In amongst the rocks we could make out Gallotia galloti Tenerife lacertid lizards. They appeared to quite bold suggesting that they were used to receiving tit-bits from tourists. In 2011 I accidently discovered you could feed them. When I sat still observing them one came right up to take a nibble on my fingers. I realised it could smell the dry cured ham that I’d been eating earlier. After that me and Isabella went back and fed them little snippets of serrano. Unfortunately we had nothing to offer them on this occasion but perhaps it was for the best
because in principle I’m opposed to the ‘domestication of wildlife’ (which feeding ultimately leads to)- Galollotia galloti blending in with the rocks
. This is the 4th time I’ve been to this area but it never fails to bring me joy 
. Eventually I brought the cruising to a halt and pulled in to a lay-by to drink in more of the stunning views. A few years back we’d taken the trip up the cable car to the near summit at around 12,000 feet. The long wait and high cost to get on board the car was worth it for the views from the top but both me and Izzy suffered from altitude sickness
. I could walk no more that 5 – 10 yards without needing a rest and it took a lot of effort to avoid falling asleep 
. A six year old Izzy at the time, just whined that she felt unwell. Meanwhile there were hiker types and other people a lot older than me, lighting up and chuffing away 
.- Landscape taken from out stop point
. She was wearing plastic sandals with a flower adornment and there in the middle of the flower was a Canary Blue. - Fraid you won't find nectar there mate
).- Izzy well chuffed with her little butterflies
. It was like a scene from the Hitchcock movie The Birds. In the end we beat them off, jumped in the car, wound up the windows and got the hell out. 
On the way back I took a different route back following the TF-38 through a black lava field (the road though well surfaced (as they generally all are in Tenerife
) is narrow and leaves no room for driver error) on to Samara (a former vent in the Teide complex) where these pictures were taken from. The red car is ours and at the place I thought I might’ve seen the Small Copper in 2011.- View of picos Viejo (foreground) and the higher pico Teide in the background
- View from the peak of Samara
A pair of Small Whites were circling around and also there was an African Grass Blue (male) which was in good condition. Unfortunately my pictures didn’t turn out as well as I would’ve liked, most of them being bleached and out of focus to varying degrees and requiring considerable rework in Canon zoom browser - 'surreal setting' for the common or garden Small White
- Tiny Bee
- The bee would climb right into the opuntia flowers
which from its movements amongst the opuntias suggested it was searching for prey.- Can anyone I.D this?
Phil
