Greenwings: Montes Universales, 30 July to 5 August 2023

[David M]

Hesperiidae

Commonest amongst this group, as usual, was Cinquefoil Skipper, although Silver Spotted Skippers were a close second:

On departure day, we made our usual journey to the Valencian coast where there were several Mediterranean Skippers nectaring from the scabious close to the beach:

A few Southern Marbled Skippers were recorded at the drier sites, along with Sage Skippers, which were far less common this year than they have been in the past:

[David M]

Hesperiidae

42. Mediterranean Skipper
43. Mallow Skipper
44. Marbled Skipper
45. Southern Marbled Skipper
46. Tufted Marbled Skipper
47. Red-Underwing Skipper
48. Sage Skipper
49. Safflower Skipper
50. Cinquefoil Skipper
51. Olive Skipper
52. Rosy Grizzled Skipper
53. Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper
54. Essex Skipper
55. Small Skipper
56. Lulworth Skipper
57. Large Skipper
58. Silver Spotted Skipper

[David M]

Papilionidae

A fair few Swallowtails were hilltopping at Sierra Alta. Otherwise, the odd one or two would pop up randomly.

There were greater numbers of Iberian Scarce Swallowtails, with many of them being mint fresh:

[David M]

Papilionidae

59. Swallowtail
60. Iberian Scarce Swallowtail

[Matsukaze]

[David M]

They really loved that muddy patch, Chris. The others seemed to prefer the moist rather than the wet area.

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Coppers and Hairstreaks

We actually completed the full set within this group, although with one exception I don't think any appeared in double figures.

Spanish Purple & Purple Hairstreak were seen along a roadside near Tragacete, whilst False Ilex turned up three times, Blue-Spot appeared twice and Sloe was seen by just one person on the final full day.

Ilex Hairstreak was probably the most numerous, with maybe as many as....six!!

Similar theme with the Coppers. Small & Purple-Shot numered no more than 15 between them. The exception was Iberian Sooty Copper which was sighted quite regularly, although far less frequently than it has in previous years. I reckon I saw about 12-18 personally:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Coppers and Hairstreaks

61. Small Copper
62. Purple-Shot Copper
63. Iberian Sooty Copper
64. Spanish Purple Hairstreak
65. Purple Hairstreak
66. Blue-Spot Hairstreak
67. Sloe Hairstreak
68. Ilex Hairstreak
69. False Ilex Hairstreak

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues

Plenty of these on the menu, with Azure Chalkhill Blue being the commonest (especially at the grassier sites) and Spanish Chalkhill Blue around in good numbers at the drier ones. Occasionally, you find them together:

Finding male & female Azure Chalkhills together happens quite frequently:

Several Spanish Argus were seen at the mountain col on the way to Tragacete:

Oberthur's Anomalous Blues were around in far smaller numbers than usual:

Southern Mountain Argus was seen at Sierra Alta, whilst a Panoptes Blue at Moscardon was a nice bonus. Just two Mother-of-Pearl Blues on offer, both at puddling sites:

Other notables were Ripart's Anomalous and Damon Blue.

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues

70. Long-Tailed Blue
71. Lang's Short-Tailed Blue
72. Geranium Bronze
73. Holly Blue
74. Southern Brown Argus
75. Mountain Argus
76. Spanish Argus
77. Panoptes Blue
78. Turquoise Blue
79. Mother-of-Pearl Blue
80. Escher's Blue
81. Chapman's Blue
82. Common Blue
83. Adonis Blue
84. Azure Chalkhill Blue
85. Spanish Chalkhill Blue
86. Oberthur's Anomalous Blue
87. Ripart's Anomalous Blue
88. Damon Blue

[David M]

Pieridae

Just the routine range from this group, although for once we were sharp-eyed enough to notice Southern Small White:

89. Bath White
90. Wood White
91. Large White
92. Small White
93. Green Veined White
94. Southern Small White
95. Clouded Yellow
96. Berger's Clouded Yellow
97. Brimstone
98. Cleopatra

[David M]

So, in brief, this was a very successful tour with the second highest species total recorded.

2018: 94
2019: 102
2020: 92
2021: 93
2022: 81
2023: 98

The only real disappointment was missing out (again) on Southern Hermit, whose numbers have seemingly dropped off a cliff these last 3 years.

