Nick Morgan
- NickMorgan
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Re: Nick Morgan
Thanks Pauline. It has certainly been an amazing year so far with another two new species for East Lothian. We haven't even had particularly good weather so far this year either!
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Re: Nick Morgan
Some great reporting from north of the border Nick, and your Grayling record is highly notable (at least to this south Welshman
)
Bill
"When in doubt...venture out"
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Bill
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
"When in doubt...venture out"
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Why not visit my website at http://www.dragonfly-days.co.uk
- NickMorgan
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Re: Nick Morgan
Thanks Willrow. There had been other Graylings seen before I saw mine. Maybe we have a hardy northern race up here that doesn't mind cloud and rain!! ![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
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- Chris Jackson
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Re: Nick Morgan
Hi Nick, I would love to see a photo of your northern Grayling to see how it compares with ours down in the Med.
While actively searching, I saw my first semele down here on June 9th, which is the same date as in 2013.
There is little chance of one of your NBAs wandering as far South as me
Cheers, Chris
While actively searching, I saw my first semele down here on June 9th, which is the same date as in 2013.
There is little chance of one of your NBAs wandering as far South as me
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Nick Morgan
Sorry Chris, I have been a way for a couple of weeks. Here is a picture of a Grayling I took last year. Is it any different from those you see? Certainly it seems to be perfectly camouflaged against the Scottish soil when it lands and closes it wings!
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Re: Nick Morgan
Just back from two weeks family holiday in Southern Spain. We returned to the villa that we rented in 2012 near Alora, about 40 kilometres north west of Malaga. When we were there two years ago Spain had been experiencing a particularly dry spring and hot summer and everything was really parched. This year the weather patterns had been more normal and it was a little greener, but strangely, fewer butterflies seemed to be in the air. Not surprisingly most of the species I saw were the same as last time!
The first morning I took a walk up the hills behind the villa and came across some Wall Browns in the same location I had seen them before. On the way back down I saw a few Dusky Heaths. These were a lot smaller than I had remembered and I thought they were a different species until I checked in the book! What was strange was that these were really common two years ago, but I only saw about six or seven of them that morning and no more on my other saunters around the countryside near the village.
Back down to my usual butterfly patch and I saw a blue butterfly which I expected to be a Common Blue. However, it turned out to be a lovely fresh Lang's Short-tailed Blue. Over the holiday I would regularly visit the area where I had seen so many butterflies exactly two years earlier, but I was always a little disappointed by how few there were there. I suspect that this area with a lot of thyme, rosemary and lavender on it was like an oasis to butterflies two years ago, but this year there was more choice for them to feed in other areas.
I think I only saw two Common Blues this year, whereas last year there were tens of them each day in this area. I saw a few more Southern Brown Argus, which are really beautiful little things. The butterfly that was the most common two years ago was the Southern Gatekeeper. These seem to like any slightly shaded ravine and I remember walking along a dried-up stream bed last time and hundreds of them flying up in front of me. This year I probably only saw about ten in total. This little Sage Skipper (please correct me if I am wrong with my identification!) patrolled a short section of the track leading to our villa. Without fail it would be there any time I walked past flying up and down a section about 20 metres long, seeing off any other butterflies that should dare to enter his area. The other skipper that I saw was new to me. I think this is a Mediterranean Skipper. One morning I had a brief view of a Clouded Yellow and managed one quick photo before it continued on its way. Most of the other butterflies I saw were ones that flew through the garden of the villa. Many of them didn't give me a chance to grab my camera, including a Holly Blue, a Brimstone and some Large Whites (which never seem to stop in Spain!). We regularly had a Small White visit a Lantana plant near the swimming pool. I not sure if it was the same individual that came back day after day, but it only seemed to be attracted to this one plant. This Meadow Brown was seen in the garden and I saw a couple more in the hills close-by. Geranium Bronze were the one butterfly that I saw more of this time than on my previous visit. Normally, I