Tenerife - 7th to 12th March 2023

[David M]

I had an enjoyable couple of hours out on Thursday 2nd March, finding two Red Admirals locally in cool but sunny conditions.

The following two days were also forecast to be fairly sunny, but when both turned out to be cloudy and cold with the next week at least predicted to be awful for early March I started to feel angry and quite depressed.

So, on Saturday afternoon I decided to do something about it. I went online and found a package deal for just £541 to Tenerife, flying out from Cardiff. Even better, when I hunted online for vehicle hire I found a deal for just £170, so I went ahead and reserved it all there and then.

On Tuesday 7th I duly flew out in the morning and arrived at Tenerife south airport 4 hours later (would have been 3 hours 50 had it not been for French air traffic control being on strike!!)

I don't have the words to describe the feeling of stepping out of a plane in warm temperatures and wall to wall sunshine after a long period of cold and dreary weather in the UK, and I eagerly headed for the care hire desk to pick up my Seat Ibiza, arriving in Los Realejos, on the north coast of the island, just over an hour later.

[Stevieb]

Your report is excellent timing for me David as I am heading to Tenerife for a week on Sunday 16th April in search of the endemics.

Looking forward to what you see and where.

Prepare yourself for e-mails asking for detailed info

Kind regards

Steve

[David M]

The last time I was on this island was in 1995, and of course those were times when a holiday involved debauchery, late nights and lots of alcohol. It would never have occurred to me back then to visit the north of Tenerife, although I have often wondered how green and verdant it is compared with the drier, more barren south.

I got my answer whilst still in my car. It was quite some contrast as I drove anticlockwise up the eastern coast and round towards Puerto de la Cruz on the north side. My base in Los Realejos was handily placed just at the end of the TF-5 motorway and was almost sub-tropically green due to the higher rainfall and humidity this upper part of the island is exposed to.

Here are a few landscape and habitat images to illustrate this fact:

[David M]

Your report is excellent timing for me David as I am heading to Tenerife for a week on Sunday 16th April in search of the endemics.

Looking forward to what you see and where.

Prepare yourself for e-mails asking for detailed info

No problem, Steve. I'll supply all the GPS you need. It ought to be a good time to sweep the endemics up by mid-April. I think they all should be around fairly reliably by then (except perhaps the Grayling).

Presume you are familiar with the north of Tenerife?

[David M]

Tenerife does not have a great variety of butterfly species. In fact, it has fewer than Wales. However, what it lacks in diversity it more than compensates for in endemics, as well as a handful of other species that are rare in mainland Europe.

I made a list of 10 that I wanted to put great effort into searching for, and there were a handful of others that I hoped would just turn up as the days unfolded.

The following posts will deal with those ten that I was most focused on finding, with a round up of other sightings at the end.

[John Vergo]

I am looking forward to se them David

[John Vergo]

I am looking forward to se them David

[David M]

Canary Speckled Wood, Pararge xiphioides

I was delighted to find this beautiful close relative of our own aegeria within minutes of arriving at the hotel.

Of course, I'm used to the more darkly coloured Speckled Woods in southern Europe, but this version has a richness that surpasses those. It is a very common butterfly on this island, and it is without any doubt a habitat generalist. Yes, they would be about in woodland but they were also up on open hillsides above 1,200m and they seem to like hilltopping in the same way as Wall Browns do.

The undersides particularly fascinated me, being quite different to those of aegeria, and sporting a white 'streak' rather like that seen in Erebia ligea.

A constant companion during my six day stay. They became almost a reassuring presence.

[David M]

Canary Large White, Pieris Cheiranthi

My gratitude goes out to fellow UKB member, Paul Selby, for sharing several locations for this trip based on his own experiences in Tenerife at the same time last year.

I have to say I was a little underwhelmed when arriving at a roadside mirador at 9.15 on my first morning, but Paul was spot on and within two minutes my first Canary Large White popped up from the sheer cliffs below, followed by another which promptly settled:

It was interesting to see the dusty suffusion on the underside hindwings:

Both sexes have a prominent black underside spot, which can be seen on this male that briefly nectared at the nearby Barranco de Ruiz:

I was desperate to see a female and one flew close to me before I left the first site. Sadly, she did not land but I got a view of that highly impressive upperside with the black spots melded together to form a conjoined streak.

I only found this butterfly in a narrow area just west of Los Realejos where the cliffs and hillsides are almost sheer, but they are easy to see although frustratingly difficult to get close to.

[David M]

Canary Red Admiral, Vanessa vulcania

There was a certain irony in seeing my first handful of vulcania in the shadow of the Mt Teide volcano which dominates this island:

That puddle on the track played host to three of this striking species, with three more being seen elsewhere on that particular site:

Whilst the uppersides are more impressive than those of atalanta, the undersides of vulcania are slightly less vividly marked:

I was rather hoping to see what happened when the two species meet but sadly I never saw both at the same time during my stay.

[aeshna5]

Lovely stuff, David. Look forward to more, especially as I've yet to see a butterfly this year!

[Stevieb]

Presume you are familiar with the north of Tenerife?

Indeed David, having birded the island for it's endemics. Mirador de Lagrimona (where you parked for the Large White I am assuming?) and Barranco de Ruiz are two of the hot spots for both the endemic pigeons. Hope you made it to Las Lajas for the Blue Chaffinch too.

Great stuff so far

[David M]

Lovely stuff, David. Look forward to more, especially as I've yet to see a butterfly this year!

Thanks, aeshna. Surely can't be long before things get going in the UK.

[David M]

Indeed David, having birded the island for it's endemics. Mirador de Lagrimona (where you parked for the Large White I am assuming?) and Barranco de Ruiz are two of the hot spots for both the endemic pigeons. Hope you made it to Las Lajas for the Blue Chaffinch too.

Spot on, Steve. Sounds like you won't need much guidance!!

[David M]

Monarch - Danaus plexippus

Whilst not endemic to the Canary Islands, Monarch is nevertheless a highly desirable butterfly and I was expecting to find them in the botanic gardens at Icod de los Vinos:

My visit coincided with the only cloudy period of the trip but even so there were two Monarchs flying there:

I saw two more in urban environments, including one which made me laugh as it casually glided over the awning of a bar in Puerto de la Cruz.

[Benjamin]

Good for you David! If you're in a position to be so spontaneous then why waste it! Really enjoying your blow by blow accounts......

[Pete Eeles]

Wow! I am, as we say here, very

I've never seen a Canary Red Admiral! Great stuff!

Cheers,

- Pete

[petesmith]

Cracking stuff David! There's nothing quite like a last-minute hastily arranged trip to warmer climes to raise the spirits markedly. I do hope you manage to connect with the Canary Blue also during your days out there. Look forward to the next instalment..

[selbypaul]

As you know already David, I am extremely jealous of the very good weather you had this year, compared to my 1.5 days out of 7 days last year!!!

But you deserve it! Looking forwards to reading the rest of your exploits.

[David M]

Good for you David! If you're in a position to be so spontaneous then why waste it! Really enjoying your blow by blow accounts.....

I'm lucky that I have near full autonomy over my life, Ben, but even so, it takes something extreme to make me react so quickly as I did that Saturday afternoon.