SPAIN EARLY 2014.

[LancsRover]

Thanks Roger& Chris for ID on LSTB, I'll try and get a better pic. before I leave this area on Friday.

Tuesday 11.2.2014.
The weather here has been poor the last 2/3 days, cloudy,windy and even a little rain, so I have no b/f's to report, but I have a bird, a bee/wasp?, and some flowers to ID if anyone is interested(I know we have a lot of experts on all things nature, so feel free to enlighten me!)

Russ

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Russ,
How about Black Redstart for the bird (Photo 1) ? (this is a just wild guess - I know nothing about birds), and Shrubby Globularia (Globularia alypum) for (Photo 5): I'm more at home with this one as it is typically mediterranean.
Chris

[Wurzel]

Alright there Chris?
The birds is a male Black Redstart, the black and red wasp is one of teh spider wasps that paralyse spiders to feed their larva and the thrid is a form of hoverfly - if you look on BWARS the website you might get more in the way of an ID. Great shots by the way, especially the Spider Wasp

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Matsukaze]

The hoverfly is a Chrysotoxum, but I'm not going to attempt to guess the species.

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Wurzel, Mat and Russ,
As for photo No. 6, I have come up with Thymelaea hirsuta (common name: Mitnan) (normally found along mediterranean coastal paths) which flowers between October and May, and which is a protected plant down my way in Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur (PACA region).
Chris
.

[Paul Wetton]

Hi

The hoverfly is actually Sericomyia silentis, a large wasp mimic that is usually found on acid soils like heathland.

[millerd]

Is the yellow flower (No.4) a type of oxalis? I've seen this in the winter in the wetter bits of Tenerife. There's pink version that grows over here.

Dave

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Dave,
You're probably right for photo No. 4. It may be Oxalis pes-caprae (Goat's Foot, amongst many other names). The pink one you mention may be Oxalis articulata (Pink Sorrel).
Cheers, Chris.

[LancsRover]

Thanks guys for all the ID's, I'm now a wiser man.

Wednesday 12.2.14. 20C. only a little windy.
Usual scrub land near Almafra camp site.

Just a quick last visit before I pack up to move about 40 miles farther south on Friday. The whites were about but not stopping as usual, so no positive id, I watched a couple of speckled woods in an aerial combat or dance, I'm not sure which? They never actually touched but circled each other about 9" apart for at least 4 minutes, then split but started again, so it was prob. territorial? This is the one,(pic below) which stayed for a rest, it has part of a wing missing!

Speckled wood after combat.

The mallow skipper was still about, but the g/bronze had all gone, may be this guy had eaten them?download/file.php?mode=view&id=44372&si ... a8506a160e
I also saw a rather unusual lizard on a small wall, it was only about 3" lohttp://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB/download/file.php?
mode=view&id=44373&sid=e847a737d7bf951fe41347a8506a160eng, but with stripes along it's body and hoops on it's long tail, never seen anything like it?download/file.php?mode=view&id=44374&si ... a8506a160e

All for now, Russ.

[LancsRover]

Wednesday 19.02.14. Marjal camp site, Nr.Crevillent.
Sunny, windy, 18C.

I have been here now 3/4 days, just pottered around the immediate area of the site, it is quite rural, with crops starting to grow in the local fields.
Today I went further afield on my bike, first I spotted what appeared to be a Swallowtail down an embankment off the road(2nd time I have seen one since I have been here) but by the time I had cycled down to the area where it had been, it had gone. I waited a few minutes but it never came back, but I saw a very small brown b/f. at the edge of the field, it fluttered low to the ground, landing every few seconds, allowing me to take a few pics.
It looks and acted like a Brown Argus, the same size, mannerism etc., I've checked my book and it looks like a Southern Brown Argus(I stand to be corrected). See pics. below.download/file.php?mode=view&id=44496
Numerous Large Whites in the fields, plus 2/3 Clouded Yellows which did settle to allow me to take a couple of pics.
Also seen one Mallow Skipper, a grey heron and a hare.

Russ

[Chris Jackson]

A good haul Russ. That small brown does look like a Brown Argus - let's see if someone can confirm it.
You finally got your Clouded Yellow then !
Chris

[Paul Wetton]

Your lizard could be a brightly coloured Spanish Wall Lizard. The markings are similar just very brightly coloured.

Keep the photos coming.

[LancsRover]

Thanks Chris and Paul for your comments.

Saturday 22.2.14 Near to Marjal Camp site,
Sunny 21C, light wind.

Visited a semi cultivated field on the west of the camp site(new area), plenty of whites flying, large and small, then I spotted what I thought was a green-striped white,(new to me) I could plainly see the underside stripes of green and white but it would not keep still for more than a split second, then it disappeared amongst all the other whites(20/30 flying).

I saw a very small white, which was a lot smaller than any other white in the field and I managed to take a few shots but no opened wing ones, I don't know if this is rapae or mannii?

The green-striped did return sometime later but I only got a couple of blurred shots before it zoomed off again

Other b/f's seen; red admiral, painted lady, and clouded yellow.

Russ

[Padfield]

Hi Russ. The white appears to have the fork in v. 7 and is therefore rapae.

We've all taken perfectly focused shots of the ground behind a butterfly! I think green-striped whites are very difficult butterflies, always moving - but you'll get one in perfect focus soon!

Guy

[Chris Jackson]

That green-striped white is original, never seen one of them before. Looking forward to seeing a clearer shot if it obliges.
Chris

[Matsukaze]

Is the chequering in the fringes of the Brown Argus further up-thread typical?

[Padfield]

Is the chequering in the fringes of the Brown Argus further up-thread typical?

All brown arguses show chequering, but it does seem to be particularly marked in cramera.

Guy

[LancsRover]

Thanks Guy, Chris and Mats for comments.

Tuesday 25.2.14 15C Light wind.
Moncofa (30 miles north of Valencia).

We moved here from Marjal yesterday, I went back to try and get a better photo of the green-striped white, but the farmer had flooded the fields from his excellent irrigation channels and I would have been ankle deep in water, lets hope g/s whites are flying up here?

I visited 2/3 small waste ground sites around the village of MONCOFA which is on the coast, it wasn't very warm and a little overcast but there were a few things flying. I spotted 2 small whites in the distance and when I got close they had actually started to mate and were already coupled together. I stepped back and let nature take it's course and they were still together when I left them after about 5 minutes(photo's below). I saw a bath white in another area but it was fluttering about and didn't allow me to get a decent pic.
Also seen on the edge of a orange orchard was a red admiral feasting on an overripe small orange, again pic not great as it was well into the tree.
The weather has been overcast since I have been here with a little rain too, but I think I might have to drive farther inland when the sun does shine to find something different?

Russ

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Russ,
Your Bath White looks like a female.
As for the mating Small Whites, I consulted my Tolman & Lewington just to see whether they could be Southern Small Whites (mannii), but I can't come to a conclusion - too tricky for me.
Chris

[Padfield]

As for the mating Small Whites, I consulted my Tolman & Lewington just to see whether they could be Southern Small Whites (mannii), but I can't come to a conclusion - too tricky for me.

They are definitely small whites. Even in the spring brood, the extent of the dark apical spot down the outer margin is distinctive.

This is a typical spring male mannii:



I don't seem to have any decent upperside shots of spring females - this is the best I can do:



The apical spots of Russ's pair quite clearly indicate rapae.

Guy