have only seen them in parks or gardens, but this year I came across them out in the countryside quite regularly. I imagine this must be because there were more flowers available for them to feed on this year. This Geranium Bronze was enjoying the fruits of a Lantana and it stayed in this position for over half an hour one evening. Last visit I saw one Bath White very briefly along a track. This year I also saw one, but it stayed around a Lantana plant for a while allowing me to take a few pictures. This Long-tailed Blue flew manically around the garden all day without stopping. Eventually, one evening it decided to refuel, allowing me to positively identify it and get a picture. A shame it didn't stop in brighter weather to allow me to get a better picture! I went for a walk down to the river in the village, where last time I had seen quite a few butterflies. Unfortunately for me, there was a lot more water in the river, so I wasn't able to cross over to the better side. However, the next morning I drove down to another shingle area by the river where I saw some Speckled Woods and my target species, African Grass Blues. No trip to southern Spain is complete without me seeing these!! Having checked through my butterfly book before we left I thought that there were about 90 species of butterflies occurring in this part of Spain at this time of year. By the end of the holiday I had only seen 19 species! I know that many species will have quite specific habitats and thinking of the butterflies that occur back home, you really have to know exactly where to look to find some small colonies of butterflies. When I had climbed to the top of the hill behind the villa I had looked down on the valley the other side and wondered if there would be different butterflies on the northern slopes of these hill. So, on the last day of our holiday I drove round to the other side of the hills for a short walk. As soon as I stopped the car I saw a large, dark butterfly land at the side of the road. It flew off before I could spot it, but within a few metres I saw another and it turned out to be a Striped Grayling. I walked up into the Pine and Eucalyptus forest and saw a Striped Grayling about every 20 metres. They seemed much bigger than the illustration in the book, but I was thrilled to see a new species before we left Spain. It was great seeing all of these butterflies. Although there weren't as many as I saw during my previous visit, at least I saw almost as many species. What more than made up for the lack of butterflies around the villa in Alora was all of the butterflies I saw on a trip to the Sierra Nevada. More to follow!
The first morning I took a walk up the hills behind the villa and came across some Wall Browns in the same location I had seen them before. On the way back down I saw a few Dusky Heaths. These were a lot smaller than I had remembered and I thought they were a different species until I checked in the book! What was strange was that these were really common two years ago, but I only saw about six or seven of them that morning and no more on my other saunters around the countryside near the village.
Back down to my usual butterfly patch and I saw a blue butterfly which I expected to be a Common Blue. However, it turned out to be a lovely fresh Lang's Short-tailed Blue. Over the holiday I would regularly visit the area where I had seen so many butterflies exactly two years earlier, but I was always a little disappointed by how few there were there. I suspect that this area with a lot of thyme, rosemary and lavender on it was like an oasis to butterflies two years ago, but this year there was more choice for them to feed in other areas.
I think I only saw two Common Blues this year, whereas last year there were tens of them each day in this area. I saw a few more Southern Brown Argus, which are really beautiful little things. The butterfly that was the most common two years ago was the Southern Gatekeeper. These seem to like any slightly shaded ravine and I remember walking along a dried-up stream bed last time and hundreds of them flying up in front of me. This year I probably only saw about ten in total. This little Sage Skipper (please correct me if I am wrong with my identification!) patrolled a short section of the track leading to our villa. Without fail it would be there any time I walked past flying up and down a section about 20 metres long, seeing off any other butterflies that should dare to enter his area. The other skipper that I saw was new to me. I think this is a Mediterranean Skipper. One morning I had a brief view of a Clouded Yellow and managed one quick photo before it continued on its way. Most of the other butterflies I saw were ones that flew through the garden of the villa. Many of them didn't give me a chance to grab my camera, including a Holly Blue, a Brimstone and some Large Whites (which never seem to stop in Spain!). We regularly had a Small White visit a Lantana plant near the swimming pool. I not sure if it was the same individual that came back day after day, but it only seemed to be attracted to this one plant. This Meadow Brown was seen in the garden and I saw a couple more in the hills close-by. Geranium Bronze