Greenwings: Montes Universales, Spain, 30 July - 5 August 2022

[David M]

Another butterfly extravaganza in east central Spain to finish the summer, although this one was quite the most bizarre of the five I've done here due to the vagaries of the season.

The weather was quite unpredictable whilst we were there, with cloud continually building up as each day wore on and occasional rain and thunder.

The previous month or so had been hot and bone dry, so the vegetation was crying out for precipitation. There were still multi-thousands of butterflies though including a few special ones.

Here's a selection of places visited:

[John Vergo]

Looking forward to see the rest David

[BarrieS]

I recognise some of those site pictures David, and I'm looking forward to reading your report and finding out what those 'special' ones are.

[David M]

Thank you, John. I think you know what's in store!

Thanks, Barrie. There are a few new sites that weren't known to us when you were with us, but most of those images are of familiar territory for you.

[petesmith]

Those photo's bring back many happy memories David.
I reckon if I could zoom in far enough I would spot a Southern Hermit in the bottom pic!

[David M]

2022 has been an extreme year in Europe as far as weather conditions have been concerned, and perhaps in Spain more so than anywhere else.

An abnormally warm winter was followed by a calima in late March, which turned large parts of Spain red with Saharan sand. Then, it started to rain and went exceptionally cool....until early May!! Late spring/early summer gave way to an oppressive heatwave in July, with regular 100F+ temperatures.

It is therefore unsurprising that this played havoc with butterfly flight periods. During this trip, a lot of the species we routinely see had already finished their flight periods, or were on their last legs. Hairstreaks in particular were affected by this, with the group barely seeing any all week, whilst others which we usually see, like Turquoise Blue, Southern White Admiral, Tufted Marbled Skipper, Provençal Fritillary, Escher's Blue, Twin Spot Fritillary and Large Wall Brown were not recorded at all (although I did see three Southern White Admirals after the group had returned home).

The biggest disappointment was not seeing any Southern Hermits, although I'm not sure whether this was due to the advanced season. Normally, we see between half a dozen and twenty or so, but last year we saw just one and this year none at all! This is an exceptionally rare butterfly and I hope that these last two years have just been 'freakish' and that it will return in future.

It wasn't all bad though, as most species were seen in good (sometimes excellent) numbers, in spite of fairly poor weather for this part of Spain in early August (daily build up of cloud after midday and occasional rain).

[David M]

...I reckon if I could zoom in far enough I would spot a Southern Hermit in the bottom pic!

Not this year you wouldn't, Pete (see above).

Just one seen in the last two years is an extremely worrying situation.

[David M]

The major advantage to the early season came in the form of record numbers of Zapater's Ringlets. I've long wondered how common they are when their flight period is in full sway, and this trip gave me my answer, as over the four days when they were seen, I racked up a personal total of 132, including sightings at two new locations.

7 were seen on Day 3, a further 24 the next day, 36 the following day and an impressive 65 the day after that.

Almost all the males seen were very fresh:

For the first time, we saw females on the wing. These have demonstrably paler undersides than the males:

I watched out to see if we could find any mating pairs, but sadly this eluded us.

[petesmith]

...I reckon if I could zoom in far enough I would spot a Southern Hermit in the bottom pic!

Not this year you wouldn't, Pete (see above).

Just one seen in the last two years is an extremely worrying situation.

That is a bit alarming - fingers crossed they will bounce back again. Such a special butterfly...

[Andy02]

...I reckon if I could zoom in far enough I would spot a Southern Hermit in the bottom pic!

Not this year you wouldn't, Pete (see above).

Just one seen in the last two years is an extremely worrying situation.

That is a bit alarming - fingers crossed they will bounce back again. Such a special butterfly...

For your recording purposes , David , I saw 2 last year the week before you arrived. One by the road bridge at the Rambla and one at the end of the road to Pozondon from Albarracin. I was only there for 2 days this August and I concentrated on species I was too early for last year so didn’t look for Southern Hermit.

[David M]

Thanks, Andy. Nothing has changed at that rambla so it can't be related to loss of habitat. Perhaps the flight period began early this year like it did for many other species in that region.

