Tenerife - 7th to 12th March 2023

[David M]

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

Nor had I this time last week, Pete. It's a stunning butterfly and reasonably approachable too.

[David M]

Canary Brimstone - Gonepteryx cleobule

Wasn't sure if I'd see this one as Paul S had missed out on it last year. Those fears were amplified on the first morning when I didn't see any at Barranco de Ruiz. However, in the afternoon I had one fly by the roadside as I was returning towards the coast from Teno Alto so I made space in my agenda to visit the barranco early the following afternoon.

I was surprised to see eight flying around the lower part of the site, although never once did I see any settle. I eventually positioned myself on the artificial terraces below and tried to get a few in-flight shots:

My apologies for the absence of quality in any of the following images. All are heavily cropped but do at least give an indication of the colour scheme of this butterfly, with the orange shade filling the entire forewing of the males:

The female uppersides are a pale, lemon yellow with an orange dusting:

On my final morning, I stopped at the same place to try to see if they were a little less frenetic earlier in the day, but unfortunately there was a sea fret which obscured the sun and I had to give up after 20 minutes or so as it wasn't shifting.

[John Vergo]

At least you saw them David, I was lucky in 2016, one settle down

[David M]

At least you saw them David, I was lucky in 2016, one settle down

Looks like a female, John. Nice capture. Had it not been for that mist on my final morning I may have seen some settle. The location is steep so it's sadly no place to be running around.

[David M]

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..

Thanks, Pete. It was certainly an impromptu decision but one that paid off handsomely. I feel a lot better having had sun on my back and several iconic butterflies in front of me.

[David M]

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.

Thanks, Paul. Quite how you found what you did given the poor weather you experienced last year was one hell of an achievement. You are also largely responsible for me finding a few of the local desirables too!

[Bertl]

The canary red admiral is stunning David. When i was in menorca in 2016 i managed to photograph the cleopatra butterfly which i assume is a close cousin of the canary brimstone?

Looking forward to more photos from your adventure.

Bert.

[David M]

Canary Skipper - Thymelicus christi

I took a punt on this one. I'd read that its habitat was "Local amongst trees and scrub in grassy flowery places", so the evening before I set out to find it I scoured Google maps looking for parks, of which there are quite a few in Tenerife.

One that caught my eye was parque de las mesas, north east of the capital Santa Cruz. I arrived there at 10am the following day but found the park to be largely shady with no access to the summit of the hill due to there being a large fence around the communications masts.

However, opposite the entrance to the park was a verdant, flowery, grassy slope:

The habitat looked perfect for christi so I ignored the "prohibido el paso" sign as there was no fence to climb over, nor did there look to be any obvious dangers.

After a few minutes walking around, I stumbled upon this little jewel:

After the fun and games trying to photograph some of the earlier species, this skipper restored my faith in butterfly kind - it was perfectly behaved, coming down regularly and only flying short distances:

I was delighted about that because this was the only one I found, and given its condition, I suspect it may have just emerged.

[Stevieb]

Canary Skipper - Thymelicus christi

One that caught my eye was parque de las mesas, north east of the capital Santa Cruz. I arrived there at 10am the following day but found the park to be largely shady with no access to the summit of the hill due to there being a large fence around the communications masts.

However, opposite the entrance to the park was a verdant, flowery, grassy slope:

Duly noted David

[David M]

Some nice views up there too, Steve. Sure you'll enjoy it.

[David M]

Canary Blue - Cyclyrius webbianus

This notable species is quite common on Tenerife in the warmer months, being found in numbers even above 1,500m on the higher montane plateau. However, although the guides indicate that it flies all year round near the coasts, Paul S didn't see any during his visit in 2022, and I hadn't come across any during my first three days.

So, having spent some time poring through information on the internet, I came across a report of sightings made at Santiago del Teide in late February a couple of years ago. This location, in theory, is easy to get to, however I didn't bargain for there being some kind of triathlon-like event in the town that day, meaning that the road I needed to drive along was closed due to it being used by the runners.

I had to perform a risky roadside pirouette to travel 50m or so down a one way street in the wrong direction to get to a handy looking parking space, and then had to walk nearly 1km to get to the site where webbianus had been seen.

Even then, I had to dodge the participants who were running along some of the tracks but I managed to duck under the taped off area and find another track that wasn't being used (probably because there were beehives about 500m up).

There was a part-shaded dip in the track about 150m along:

Something unusual looking caught my eye. The colour matched that of webbianus but the bloody thing kept on dithering for an eternity and was then intercepted by a territorial Southern Brown Argus nearby.

