:- this instalment has only one butterfly so you may wish to fast forwardcont from part 3 ... And so we piled our stuffed suitcases into the car and headed off for Sunningdale Village. Unlike the other CLC resorts (Paradise and Monterrey which overlook Las Americas) this one sent us heading back towards the airport
. In addition the sky was now overcast which augmented our somewhat apprehensive mood. However any doubts were unfounded when we arrived and saw the resort and our apartment … top notch 
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- Grey skies over Sunningdale Village
), so my nature forays were going to need a car journey.Putting all this aside we unanimously agreed (for a change
) that we should go to the beach (specifically "Monkey Beach") as the cloud looked like it was breaking up westward over the coastline. In fact the blanket white cloud hung around for four days and brought the temperature down to around 25C, which was about 1 or 2 degrees less than in Britain at that time 
. It was still T-shirt weather, and not the anticipated scorching heat we’d been concerned about from having to take a break in the school summer holiday period.It was great to have some fun with the kids, riding the small Atlantic rollers, and building black sand castles on the beach
. However, as always, I was on the ready for a wild-life moment and my vigilance was rewarded when I spotted one of Tenerife’s famous giant Robber flies hare-ing about (hard to miss to be fair 
) It landed on a sun-lounger so I approached slowly taking shots all the time until I was as near as I could go with my Tamron lens. Close-up through the viewfinder was a hairy nightmarish apparition leisurely feeding on its diminutive hapless prey (a hoverfly species?).- Promachus vexator with prey
). In 2011 in the same scenario, I spotted an African Migrant butterfly on a jacaranda tree. No such luck this time but I did get to see a Wasp spider.- Argiope trifasciata
and set off to exploring the area around Golf del Sur. This led me to a little fishing port called Los Abrigos and nearby there looked to be some suitable arid terrain for wildlife. This proved to be the case but not for butterflies rather the Red-veined darter Dragonflies which this time were in good numbers. - Los Abrigos
- Sympetrum fonscolombii Red-veined Darter
- The red-bodied males were the harder to get near to
The one-way system around Golf del Sur meant a longer journey back but I was glad it did because I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted something which I’ve only ever briefly glimpsed before, a pair of Hoopoe
. I stopped the car about 50 yards from where they were busy on the ground, probing around the kerbstones and amongst the path tiles for their (insect) food. I grabbed my camera and gradually approached, praying they wouldn’t fly away or that a passing car would set them off. Thankfully they more or less stayed put (as long as I didn’t get any nearer than 10 yards (trying to get closer made them move on to maintain their distance) 
. One of the birds was more boldly coloured than the other which I assume was the male. Eventually a car did come along and they made off.- Male bird
- Female bird
was not shared by Sharon 
as our tickets for our excursion to La Gomera had arrived with a 07:00a.m start to catch the coach for the ferry port. “Never mind you can doze on the coach dear” was not well received. So an early start and a long trip to get to the ferry port in Los Cristianos because the bus went around the houses picking up customers
. Sharon’s mood hadn’t lifted and was not helped when the tour guide asked us for our passports (to show to the port authorities 
…. but we hadn’t been told by the ticket agent to bring them). The guide a young chap said “ees no problem” and anyway it wasn’t going to spoil my day .The Fred Olsen ferry scooted across the sea at some rate of knots (only the Cory’s Shearwaters could keep up) and it wasn’t long before we arrived in the capital San Sebastien and were back on the bus winding our way up the steep roads into the mountains. The tour guide spoke in Spanish; German and English and we learned some interesting facts such as La Gomera is the only Canary Island to have its volcanic activity extinct. There were signs of its previous activity with “Los Roques” which are solidified lava plugs exposed by erosion.
. The tour guide told us to watch out for the Cleopatra butterfly and the Canary Island Red Admiral. And on the walk in he pointed out some “Blue Chaffinches” hopping along the shaded forest floor. I set my camera in manual to cope with dark conditions but the photos were not very good. Subsequently I realised they were not Blue Chaffinches but Tintillon Chaffinches, a sub-species (what else? ) of our common Chaffinch.- Female Tintillon Chaffinch
. It landed with its wings open but closed them as I got my camera ready. Frantically trying to reset the manual settings, I only managed a few over-exposed pictures and he was off . Oh well I’ve now added Canary Speckled Wood (Parage xiphioides) to my sightings.- Parage xiphioides, Canary Speckled Wood
). I asked her to get me a Honey liqueur (but I might’ve said coffee liqueur ). Anyway, she came back with two drinks unable to consume the “foul tasting” one she’d got for herself. Oh well bottoms up. Phil
more to follow ...
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