were the one butterfly that I saw more of this time than on my previous visit. Normally, I have only seen them in parks or gardens, but this year I came across them out in the countryside quite regularly. I imagine this must be because there were more flowers available for them to feed on this year. This Geranium Bronze was enjoying the fruits of a Lantana and it stayed in this position for over half an hour one evening. Last visit I saw one Bath White very briefly along a track. This year I also saw one, but it stayed around a Lantana plant for a while allowing me to take a few pictures. This Long-tailed Blue flew manically around the garden all day without stopping. Eventually, one evening it decided to refuel, allowing me to positively identify it and get a picture. A shame it didn't stop in brighter weather to allow me to get a better picture! I went for a walk down to the river in the village, where last time I had seen quite a few butterflies. Unfortunately for me, there was a lot more water in the river, so I wasn't able to cross over to the better side. However, the next morning I drove down to another shingle area by the river where I saw some Speckled Woods and my target species, African Grass Blues. No trip to southern Spain is complete without me seeing these!! Having checked through my butterfly book before we left I thought that there were about 90 species of butterflies occurring in this part of Spain at this time of year. By the end of the holiday I had only seen 19 species! I know that many species will have quite specific habitats and thinking of the butterflies that occur back home, you really have to know exactly where to look to find some small colonies of butterflies. When I had climbed to the top of the hill behind the villa I had looked down on the valley the other side and wondered if there would be different butterflies on the northern slopes of these hill. So, on the last day of our holiday I drove round to the other side of the hills for a short walk. As soon as I stopped the car I saw a large, dark butterfly land at the side of the road. It flew off before I could spot it, but within a few metres I saw another and it turned out to be a Striped Grayling. I walked up into the Pine and Eucalyptus forest and saw a Striped Grayling about every 20 metres. They seemed much bigger than the illustration in the book, but I was thrilled to see a new species before we left Spain. It was great seeing all of these butterflies. Although there weren't as many as I saw during my previous visit, at least I saw almost as many species. What more than made up for the lack of butterflies around the villa in Alora was all of the butterflies I saw on a trip to the Sierra Nevada. More to follow!
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Re: Nick Morgan
When looking through my butterfly books before we went on holiday to Spain, I kept noticing a little blob on the distribution maps to the east of Malaga. After further investigation I discovered this was the Sierra Nevada, a relatively isolated area of mountains and apparently the second highest range in Europe after the Alps. The highest peak is 3482 metres and due to its isolation many butterflies occur there that are not found in much of the rest of Spain.
120 species of butterflies have been recorded there and I am really grateful to Merche from http://waste.ideal.es/primeramariposas.htmwho told me that July was a great time to look for butterflies there and she suggested a walk I should go on.
So on 4th July I got up early and drove for three hours from Alora to Hoya de la Mora. In winter this is a ski resort 2,550 metres up in the mountains. The road is blocked there, but if you want you can continue further up the mountains in a mini bus to over 3,100 metres. The walk that had been suggested to me left the road at the barrier at Albergue Universitario and ran across the eastern slopes of the mountain to a stream called Borreguil de San Juan. The walk was only a couple of miles, but it took me three hours there and back because I spent most of my time watching butterflies!
Much of the landscape was very rocky with scree slopes and occasional green, damp areas. It was almost like walking through a giant rockery with the Alpine plants such as Sempervivum, Dianthus, Saxifrage and Gentian carpeting the ground.
Almost as soon as I set off an Apollo, Parnassius apollo nevadensis, landed on the slope above me. The subspecies occurring in the Sierra Nevada has orange markings within the ocelli, rather than the usual red. As the day warmed up I saw several of these gliding up and down the hillsides, constantly on the move, and hardly ever landing. I wasn’t able to identify most of the blues that I saw, until I looked at my pictures afterwards. Even then, I find it very difficult to differentiate between some species. I bought a great book about the butterflies of the Sierra Nevada “Las Mariposas diurnas de Sierra Nevada”, which has detailed information about each species that lives there and a section on differentiating similar species. Unfortunately some of the characteristics mentioned in the book are not very apparent and the advice conflicts with information from other sources.
