Greenwings: Montes Universales/Valencia coast, Spain, 30 July - 7 August 2021

[selbypaul]

I replied before seeing your latest post. Are those really morronensis? I would have called them montensis, which also feeds on storksbill.

100% morronensis, Guy. It was Miguel Munguira who tipped us off about this isolated location in 2019.

It is tiny; smaller than agestis, whereas montensis is visibly larger than the cramera with which it sometimes flies, and has quite pointy forewings.

I'd say it's like the difference in size between a Silver Studded Blue and an Adonis Blue. The orange lunules in montensis are much more extensive too.

Definitely morronesis, Guy. Not that David's expertise in ID needs any backing up! But having visited with David in 2019 and studied all my photos and guidebooks, just to make absolutely sure I'd seen what I thought I'd seen, I am as 100% sure as David.

[Padfield]

I don't doubt you, and I've learnt something today, as I noted in my previous reply! This is clearly a very variable species!

Guy

[Andy02]

Interesting subject. As David knows , I was there the week before. This is a montensis I took a photo of at a nearby site. I didn’t get time to go up for morronensis. Too busy trying to find the ringlet

[David M]

Thanks for that image, Andy. I had trawled through my own but only have an underside shot, which doesn't really help a great deal.

Of course, what an image generally can't do is give one an indication of size. However, when seen in the flesh, there is a huge difference between the tiny morronensis and the unusually large montensis.

This Spanish Argus colony is extremely isolated, and there seems to be no information regarding which form flies at this site. Given the prominent unf spots, I'm minded to think that it most resembles form hesselbarthi, which would also explain the relatively extensive orange lunules, which are lacking in the nominate form.

I'll happily give you the site details, Guy, and when you visit you'll be able to see for yourself.

[David M]

Of the 'Big Four', there was only one disappointment, and that was Southern Hermit.

We spent the whole of the first day at the rambla where they can be most reliably found, but none were seen. I could sense a few of the guests were getting twitchy towards the end of the trip, so I gave everyone an option on the final afternoon: the scheduled stop at the canyon on the outskirts of Albarracin or a repeat visit to the rambla.

Three chose the rambla, and thankfully it didn't take long to locate prieuri, so four of us did get to see it. However, it was the only one of the trip and some missed out which is a shame as this is a striking butterfly and a heavyweight rarity.

The clue is in the name....you never see many of them, but we usually rack up at least half a dozen on this trip and I hope in future years they will be more numerous again.

[Padfield]

Thanks for that image, Andy. I had trawled through my own but only have an underside shot, which doesn't really help a great deal.

Of course, what an image generally can't do is give one an indication of size. However, when seen in the flesh, there is a huge difference between the tiny morronensis and the unusually large montensis.

This Spanish Argus colony is extremely isolated, and there seems to be no information regarding which form flies at this site. Given the prominent unf spots, I'm minded to think that it most resembles form hesselbarthi, which would also explain the relatively extensive orange lunules, which are lacking in the nominate form.

I'll happily give you the site details, Guy, and when you visit you'll be able to see for yourself.

Thank you David. When the time comes, I'll take you up on that!

Fantastic prieuri - that's another that would be a lifer for me.

Guy

[David M]

No problem, Guy. You'll need help with prieuri, so I'll forward the site details for that too.

If you're anything like me, I'm sure you'll fall in love with zapateri at first sight.

[David M]

I'll run through the butterflies seen by family.

The first is straightforward:

Danaidae

1. Plain Tiger

[David M]

Papilionidae

Having seen no Swallowtails in northern Spain in early July, I was glad to see both machaon and feisthameli here. There weren't huge numbers of them; probably fewer than 50 in total. No Apollos seen during the week, although they are fairly scarce in this region at the best of times:

2. Swallowtail
3. Iberian Scarce Swallowtail

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Aristocrats

As ever, these weren't particularly well represented. A handful of Painted Ladies and Red Admirals, along with low double figure numbers of Commas. There were three Small Tortoiseshells and several fairly worn Southern White Admirals:

4. Two Tailed Pasha
5. Red Admiral
6. Painted Lady
7. Comma
8. Small Tortoiseshell
9. Southern White Admiral

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Satyrids

Satyrids are the main group on this trip, with a huge variety to be found. The Grayling family is extremely well represented, and we saw huge numbers as per usual.

