Padfield

[David M]

Ten species!! Most of us haven't seen 10 butterflies yet (and I daresay it might be a little while before that changes).

Always great to see Minnie enjoying herself outdoors. That dog won the lottery when she paired up with you!

[Wurzel]

That is a great 'haul' Guy - as David says most of us haven't even seen 10 butterflies, I'm on 7 of three species From the looks of the selection the butterflies are about 6 weeks plus ahead of us over here in an average year. Hopefully we'll be rewarded for out patience during the dirge we've had recently!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Thank you for your comments Paul, Trevor, David and Wurzel. Yes, it has been exceptionally dry this year, though we've actually had quite a lot of precipitation - snow and rain - since my last post. Not enough to reset the global balance, but enough to revive plants and keep alive the hopes of what few eggs have already been laid this spring. That will mainly be small tortoiseshell and Queen of Spain eggs, so let's hope the nettles and heartsease have been refreshed! In terms of weeks ahead, it varies by species. Small tortoiseshells generally fly here from February, because our winter sun is bright powerful enough for them to be active. But commas are normally about the same time as in the UK. I saw my first UK (Suffolk) commas of 2021 on 28th Feb and of 2022 on 3rd March. This year, my first comma was 5th March, in Italy, and I still haven't seen one in Switzerland.

Today seemed pretty grim when I got up, though it cleared somewhat in mid-morning:



Only yesterday it was all slushy snow here, but rain last night washed it away:



It didn't look like a butterfly day, so in the afternoon I took Minnie to the other end of the Rhône Valley, to look for dippers. These were, as always, easy to find and quite tricky to photograph, because they are so mobile. I got quite close to this one ...



... but the others were all midstream or even on the other side of the river:









I noticed that there was a lot more blinking and dipping when other dippers were around. That last one, though, was blinking because he was just about to dive in, mouth wide open.

I hadn't expected any butterflies (the temperature never rose above 8°C), but the sun came out in the afternoon and four species flew: Small tortoiseshell, large tortoiseshell, Queen of Spain and brimstone:











Guy

[bugboy]

Jealous not just from all those butterflies but also those Dippers, still a species I've yet to see

[David M]

Jealous not just from all those butterflies but also those Dippers...

Indeed. I see them occasionally in south Wales but never so close that I can take images like Guy's.

[Padfield]

Hi Buggy and David. Dippers are a bit like kingfishers, in that most of the time all you see is the back of one, zooming over the water before landing miles away. But also like kingfishers, if you know where to go, and have a little patience, you can get great photographs. Buggy's kingfisher shots are what I have in mind here! If I did jealousy, I'd do it now!

Today was a 15-species day in the Rhône Valley, namely: Swallowtail, small white, green-veined white, Eastern Bath white, orange tip, clouded yellow, brimstone, green hairstreak, small tortoiseshell, peacock, large tortoiseshell, comma, Queen of Spain, wall and speckled wood (new species for the year in bold). I probably saw a small copper, a grizzled skipper and a holly blue, but all these three were tantalisingly brief sightings of flying insects. The skipper was definitely a skipper, but rosy grizzled and mallow also fly here early in the year.

Large tortoiseshells were very common, with most looking well worn (the fittest ones didn't stop for shots):





Brimstones were also everywhere - and actually posing today. These are three different individuals:







The sallow is out, with small tortoiseshells, commas and whites all visiting its flowers:





Queen of Spain fritillaries were predictably abundant but especially so over one grassy slope where the foodplant flowered. Here is one nectaring on the larval foodplant, and then the same flowerhead after she left. I say 'she' - I presumed these were females looking to lay. There were rarely fewer than half a dozen in a field of view.





The other really common species was orange tip:



Here is my first Eastern Bath white of the year ...



... and here my first speckled wood:



The swallowtail and single green hairstreak didn't stop, but both flew past sufficiently close to leave no doubt as to what they were.

The final new species for the day was this peacock, shortly before we got back to the train:



Finally, here is a fat lizard. Pickings have been good this spring ...



Guy

[Padfield]

During the last week, Queen of Spain fritillaries began flying in Leysin, to join the small tortoiseshells, large tortoiseshells, peacocks and brimstones I have already seen up here:



But their joy was short-lived, as winter quickly returned. First it was cloudy for a few days ...