Both the Idas Blue, Plebejus idas, and the Silver-studded Blue, Plebejus argus, occur in the Sierra Nevada. The book says that light veins are apparent on the underside of the wings for the Idas Blue. Guy et al’s fantastic Butterflies of Europe app says that the blue scales are more extensive on the hind wing of the Silver-studded Blue. I have come to the conclusion, therefore, that those that I saw were all Silver-studded Blues, but I would be happy to hear from anyone who thinks otherwise! It was interesting that I could walk for 50 metres and see no butterflies and then come to an area where there were several flying around. It seemed that a subtle difference in habitat made a big difference in the number of butterflies.
I am pretty sure that the following pictures are all Escher’s Blue, Agrodiaetus escheri. These were the most common butterflies I saw high up in the mountains and they were mostly in areas around the prostrate Juniper scrub. They seem to have quite bold markings on the underside of the wings. This Large Wall Brown, Lasiommata maera, flew across the path in front of me and kindly stopped for a picture. The form found in Sierra Nevada and much of the Iberian Peninsula is adrasta, which is lighter in colour with more extensive orange markings. I descended a small path to a damp area with water running through it. Here I noticed the blues seemed a little smaller and lighter in colour. They turned out to be Nevada Blues, Plebicula golgus. There were also quite a number of Common Blues, Polyommatus celina, in this area, but they were markedly darker. As I continued down to the Rio de San Juan I was excited to see some orange butterflies. They were very flighty and difficult to approach and they turned out to be Small Tortoiseshells, Aglais urticae. They seemed more orange than those in Scotland. It was here that I briefly saw my first Purple-shot Copper, Lycaena alciphron. Later I was to see more of them near the Albergue Universitario where I got into trouble for taking pictures close to their military building. After I showed the soldier the pictures of butterflies I had been taking we parted on good terms! On my return to the car I saw some Clouded Yellows. Most of them didn't stop, but I managed a distant picture of this one. I had thought that it may be a Berger's Clouded Yellow, but Guy kindly identified it as a Clouded Yellow, Coleas crocea. After that, there was a bit of a Fritillary-fest. First a Heath Fritillary, Mellicta athalia. Then what I think is a Niobe Fritillary, Argynnis niobe. A Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia. And finally a Cardinal Fritillary, Argynnis pandora, just as I was getting into the car. Frustrating moment of the morning was having a Spanish Brassy Ringlet, Erebia Hispania, in the view finder only for it to be chased away by a blue just before I managed to take a picture!
Other butterflies seen that morning were Small Copper, Bath White and Wall Brown.
After that I drove down the mountain and stopped a couple of times to check what was flying in different areas. I'll put those butterflies on a separate post.
120 species of butterflies have been recorded there and I am really grateful to Merche from http://waste.ideal.es/primeramariposas.htmwho told me that July was a great time to look for butterflies there and she suggested a walk I should go on.
So on 4th July I got up early and drove for three hours from Alora to Hoya de la Mora. In winter this is a ski resort 2,550 metres up in the mountains. The road is blocked there, but if you want you can continue further up the mountains in a mini bus to over 3,100 metres. The walk that had been suggested to me left the road at the barrier at Albergue Universitario and ran across the eastern slopes of the mountain to a stream called Borreguil de San Juan. The walk was only a couple of miles, but it took me three hours there and back because I spent most of my time watching butterflies!
Much of the landscape was very rocky with scree slopes and occasional green, damp areas. It was almost like walking through a giant rockery with the Alpine plants such as Sempervivum, Dianthus, Saxifrage and Gentian carpeting the ground.
Almost as soon as I set off an Apollo, Parnassius apollo nevadensis, landed on the slope above me. The subspecies occurring in the Sierra Nevada has orange markings within the ocelli, rather than the usual red. As the day warmed up I saw several of these gliding up and down the hillsides, constantly on the move, and hardly ever landing. I wasn’t able to identify most of the blues that I saw, until I looked at my pictures afterwards. Even then, I find it very difficult to differentiate between some species. I bought a great book about the butterflies of the Sierra Nevada “Las Mariposas diurnas de Sierra Nevada”, which has detailed information about each species that lives there and a section on differentiating similar species. Unfortunately some of the characteristics mentioned in the book are not very apparent and the advice conflicts with information from other sources.