Great Banded and Rock Graylings were very common, with numbers into four figures for each. Here's a Rock Grayling nectaring from eryngium:

False Graylings were about in the low hundreds:

Tree Graylings are quite shy, but there were still multi dozens recorded:

Probably the most attractive is Striped Grayling, and there were plenty of these too:

A few Hermits were seen, but I never got the chance to photograph any. Much more plentiful were the Graylings we get in the UK, with several hundred of these recorded.

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Satyrids cont...

There are three Heaths in this region during late July/early August. Scarcest is definitely Small Heath; we generally only see low double figure numbers.

The other two are much commoner. Dusky Heath predominates in the drier sites, and can easily get into three figures:

The beautiful iphioides form of Chestnut Heath tends to prefer the grassier sites, and in those areas it too can be abundant:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Satyrids cont...

Esper's Marbled White once again went under the radar, with the first 'definite' only being recorded on Day 3. The problem in this region is the sheer number of Iberian Marbled Whites, which once again were in the thousands.

Eventually, once people had got their eyes in, several more were spotted, although all were showing a little wear:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Satyrids cont...

Of the remaining Satyrids, Black Satyr was probably the most exciting find. I stumbled upon a new site for them a couple of years ago meaning that we don't necessarily have to track them down in the rambla near to our base.

There were quite a few seen this year, certainly 40+

Dusky Meadow Browns were very common again as is the norm here:

Meadow Browns, by contrast, are around in lesser numbers, but the females here are spectacularly orange:

All three Gatekeepers fly in this region, often together. The commonest is Southern Gatekeeper:

Spanish Gatekeepers are getting a little worn by this time of year, but there are still a few in decent nick:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries

Lots of these about, mainly the larger (former Argynnis), Frits.

High Brown was as ever the most ubiquitous, and there were plenty of Silver Washed around too. Three to four dozen Cardinals put in an appearance as well:

Sadly, we missed out on Niobe again, but this is normally the first of the larger Fritillaries to disappear in late summer.

Of the smaller members of this family, a few Provençal were recorded, along with the odd Spotted and Lesser Marbled Fritillary. A couple of Knapweed Fritillaries were seen, along with several Queen of Spain.

The one to really watch out for though is Twin Spot Fritillary. They appear in smallish numbers but every now and again you come across one that is still fairly fresh looking:

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Fritillaries

10. Silver Washed Fritillary
11. Cardinal
12. Dark Green Fritillary
13. High Brown Fritillary
14. Queen of Spain Fritillary
15. Lesser Marbled Fritillary
16. Twin Spot Fritillary
17. Knapweed Fritillary
18. Spotted Fritillary
19. Provençal Fritillary

[David M]

Satyridae

20. Speckled Wood
21. Wall Brown
22. Large Wall Brown
23. Spanish Chestnut Heath
24. Dusky Heath
25. Small Heath
26. Gatekeeper
27. Southern Gatekeeper
28. Spanish Gatekeeper
29. Meadow Brown
30. Dusky Meadow Brown
31. Oriental Meadow Brown
32. Esper's Marbled White
33. Iberian Marbled White
34. Black Satyr
35. Rock Grayling
36. Great Banded Grayling
37. Grayling
38. Tree Grayling
39. Striped Grayling
40. False Grayling
41. Hermit
42. Southern Hermit
43. Zapater's Ringlet

[David M]

Hesperiidae

Cinquefoil Skipper accounts for the bulk of this family in this region in late summer, and once again we saw multi-hundreds:

The rusty-coloured undersides are very distinctive:

The only other pyrgus seen was a solitary Safflower Skipper, which was disappointing as we usually notch up a handful more of this group.

Golden skippers were reasonably common, and the odd Red Underwing Skipper popped up too. Sage Skippers were around in the dozens rather than the multi hundreds seen in previous years. Just one Mallow Skipper recorded, but it was a nice, fresh one:

By contrast, we saw at least half a dozen Southern Marbled Skippers this year, which is better than the usual one or two that we have historically recorded:

[selbypaul]

I should remember this David, but are you able to describe what I should be looking for when trying to identify Southern Marbled Skipper?

[David M]

Hesperiidae

44. Marbled Skipper
45. Southern Marbled Skipper
46. Mallow Skipper
47. Mediterranean Skipper
48. Red Underwing Skipper
49. Sage Skipper
50. Safflower Skipper
51. Cinquefoil Skipper
52. Essex Skipper
53. Small Skipper
54. Silver Spotted Skipper
55. Large Skipper
56. Lulworth Skipper