It then settled briefly on a branch of a tree. It was a male Canary Blue, quite worn.

Sadly, it flew over the trees so I walked a little further down the track and came across another one. Again, the Southern Brown Argus spotted it and I ended up having to temporarily pot it to stop it from interfering. Luckily, this worked and the Canary Blue settled for about 10 seconds on the ground foliage, allowing me this single shot:

After it had moved on, I walked further along the track, releasing the imprisoned cramera at the top of the hill. Shortly after, there was a sign warning about dangerous bees and I could see about 10 wooden hives set back slightly to the left of the track. Having been attacked in Los Monegros in Spain last spring by angry bees, I wasn't too keen on an encore in Tenerife, so I walked back and combed the area near where I had seen both webbianus but I didn't see any more.

[selbypaul]

That's fascinating where you picked to try and see Canary Skipper David. I picked very close by there, about 1km west of where you chose. It was great habitat, but on the one sunny afternoon I had it was very windy, and a cool wind at that, so no luck. I had absolute confidence it was a good site though, in better conditions. You got a great photo!

[David M]

The canary red admiral is stunning David. When i was in menorca in 2016 i managed to photograph the cleopatra butterfly which i assume is a close cousin of the canary Brimstone?

Thanks, Bertl. Yes, although cleobule's English name is Canary Brimstone, it's more closely related to Cleopatra, although the males are a richer yellow with almost completely orange upfs. Even the females are a pale yellow, unlike cleopatra females.

[David M]

African Migrant - Catopsilia florella

Having jumped through many unexpected hoops to find Canary Blue, my next target species couldn't have been easier.

I'd waded through Google search using various combinations of butterfly name and lhp (Cassia) to see if I could find any references, and one that popped up was in the form of a blog written by a birder several years ago who had seen African Migrants around some Cassia shrubs on a roundabout at Playa San Juan on the west coast.

Given that this was just a 20 minute drive from Santiago del Teide, I thought I'd check it out. It was easy enough to find (the Cassia is the yellow shrub growing along the front perimeter):

I'd parked my car about 50m from this junction, and no sooner had I looked up having locked it I knew instantly that there was an African Migrant flying around the Cassia.

I stood under the shade of the adjacent palm trees and was soon observing two and then three of them swirling around this small area and regularly chasing one another. All were the cream-coloured males. Praying for a yellow-coloured female would surely have been undue decadence given my good fortune:

Whilst this was extremely entertaining, I soon noted that the butterflies barely settled at all, so I created a short video of them flying around:

https://youtu.be/9AcT1PUj1hs

So obsessed were they with their pursuit of one another around these Cassia shrubs, that I decamped to a bar 100m away for a cold beer before returning to find them still at it:

The only time any of the three settled for more than 2 seconds was when this one came down on a fallen palm branch that was lying in the road, giving me an opportunity to take a distance shot:

Suddenly, at 315pm, they disappeared. I waited for another 5 minutes but there was no sign of them, and given that people in the nearby apartment buildings must have looked out of their windows and wondered what this madman was doing pacing up and down an urban roundabout for over an hour, I thought it best to return to my car and drive back to my hotel.

[John Vergo]

Yes David sometimes it is hard to get the photo but you succeded super I have only see one flying past me on Tenerife

[Matsukaze]

I'm enjoying these photos!

Beehives seem to be quite the entomological hazard in Spain. These ones were in my most reliable area for Spanish Festoon.

[David M]

That's fascinating where you picked to try and see Canary Skipper David. I picked very close by there, about 1km west of where you chose. It was great habitat, but on the one sunny afternoon I had it was very windy, and a cool wind at that, so no luck. I had absolute confidence it was a good site though, in better conditions. You got a great photo!

Yes, the road back down was also very green and lush, Paul, so I suspect you'd have probably found christi had conditions been more kind to you.

[petesmith]

I would say David that you did well to find and get close to christi. In my limited experience on the Canary Islands (2 trips to Tenerife and 2 to La Palma) I can count my encounters with this endemic on one hand - always singletons, and quite lively, unlike your co-operative example. It's by no means a guaranteed find!

[David M]

Yes David sometimes it is hard to get the photo but you succeded super I have only see one flying past me on Tenerife

It took a fair bit of patience, John, not to mention the best part of an hour's waiting, but florella isn't something you see every day!

[David M]

Beehives seem to be quite the entomological hazard in Spain...

Indeed! There always seems to be something to obstruct butterflying activities in Spain. If it's not beehives then it's wire fences erected for no apparent logical reason, overgrazing or just signs telling people to keep out.