Both the Idas Blue, Plebejus idas, and the Silver-studded Blue, Plebejus argus, occur in the Sierra Nevada. The book says that light veins are apparent on the underside of the wings for the Idas Blue. Guy et al’s fantastic Butterflies of Europe app says that the blue scales are more extensive on the hind wing of the Silver-studded Blue. I have come to the conclusion, therefore, that those that I saw were all Silver-studded Blues, but I would be happy to hear from anyone who thinks otherwise! It was interesting that I could walk for 50 metres and see no butterflies and then come to an area where there were several flying around. It seemed that a subtle difference in habitat made a big difference in the number of butterflies.
I am pretty sure that the following pictures are all Escher’s Blue, Agrodiaetus escheri. These were the most common butterflies I saw high up in the mountains and they were mostly in areas around the prostrate Juniper scrub. They seem to have quite bold markings on the underside of the wings. This Large Wall Brown, Lasiommata maera, flew across the path in front of me and kindly stopped for a picture. The form found in Sierra Nevada and much of the Iberian Peninsula is adrasta, which is lighter in colour with more extensive orange markings. I descended a small path to a damp area with water running through it. Here I noticed the blues seemed a little smaller and lighter in colour. They turned out to be Nevada Blues, Plebicula golgus. There were also quite a number of Common Blues, Polyommatus celina, in this area, but they were markedly darker. As I continued down to the Rio de San Juan I was excited to see some orange butterflies. They were very flighty and difficult to approach and they turned out to be Small Tortoiseshells, Aglais urticae. They seemed more orange than those in Scotland. It was here that I briefly saw my first Purple-shot Copper, Lycaena alciphron. Later I was to see more of them near the Albergue Universitario where I got into trouble for taking pictures close to their military building. After I showed the soldier the pictures of butterflies I had been taking we parted on good terms! On my return to the car I saw some Clouded Yellows. Most of them didn't stop, but I managed a distant picture of this one. I had thought that it may be a Berger's Clouded Yellow, but Guy kindly identified it as a Clouded Yellow, Coleas crocea. After that, there was a bit of a Fritillary-fest. First a Heath Fritillary, Mellicta athalia. Then what I think is a Niobe Fritillary, Argynnis niobe. A Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia. And finally a Cardinal Fritillary, Argynnis pandora, just as I was getting into the car. Frustrating moment of the morning was having a Spanish Brassy Ringlet, Erebia Hispania, in the view finder only for it to be chased away by a blue just before I managed to take a picture!
Other butterflies seen that morning were Small Copper, Bath White and Wall Brown.
After that I drove down the mountain and stopped a couple of times to check what was flying in different areas. I'll put those butterflies on a separate post.
Last edited by NickMorgan on Sun Aug 03, 2014 9:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nick Morgan
Excellent resumé, Nick. Sounds like you found a really interesting and isolated hotspot.
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- NickMorgan
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Re: Nick Morgan
Thanks David. The Sierra Nevada was the best place I have ever been for butterflies! It would be amazing to spend a week or so there. It was interesting that on my 3 hour walk I didn't see one other person. When I returned to the car park there were hundreds of people there. I think they all drive up the mountain pass and stop to take in the view and buy a drink in one of the challets and then head back down again!David M wrote:Excellent resumé, Nick. Sounds like you found a really interesting and isolated hotspot.
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Re: Nick Morgan
Fantastic reportage Nick and that Striped Grayling shot is stunning
Have a goodun
Wurzel
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
Have a goodun
Wurzel
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Re: Nick Morgan
Thanks Wurzel,Wurzel wrote:Fantastic reportage Nick and that Striped Grayling shot is stunning![]()
![]()
![]()
Have a goodun
Wurzel
It was a great holiday and the Striped Grayling was a last day treat for me! I haven't added them all up (actually I am not definite about all of my IDs), but I must have seen more than 50 species and about 15 of them were lifers for me!
