fritillaries I didn't see were High Brown and Silver Washed, which was a bit of a surprise.

43. Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary
44. Heath Fritillary
45. Spotted Fritillary
46. Lesser Marbled Fritillary
47. Knapweed Fritillary
48. Glanville Fritillary
49. Queen of Spain Fritillary
50. Cardinal
51. Dark Green Fritillary
52. Provençal Fritillary
53. Marbled Fritillary
54. Marsh Fritillary
55. Pearl Bordered Fritillary

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Erebia

Chapman's Ringlet was the prized member of this group, and it was also the one most frequently seen. A few Lefebvre's Ringlets were recorded on the Fuente Dé plateau, along with several Western Brassy Ringlets, whose flight pattern is very distinctive, as if someone has wound them up via clockwork so that their wings flap at very fast speed.

The other member of this group seen was Piedmont Ringlet. Hard to know how many I saw because I didn't get close enough to most to be absolutely certain. I sense that they were around in low double figures:

56. Chapman's Ringlet
57. Piedmont Ringlet
58. Western Brassy Ringlet
59. Lefebvre's Ringlet

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Marbled Whites

Three of these on offer. The scarcest (and most desirable) was Esper's Marbled White. They're not easy to tell apart from Iberian MW in flight, so I can't be sure how many were around. I saw three definites at rest though, one of which I managed an image of:

Iberian Marbled White was much commoner, but nothing like the near-plague numbers seen in Montes Universales:

Easily the most numerous was our own galathea; the Cantabrian ones looking much like ours too rather than the much darker form I'm used to seeing in the French Alps.

I wasn't sure whether they occurred in these mountains, but they certainly do - hundreds of them, although they didn't overlap much with the other two in this group:

60. Esper's Marbled White
61. Iberian Marbled White
62. Marbled White

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Graylings and Heaths

In contrast to the Grayling fest I experience in Montes Universales at the end of July/early August, this trip only saw me find two of this family. The first was semele on the third day, and I then found a solitary Rock Grayling on the penultimate day:

There were three Heaths - Small Heath, of which I saw around a dozen, Pearly Heath, which was very common, and the lovely iphioides form of Chestnut Heath, which was around in decent numbers in the right habitat:

63. Grayling
64. Rock Grayling
65. Small Heath
66. Pearly Heath
67. Chestnut Heath