Hopefully we'll see them again in greater numbers going forward.

[David M]

Whilst Southern Hermit was sadly absent, we actually saw quite a few Hermits, certainly at least a dozen and a half.

Here's a male:

And a female:

Black Satyrs were about in decent numbers at the prime site we have for them here:

False Graylings were also common:

Upperside images of them are less common, but this one gave a nice show (possibly because of the large spider underneath the flower - the butterfly escaped unharmed):

This Rock Grayling showed its uppers too:

[BarrieS]

How times change David!
I remember seeing just one Zapater's Ringlet on the first trip and it felt like finding the Holy Grail - massively exciting.
Perhaps another visit is needed to get a better appreciation and to catch up on some other species that you've found since.
The Southern Hermits, while still very scarce, were seen on every visit we made to their prime site on that first tour.
Let's just hope their absence this year is just due to a seasonal factor.

[David M]

Have spent half a decade working out zapateri, Barrie. It may now be the time to do likewise with prieuri. These rare Spanish endemics/near endemics have precious little information about them circulating. Only realistic solution is to do the work oneself.

[David M]

This tour is always something of a Grayling-fest, and there were the usual thousands of Great Banded Graylings flying around. Ordinary Graylings weren't especially numerous this time, although numbers picked up towards the end of the trip.

As ever, there were plenty of Striped Graylings at the drier sites:

Tree Graylings were regularly seen as well:

Sadly, for the first time we didn't pick up any Spanish Gatekeepers. They are usually at the end of their flight period when we arrive, but this year clearly the hot summer had finished them off prior to August. However, there were plenty of the Gatekeepers we see in the UK, as well as multi hundreds of Southern Gatekeepers:

[David M]

Satyrids are always the best represented group on this trip, and Iberian Marbled White is amongst the commonest with several thousand usually seen:

By contrast, we only found one Esper's Marbled White this year, and it was a tired looking specimen, so that species probably was also affected by the early season.

Spanish Chestnut Heath was around in good numbers though:

It really is a stunning little insect:

The Speckled Woods round these parts can give you quite a shock:

There were plenty of Dusky Meadow Browns, and Wall Browns and Dusky Heath were also quite common, but Pearly Heath & Large Wall Brown were absent this time, whilst just one Oriental Meadow Brown was recorded.

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Satyrids

1. Zapater's Ringlet
2. Speckled Wood
3. Wall Brown
4. Spanish Chestnut Heath
5. Small Heath
6. Dusky Heath
7. Gatekeeper
8. Southern Gatekeeper
9. Meadow Brown
10. Dusky Meadow Brown
11. Oriental Meadow Brown
12. Esper's Marbled White
13. Iberian Marbled White
14. Black Satyr
15. Rock Grayling
16. Grayling
17. Tree Grayling
18. Striped Grayling
19. False Grayling
20. Great Banded Grayling
21. Hermit

[David M]

On departure day, everyone had a late flight which gave us time to go to the beach at El Saler, to the south of Valencia.

Last year, there were hundreds of scabious blooms in flower and consequently Mediterranean Skipper was easy to find. The heatwave however had left hardly any scabious this year, and the butterfly was around in far lower numbers - I personally only saw 6.

[David M]

Skippers generally were around in lower numbers than usual, and this year we didn't manage to find Essex, Large Grizzled or Tufted Marbled Skipper, and only one Safflower.

Cinquefoil Skipper, as usual, was the most frequently seen in this family:

Two Southern Marbled Skippers were found:

Sage Skipper was around in reasonable numbers:

This nice, fresh looking Red Underwing Skipper was a welcome find:

[David M]

Hesperiidae

22. Mallow Skipper
23. Marbled Skipper
24. Southern Marbled Skipper
25. Red Underwing Skipper
26. Sage Skipper
27. Safflower Skipper
28. Cinquefoil Skipper
29. Olive Skipper
30. Small Skipper
31. Large Skipper
32. Lulworth Skipper
33. Silver Spotted Skipper
34. Mediterranean Skipper