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Re: Nick Morgan
On my way back down the mountain road I noticed a viewpoint, but it was impossible to drive the car into the parking area as there was a foot drop off the tarmac! I managed to find somewhere to park the car a little further down the road and walked back towards the viewpoint.
Initially, I was surprised not to see any butterflies, but as I walked up to the viewpoint I was amazed to see five Swallowtails, Papilio machaon, flying backwards and forwards. I presume this is the "hill topping" activity that I have heard so much about.
The Swallowtails were being bombarded by Wall Browns, Lasiommata megera, every time they flew anywhere near them. It was a great sight to see!
I was delighted to see this Blue-spot Hairstreak, Satyrium spini. I had read about them before I went and I was disappointed to see that they occur in May and June in the Sierra Nevada. However, this one looked quite fresh. Later I saw some much more faded individuals.
As I crouched down to take a picture of the Blue-spot Hairstreak I noticed another butterfly out of the corner of my eye landing on the same plant. It was a Southern Scarce Swallowtail, Iphiclides feisthamelii. What a dilemma - which to take a picture of?!! I ended up alternating between the two!
The Dusky Heaths, Coenonympha dorus, here were a lot fresher-looking than those back in Alora. There were quite a number here at about 2,100 metres, yet I had seen none 500 metres further up the mountains.
There were also plenty of Purple-shot Coppers, Lycaena alciphron, in this area.
The Common Blues here were all rather faded, but this Idas Blue, Plebejus idas, was particularly nice.
I was amazed by how many butterflies there were in this small area. If you look carefully at the picture below you can see a dot about the left-hand interpretation board. It is one of the Swallowtails!
Last edited by NickMorgan on Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nick Morgan
Glad you got to see Dusky Heath, Nick. It's such a beautiful insect.
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Re: Nick Morgan
Yes, they are lovely, and I had forgotten how small they are!David M wrote:Glad you got to see Dusky Heath, Nick. It's such a beautiful insect.
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Re: Nick Morgan
A great report Nick, including Mediteranean species I know, and several I don't. I can imagine the thrill of seeing your first Striped Grayling, and they are relatively large compared to semele.
On a previous subject concerning your Scotland semele, it looks no different finally from its cousins down here in Marseilles.
Cheers, Chris
On a previous subject concerning your Scotland semele, it looks no different finally from its cousins down here in Marseilles.
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Nick Morgan
Hi Chris. Interesting about there being no difference in our Graylings! Yes, the Striped Graylings seemed like very large butterflies, but they don't look that big in Tolman!cjackson wrote:A great report Nick, including Mediteranean species I know, and several I don't. I can imagine the thrill of seeing your first Striped Grayling, and they are relatively large compared to semele.
On a previous subject concerning your Scotland semele, it looks no different finally from its cousins down here in Marseilles.
Cheers, Chris
I saw what I think was semele on my last stop in Sierra Nevada, and it certainly looked different from those I have seen here. There were two or three species I saw there that I am not that confident about, so I will be calling on the expertise here for a bit of help!
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
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Re: Nick Morgan
Further down the mountains at about 1,800 metres above sea level, the road entered an area of Cedar and Pine trees. I pulled over and walked into an area of scrub and meadow. There were plenty of different butterflies everywhere I looked here and I am very grateful to Mikhail for helping with some of their identifications!
There were so many butterflies in this area that I wouldn't be surprised if there were twice the number of species that I managed to identify there. I also saw my first ever Black-veined White, Aporia crataegi. It was much bigger than I expected! There were also Cleopatras, Gonepteryx cleopatra mauretanica, Large Whites, Pieris brassicae vazquezi and Small Whites, Pieris rapae, flying there along with a lot more butterflies that I couldn't identify. I was only there for about 15 minutes, but I would have loved to have pitched a tent and spent several days there!
Sadly I couldn't spend more time there as I had a three-hour drive ahead of me to get back to the villa. All the driving was well worth it, though. In the five hours I had spent in the Sierra Nevada I had seen 33 different species, with 18 of them being species I had never seen before. Definitely my best ever day looking for butterflies!
