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The following day we went for a walk around Salines de la Mata, which is a nature reserve around a saline lake. To entice the kids I offered a Euro to the first person to spot a butterfly and within a few feet of the car park my son and daughter were arguing over who had seen the wall brown first. I had to give them both a Euro and tell them there was another Euro for the next butterfly! Very quickly Jemma had earned her Euro with a swallowtail. Robbie soon countered that with a red squirrel, so I had to pay out on that too! It was worth the four Euros to get them interested, though!
On the rest of the walk we saw a further two wall browns and six small whites and on the way back to the car a Bath white, but it didn’t stop for a picture.
Having decided that the coast was possibly a little too dry I thought that I would travel inland a little the following day. I intended to try to reach some distant hills, but a combination of factors, mostly me getting lost, prevented me getting that far. In the end I settled for a reservoir – Embarrassment de la Pedrera. Eventually, I found an area where I could walk as much of the area was fenced off with “Private” signs. It seems that the locals used this area for clay pigeon shooting and dumping old television sets and initially it seemed that it didn’t offer much for butterflies. However, after about 15 minutes I saw a couple of Spanish marbled whites squabbling over a sunny spot. Every time one landed the other flew over and chased it away and I spent ages trying to get a photo. Eventually, I realised that if I just stayed at this favoured spot with my camera ready one of them would fly into view. And sure enough it worked!
Having spent some time in this small area the butterflies suddenly started to appear. It was about midday, but I had imagined that earlier in the day would have been just as good. Over the next hour I saw several small whites, bath whites, black-eyed blues, several more Spanish marbled whites, three painted ladies a swallowtail, wall and a clouded yellow. They were all very active and didn’t really present any good photo opportunities, but it was good to see reasonable numbers of butterflies at last. At one point I got the fright of my life as a lizard that must have been almost two feel long broke cover in front of me. I could hear it footsteps as it ran along the track ahead of me!
The Bath whites were real torments! They rarely stopped for any length of time and proved very difficult to photograph. These were the best two shots I managed. Later in the holiday I had one perfectly framed in my camera and when I pressed the button I realised it was on video.
On the final day of our holiday I went back to Salinas De La Mata in the afternoon to see if there were any more butterflies around. Unfortunately I only saw only one wall and a swallowtail and a brief glimpse of a red admiral.
So, only 13 species for the trip, along with a few fleeting glances of a few unidentified butterflies.
Geranium bronze
Painted lady
Small white
Large white
Swallowtail
Clouded yellow
Scarce swallowtail
Specked wood
Black-eyed blue
Bath white
Wall
Spanish marbled white
Red admiral
As a small consolation, when we returned home on a cool grey day I saw that a small white had emerged from one of the chrysalises on the house. It was too cold for it to fly and it was still there this morning until the sun made an appearance.

Guy,
There were a number of different species I was hoping I would see, but sadly it wasn't to be. Still, that leaves more for me to find in the future!
So often recently I have seen a butterfly and thought that had I been there just a few seconds later I wouldn't have seen it. I suppose that the opposite will also apply and it shows how much luck can play a part in what we see. On the other hand, with the knowledge and skill that you have, luck doesn't play such a part!
As you say, there is so much development in that part of Spain it is not surprising that the number of butterflies is low. I would have loved to have had enough time to go further inland and up into the mountains.
My wife has already booked our holiday for next summer at a villa north of Malaga, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. I bet I don't see as many species as you did!!

Great report and photos Nick, sorry you didn't see so much. Still, it must be great to see the Spanish Marbled Whites and Black Eyed Blues!

You're right though, it is pretty developed round there isn't it, and where it isn't it's pretty much farmland. I'm surprised it's that dry already, I figured it would be a bit greener this early. Your first landscape photo seems much greener than the times I've been late September/early October where everything's essentially a dustbowl!

I've often looked at those mountains in the distance you mentioned but they do seem a mighty long way away from where you were, maybe I'll try there one day.

Cheers

Lee

Thanks Lee.
Although there didn't seem to be a lot of butterflies I was thrilled to be able to get such good views of the black-eyed blues and better views of the Spanish marbled white, both of which I had only briefly seen before. The Bath whites were a new species for me, so that was another joy for me as I have been wanting to see one for years now!
It was funny to take the dog for a walk before lunch today and see six small tortoiseshells, three orange tips and a large white. Despite the intensive farming in this area butterflies are relatively numerous in East Lothian.

I could have kicked myself this morning as I forgot to have a look at one of the small white chrysalises that I noticed had changed colour yesterday.
Sure enough when I arrived home after work there was an empty chrysalis under the window sill!
There are still a few others left on the house that will hopefully emerge soon.
A good weather forecast turned out to be a cloudy day. However, at lunch time the cloud gave way to hazy sunshine and I was able to do my transect. I recorded 23 orange tips and the first green-veined whites for me this year. Also a comma, three peacocks and four small tortoiseshells.

An exciting day today. I had heard that some blue butterflies had been seen close to Aberlady Local Nature Reserve and the speculation was that they could only really be holly blues. Only problem is that they are meant not to occur up here. There has been a colony in Musselburgh for a number of years about 20 miles away, which I have always wondered if they had arrived there naturally or had been released.
Last year there was a holly blue spotted in Haddington, ten miles south of Aberlady.
Today I went up to Aberlady and had a look at a right of way that has holly and ivy along it. I saw plenty of orange tips, green-veined whites, peacocks and small tortoiseshells, but nothing blue there. I then wandered along the back of a hedgerow and just as I was about to give up I saw some large holly trees around the back of someone's garden. I took a look and there they were. At least four holly blues flitting between two holly bushes and an apple tree.
The pictures wouldn't win any prizes, but at least they prove that they were there.
I would be interested to know how the holly blues got there. Does anyone know if they move far? Certainly the ones that I was watching stayed within a section of hedgerow about 10 metres long. It is a little worrying if their territory is that small and could easily be destroyed if the house owner decided to cut back the bushes.