... then the snow and rain started sweeping through, without settling ...





... and finally the snow settled:





That was Minnie today. The Queens will be fine, because they are quite long-lived butterflies and the temperatures have been low - so they won't be wasting much energy tucked up beneath the snow.

The weather is due to remain like this for another week but I will be in Spain from Friday, so will escape much of it. I hope I will return at Easter to sunny skies and a mass emergence of Swiss butterflies!

Guy

[Padfield]

With temperatures as low as -10°C last night and snow on the ground, it wasn't going to be a butterfly day. So we took our afternoon walk by the lake, where the red-crested pochards have returned. I don't know where they go in winter, but this is the first time I have seen them this year.







I was surprised not to see any black kites - I thought they should have started returning by now. Then in the woods I heard a familiar whinny ... So spring is on its way, despite appearances.

Guy

[Matsukaze]

Hope you enjoy Spain! Things may be a bit different after the massive forest fires on the hills last summer, and I hope the butterflies haven't been too seriously impacted.

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of butterflies again and those Red-crested Pochards are fantastic Hope you enjoy Spain I'm off to Corfu but not sure what will be about there at this time of year - I don't want to look so as not to get disappointed

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Thanks Matsukaze and Wurzel. I haven’t seen any signs of fire yet, but I only arrived yesterday. What I did notice - I could hardly help noticing - is that they are doing a massive ‘improvement’ of the river down the middle of Málaga and have completely cleared and replanted the tracks at the sides, where Ziz Knys and monarchs flew. I saw none of either, yesterday or today, and it all looks very barren now. To be fair, it used to be disgusting - full of litter and dog poo and homeless peoples’ straggling dwellings - but I loved it. All the Lantana, where the monarchs nectared, have gone. They’ve been doing improvements up the mountain too, with new tracks cut and old ones resurfaced. And lots of evidence of new planting:



Despite all these seemingly negative changes, I saw a lot today. It is a very early year, as proven by the surprise of the day: a very amenable two-tailed pasha, Charaxes jasius. Someone asked recently on these forums when the first brood flew. Well, in Málaga it seems the answer is from the beginning of April (and no, this is not a poisson d’avril)!



I got his trust by putting my backpack on the ground. He immediately sat on it and used it as his lookout post:





He alternated between that and a more scenic spot:





The Provence hairstreaks were evidently all over, at this altitude at least (as they were the last time I visited in April) and there were no green hairstreaks either. In fact, I didn’t see either southern brown argus or Austaut’s blue, both of which fly in March. The commonest Lycaenid was black-eyed blue:





The only other blue I saw was a single Lang’s short-tailed blue, in flight.

Here are a few other species from the trip so far, all piccies processed rather crudely on my ancient iPad:


(Spanish festoon)


(Green-striped white)


(western dappled white)


(swallowtail)


(Iberian scarce swallowtail)


(geranium bronze)

The full trip list so far (Friday afternoon and Saturday):
Spanish festoon, Iberian scare swallowtail, swallowtail, small white, large white, Bath white, western dappled white, green-striped white, clouded yellow, Cleopatra, Provence orange tip, desert orange tip (just one, that I put up and never saw again!), geranium bronze, black-eyed blue, Lang’s short-tailed blue, painted lady, red admiral, two-tailed pasha, wall. I think that’s it.

Tomorrow’s Palm Sunday and buses to Antequera are few and far between. So I’ll head there on Monday, taking a more relaxing day tomorrow near Benalmádena.

Guy

[Wurzel]

Fantastic set of shots Guy I'm taking heart from you seeing plenty already as this time tomorrow I should be in Corfu, fingers crossed for some butterfly goodies

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Have a great time in Corfu, Wurzel! I very much look forward to seeing what you find. It’s on my list of places to go one day …

Guy

[David M]

This is of particular interest to me because I'll be there in exactly one month's time.

Extraordinary that Two Tailed Pasha is out so early. It really must have been especially warm for that to happen. I'm less surprised by the absence of Provence Hairstreak though. We actually saw a few fresh-ish ones at the END of April last year, but of course that spring had been the worst in Spain for many, many years.

Could even be a Plain Tiger or two about if things have been really warm, Guy.