This Iberian Marbled White, Melanargia galathea, was flying at the side of the road. There were several other Marbled Whites flying amongst the scrub, but I can't be sure they were the same species. The Spanish Marbled White and the Western Marbled White both also occur in the Sierra Nevada.
I spent some time watching this butterfly until it gave me a chance to photograph it. It turned out to be a Grayling, Hipparchia semele, although it is a little different from those I see in Scotland.
I think this is a Safflower Skipper, Pyrgus carthami. There were a lot of similar skippers in that area, but they were mostly whizzing about and they rarely settled.
I have come to the conclusion that this is an Oriental Meadow Brown, Hyponephele lupinnus, thanks to Mikail's help! The undulations on the rear wings being the deciding feature.
When I saw this little skipper I thought it was a Small Skipper, but closer examination of the pictures showed it to be an Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola hemmingi. There were quite a number of them flying around in this little area.
There were a lot of these little blues flying there. I assumed they were Silver-studded Blues, but again thanks to Mikhail, we now think they are Idas Blues, Plebejus idas nevadensis. In the Sierra Nevada the Silver-studded Blues tend to have lighter undersides to their wings (as per my earlier post). The Idas Blues have a grey background to the underside of their wings with a lighter postdiscal area. (Thanks also to "Las Mariposas de Sierra Nevada" and Google Translate!).
Given that all the males in this area were Idas Blues, I am assuming that this female is also an Idas Blue.
The other blue flying there were Common Blues, Polyommatus celina.
This Marsh Fritillary, Euphydryas aurinia beckeri, was the only fritillary there that I was able to photograph. Several others, large and small, flew past me!
After taking pictures of so many female blues, assuming that some of them were going to be an argus, it turns out that the last butterfly I photographed was the only argus I saw all day. It is a Mountain Argus, Aricia montensis (Thank you Guy for the identification!).
Up on the top of the mountains the temperature was 10 degrees, but down here it was 18 degrees, and I think that is why the butterflies were so much more active. However, this was a lot cooler than Granada a few miles further down the road where it was 36 degrees when I drove past!There were so many butterflies in this area that I wouldn't be surprised if there were twice the number of species that I managed to identify there. I also saw my first ever Black-veined White, Aporia crataegi. It was much bigger than I expected! There were also Cleopatras, Gonepteryx cleopatra mauretanica, Large Whites, Pieris brassicae vazquezi and Small Whites, Pieris rapae, flying there along with a lot more butterflies that I couldn't identify. I was only there for about 15 minutes, but I would have loved to have pitched a tent and spent several days there!
Sadly I couldn't spend more time there as I had a three-hour drive ahead of me to get back to the villa. All the driving was well worth it, though. In the five hours I had spent in the Sierra Nevada I had seen 33 different species, with 18 of them being species I had never seen before. Definitely my best ever day looking for butterflies!
Last edited by NickMorgan on Sun Aug 03, 2014 9:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Nick Morgan
Just a note, Nick, that the Spanish Argus is Aricia morronensis, not montensis.
M.
M.
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- NickMorgan
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Re: Nick Morgan
Oop! Thanks Mikhail (duly edited) and thanks very much again for all of your help identifying the butterflies. It is much appreciated.
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Re: Nick Morgan
Hi Nick. I seem to have got way out of synch with your diary. I never get to the south of Spain in the summer nowadays and you have convinced me I should!
They're excellent species you've seen. My only corrections, on a brief perusal, would be the clouded yellow (which is a clouded yellow, not Berger's, unless there's some strange trick of the light going on) and that last argus, which does look to me like montensis, not morronensis. From Misha's comment about the names I presume you originally had it down as montensis - or maybe I've missed a trick. Everything's been a rush recently.
Guy
They're excellent species you've seen. My only corrections, on a brief perusal, would be the clouded yellow (which is a clouded yellow, not Berger's, unless there's some strange trick of the light going on) and that last argus, which does look to me like montensis, not morronensis. From Misha's comment about the names I presume you originally had it down as montensis - or maybe I've missed a trick. Everything's been a rush recently.
Guy
Diary entries for 2014 have been archived. If there are missing images in this post, then they can be found in this archive if one exists. All archives can be found here.
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html