There are plenty of other interesting sights in the region - flora, dragonflies, lizards, ibex and many birds, of which griffon vultures are probably the most eye-catching, especially this one, which came down to take a breather on top of a rocky crag on the road to Pozondon on the first full day:

Temperatures are surprisingly cool in the morning (around 14c) and rise to mid-twenties by noon. It's only from 1500hrs onwards that things begin to get hot with maximum temperatures usually around the 33/34c mark (although we did have a 36c this time). A late afternoon cold beer is as welcome as it ever gets, and at just €3 a pint it's no hardship to have two!!

[Andy02]

So, in brief, this was a very successful tour with the second highest species total recorded.

2018: 94
2019: 102
2020: 92
2021: 93
2022: 81
2023: 98

The only real disappointment was missing out (again) on Southern Hermit, whose numbers have seemingly dropped off a cliff these last 3 years.

There are plenty of other interesting sights in the region - flora, dragonflies, lizards, ibex and many birds, of which griffon vultures are probably the most eye-catching, especially this one, which came down to take a breather on top of a rocky crag on the road to Pozondon on the first full day:

1.Vult(1).jpg

Temperatures are surprisingly cool in the morning (around 14c) and rise to mid-twenties by noon. It's only from 1500hrs onwards that things begin to get hot with maximum temperatures usually around the 33/34c mark (although we did have a 36c this time). A late afternoon cold beer is as welcome as it ever gets, and at just €3 a pint it's no hardship to have two!!

Great read David , as always. Such a wonderful location

[selbypaul]

Of the 20 trips I've been on this last 8 years, the Montes Universales definitely in my top five locations.

Also, I visited in 2019. Is it a correlation that we saw the record number of species the year I was with you?

[David M]

Great read David , as always. Such a wonderful location

Yes, Andy, the location is wonderful. It's my favourite tour without a doubt.

[David M]

...I visited in 2019. Is it a correlation that we saw the record number of species the year I was with you?

We'll put that 'correlation' to the test next year, Paul.

[David M]

As an addendum, I have been given permission to post the following images of the most amazing butterfly seen on this trip.

Found by Bill P and photographed by Malcolm G, the underside view isn't remarkable:

Ostensibly, this looks like an ordinary, female Azure Chalkhill Blue.

That all changes when one views the uppersides:

This is f. syngrapha and would be spectacular enough if it were the male of the species. However, this is the female butterfly, which is normally uniformly brown on the uppersides.

I'm so pleased Malcolm has allowed me to use these images. I doubt I'll ever come across one myself in the field.

[selbypaul]

As an addendum, I have been given permission to post the following images of the most amazing butterfly seen on this trip.

Found by Bill P and photographed by Malcolm G, the underside view isn't remarkable:

Albarracin DSCN7154.jpg

Ostensibly, this looks like an ordinary, female Azure Chalkhill Blue.

That all changes when one views the uppersides:

Albarracin DSCN7152.jpg

This is f. syngrapha and would be spectacular enough if it were the male of the species. However, this is the female butterfly, which is normally uniformly brown on the uppersides.

I'm so pleased Malcolm has allowed me to use these images. I doubt I'll ever come across one myself in the field.

Wow, what a stunning looking butterfly!

[Padfield]

Hi David. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think named aberrations/forms can cross species. Leraut describes and illustrates an almost identical female chalkhill blue as f. tithonus (= syngrapha) but the corresponding form in caelestissimus is given as f. deliciosa, de Sagarra, 1924. Obviously, the name doesn't actually matter - she's a beautiful girl!!

Guy

[Matsukaze]

Hi David. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think named aberrations/forms can cross species. Leraut describes and illustrates an almost identical female chalkhill blue as f. tithonus (= syngrapha) but the corresponding form in caelestissimus is given as f. deliciosa, de Sagarra, 1924. Obviously, the name doesn't actually matter - she's a beautiful girl!!

Guy

My somewhat old field guide has caelestissima as a form/subspecies of coridon. If that reverts to being the case, does the form illustrated here retain the name deliciosa or does it become absorbed within tithonus/syngrapha?

These butterflies were the stars of the show in terms of unusual behaviour, possibly because there were so many of them. Here are a few taking interest in someone's rucksack - I'm not immediately sure what the interloper at top left is.

Meanwhile, here's a view of the interior of our hire car with an Azure Chalkhill that happened to get in the way.