[Padfield]

In a month’s time it’ll probably be starting on the 2024 season, David … I hope they’ll have had some rain by then, as it’s parched here at the moment, like high summer.

I’ll head to Antequera tomorrow, so took today, Palm Sunday, rather easier. Málaga is extraordinary at this time of year. Finding my way back to the hostal after my day’s butterflying was like playing the classic computer game of Snakes. The aim is to avoid being eaten by the ever-growing human snake, led by the band, floats and penitents (clad in what now seem rather sinister pointy white hats with ghost eyes) and trailing vast crowds. You turn one way up a street to avoid them, then suddenly find them coming back down the next street towards you. If they get you, there’s no way out - going the wrong way through the crowd is impossible. Thank heavens for Google Maps and GPS navigation!

A few piccies from today. If piccies on this page don’t load, just reload the page. I think my server doesn’t support big demand all at once very well!


(male Provence orange tip)


(female Provence orange tip)


(I finally managed to catch up with Ziz knys, in Benalmádena)


(geranium bronze)


(my only green hairstreak so far, in a damp, shady corner I had specifically headed to to see if they were still flying)


(beer stop, near where the green hairstreak was)


(Spanish festoon)


(small copper)


(female copper demoiselle, Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis - it was very windy, like yesterday, and I didn’t see the foliage blow in front of the camera, unfortunately)


(male of the same species)

I still didn’t see any Austaut’s blue (Polyommatus celina), even though I went to a place I know they breed in good numbers. So I guess the first brood is all over. They’re easy to find in February and March.

Tomorrow I head to Antequera, to look for Lorquin’s blue and false baton blue as well as a whole range of things that don’t fly here in the Málaga region.

Guy

[Padfield]

The weather held, and false baton blues were out in good numbers near Antequera. This is a tiny butterfly and very restless, so difficult to photograph, but I got a number of shots:


(male)


(female)


(female)


(female)


(female)


(male)

The females were apparently ovipositing on this plant, though I didn’t see any eggs. I believe it is Cleonia lusitanic:



Here are a couple of Lorquin’s:





Other new blues flying were:

Southern brown argus:



Austaut’s blue (Polyommatus celina):



Adonis blue:



Black-eyed blues were flying too.

At these altitudes, Provence hairstreaks were still on the wing:





And there were plenty of western dappled and green-striped whites:





I also saw my first two skippers of the year: southern mallow and southern grizzled:





Finally, a rock bunting, and woodchat and a stonechat:







Guy

[Padfield]

Hazy cloud today, and in Spain butterflies don’t fly in hazy cloud! So I decided to search near Málaga for sites suitable for sooty orange tip, Zegris meridonalis. In know it flies in the general region, but as a non-driver I have to find places in walking distance. I did indeed find a complex of flower hillsides with scrub and abundant crucifers, so this is where I’ll go back - perhaps tomorrow - but my chances are slim. This is one of those widespread but local butterflies that you have to be very lucky (or have inside information) to come across.

Because of the cloud, I saw very little today. The first butterfly of any sort was a western dappled white at about 11h00. At this stage, as for most of the day, the sun was bright enough for you to count the fingers on your shadow, but Spanish butterflies are just total wimps and even gentle haze keeps them down.



I didn’t see anything else at all until about midday, when this painted lady suddenly appeared:



A few more of these zoomed in and away during the afternoon. This was at what should have been a hilltopping site but nothing else was there. I photographed this soldier bug, Spilostethus pandurus on my solar charger (which worked perfectly in the half-sun)…



… and this distant booted eagle against the bright but grey sky:



During the afternoon, as I wound my way home, a few more butterflies came out to play: one more dappled white, one green-striped white, a small copper, a single Spanish festoon and half a dozen black-eyed blues:







I’ve had three days of good sunshine. That’s already more than I often get in southern Spain at this time of year. Sometimes it just pours, and even when it’s dry nothing flies unless it is also sunny. On my last spring trip I had two and a half days of sun in a week’s holiday, with mostly rain between. Especially on the coast, cloud can billow up even when the forecast’s good.

Guy

[Padfield]

I didn’t find any meridionalis today, but it was a lovely day in the hills all the same. Both western dappled white and green-striped white were numerous, and I watched a female western dappled lay an egg (on Erucastrum incanum, I think):



Here are adults of the two species:


(green-striped white)



I came across a crumbling ruin with capers growing, so took a beer stop and waited to see if any desert orange tips would appear. They didn’t (the spring broods are very thin on the ground, apparently) but while I waited, red-rumped swallows swooped overhead and a hoopoe came to visit:







This gecko allowed very close approach, so confident was he of his camouflage:





A new butterfly for the trip - amazingly, as it is normally very common - was long-tailed blue. This species started appearing as I approached the hilltopping station I discovered yesterday:





There were probably half a dozen right at the top, hilltopping …

I haven’t mentioned small heath, subspecies (or form or species) lyllus yet. I saw some on my first day and they looked very typically lyllus, supporting the idea this really is a different taxon. Some authors state that the first broods look just like normal small heaths and that lyllus is merely a form.

This was then, on 1st April:



I saw several today, too:



In overall appearance, today’s individuals looked more like normal small heath than those on 1st.

Other butterflies flying today that didn’t get up at all yesterday in the haze were Provence orange tip and Spanish marbled white:





The full species list for today:

Spanish festoon, swallowtail, Iberian scarce swallowtail, small white, large white, western dappled white, green-striped white, Provence orange tip, Cleopatra, small copper, black-eyed blue, probable adonis blue, long-tailed blue, painted lady, wall, small heath.

Here’s a female Sardinian warbler looking rather grumpy:



And finally, here’s a rather smart lizard, which I haven’t identified yet:



Tomorrow I’m off to Gibraltar to commune with the monkeys and celebrate 40 years since I spent my year off there, back in 1983.

Guy

[David M]

You've seen some great stuff, Guy. I'm a little concerned that a lot of it will have gone over by the time I arrive (1st May). At least this time I should catch up with Aetherie Fritillary.

[Padfield]

Hi David. If you do lose one or two spring things, you’ll gain one or two summer things - like Aetherie fritillary - so it all balances out. I don’t think you can go wrong in May.

Gibraltar day today.



I got up early - it’s a long bus trip to the Rock. Here is the Easter full moon setting as I struck out for the bus station:



When I arrived, I first headed for Holy Trinity Cathedral, to check that the chairs at the back still sported the little squares of rubber I laboriously cut from a lorry tyre 40 years ago this summer. They did. Gibraltar may have forgotten me but my legacy lives.



I think I cut those with my Swiss army knife.

Next, I headed up the Mediterranean Steps:



A very strong wind was blowing from the East and I didn’t expect to see much, but there were a few Spanish festoons …



… and I spotted a female Cleopatra laying eggs:



At just that moment a woman came down the steps and I paused to tell her about Cleopatras (she asked). I took this photo of the butterfly at her feet but couldn’t relocate the egg(s):



Here is the unromantically named cargo ship OS 35, which sank off Catalan Bay after a collision last summer:



And here the view over Catalan Bay from the Med Steps (the ship is just off to the right of this picture):



Those hideous skyscrapers have sprung up very recently.

Soon after I reached the top, I saw a Provence orange tip settle and got a quick shot:



Almost immediately after that, I saw a couple of Euchloe sparring, but monkey-watchers disturbed them and I didn’t see them again. I guessed they should be Portuguese dappled whites - which would have been a lifer - because I know this species is supposed to fly on the Rock and this was the wrong place for green-striped whites. Then later, just before I headed down, another Euchloe butterfly did settle, very briefly, and I was able to confirm Portuguese dappled white before more monkey-hunters stopped play. I waited a bit for it to reappear, but the wind was very strong, there were lots of people, and I had a return date with a bus looming. So this remains to date my only photo of Euchloe tagis:



It’s not great, but a lifer’s a lifer!

Very pleased with the day, but regretting I didn’t have longer, I headed back down to the town, stepping over Barbary macaques on the way:



I had a quick once round the botanic gardens without seeing a monarch, then nipped into the Trafalgar cemetery, which is where I usually see them. It appeared at first as if there were none, but then one suddenly swooped past and landed high in an orange tree:



That was brilliant. It would have been a great shame to come to southern Spain and not see a monarch.

By the time I reached Málaga again, the empty street of the setting moon had become a heaving mass of humanity. I was lucky to get across just ahead of the procession, so I could actually get back to my hostal:





Guy