Hi Nick,
An excellent piece of detective work....well done!!! I have just got your message through the ESBC forum...I will give you some details via e-mail on sightings past and present throughout the Borders. For East Lothian I am a little in the dark on the situation...I know their has been regular sightings, where and when...not sure.

I will e-mail you soon on details.


Iain.

Great transect today - only four species, but 43 orange tips, 12 green-veined whites, 6 small tortoiseshells and 3 peacocks. On the way back I took a closer look at the butterflies and saw this orange tip which seemed to have more marbling than I have previously noted.
I had a look through previous pictures and noticed that they seem to vary quite a bit. Here is one I took last year.

Butterfly numbers have been good despite the continual cool winds we have been suffering up here. I saw my first small copper of the year on Monday, followed by my first red admiral. I have since seen two more red admirals on my transect on Wednesday, another one on Thursday and two more on Friday, all at different locations. I can't remember previously seeing so many so early in the year.
I have been searching various locations around East Lothian to see if I can find any speckled woods, but so far I have had no luck. There have been odd sightings over the last two years on the eastern side of East Lothian and they are just over the Border, so I am still hopeful of finding a colony somewhere.
I nipped down to Dunglass last week to see if I could see any wall browns after they appeared here last year. I didn't see anything other than a brave green-veined white, but I couldn't blame any butterflies for hiding from the cold wind blowing in off the sea.
Today I followed up a lead from a local natural history enthusiast who told me where she had seen green hairstreaks in the Lammermuir Hills about 12 years ago. Sadly I didn't find any and the potential habitat was a very small cleugh with stunted rowan trees in the middle of a large area of grouse moors, which is periodically burnt. The weather was also not ideal for viewing butterflies, but I did see my first small heath of the year.
Earlier in the year I planted a garlic mustard plant in a pot in the garden with the hope of putting an orange tip caterpillar on it. (The local farmer sprays the field margins, killing so much garlic mustard around here, and I often try to re-locate caterpillars away from the areas he sprays.) It seems that I won't need to seed it with a caterpillar as an orange tip has obviously sneaked into the garden when I wasn't looking and laid an egg on it!

It has been a very frustrating week up until today. Twice I started my butterfly transect, but had to give up because it clouded over. Yesterday I did manage to complete my transect but the last section was very cloudy. The strong winds have been relentless, which meant that butterfly numbers were low, but I still recorded orange tips, green-veined whites, a small white, two red admirals, three surprisingly unfaded small tortoiseshells and a comma.
The countryside ranger from John Muir Country Park came into the office yesterday and said that she had seen a wall brown at the park on Monday. This is the first record of a wall brown there. She had also seen a fritillary that was smaller than the normal dark green. I showed her a picture of a small pearl bordered fritillary and she said that it was definitely that. The only other record for East Lothian was at Aberlady Local Nature Reserve six years ago, although they are recorded in the Scottish Borders just south of here.
Yesterday the ranger from the east of the county brought me a picture of a strange little orange butterfly that she had seen on the coast at Bilsdean, which turned out to be a wall brown. After discovering these down there last year I had been to look for them last week with no luck. So it is good to know that they have successfully survived a hard winter.
Lunchtime today I thought that I would go and have a look for small pearl bordered fritillaries at John Muir Country Park. The wind was still blowing strongly and there were a lot of grey clouds around, but I thought it worth a try. Things didn't look too good to start with, and it took some time until I saw my first butterfly - an orange tip. Then in a small clearing in the woodland a little brown insect flew up and circled around me. I couldn't believe that it was a speckled wood and there were two of them in this one spot accompanied by a red admiral. They were amazingly well camouflaged when they landed. I managed to get a couple of pictures and then the speckled woods flew up into a sycamore tree. I walked around the woods and to the estuary of the River Tyne for the next hour, but only saw one green-veined white. I suppose 12 degrees and the strong wind with only occasional sunshine wasn't ideal.
When I walked back along the track at exactly the same point there were the two speckled woods and the red admiral. The speckled woods disappeared, but the red admiral seemed very attached to a sunny bit of bracken, which it kept returning to.
To say I was delighted is an understatement. There have been four isolated records of speckled woods in East Lothian over the last two years and I was determined to see if I could find a colony of them somewhere. I have been checking out all the likely woodland on the east coast this year with no luck. This was such a surprise for me. I was also interested to note that they are much smaller than the speckled woods in southern Europe as well as being a very different colour.
I didn't see the small pearl bordered fritillary, but that can wait for some better weather. I have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Nick, what an enthusiastic post that was - I'm sure there are plenty of folks reading it and feeling very pleased for you. Well done on re-finding your good luck, hope your determination brings you equal success with those elusive frits!

Gibster.

Thanks Gibster. We don't get as many species up here as further south or in mainland Europe. Sometimes I look at other posts on this forum and long for chalkhill blues or brimstones. However, I suppose it makes it even more special for me when I find a new species!

The weather was good enough for me to do my transect today. However, despite 20 degrees and full sun there were very few butterflies around - a handful of green-veined whites, two orange tips, a large white and two small whites. After a couple of weeks of strong winds and continual cold temperatures I wonder if many butterflies have perished. The forecast is good for tomorrow, so I plan to head to the coast to see how the butterflies are doing there.

Yesterday I went to John Muir Country Park to have a look for small pearl bordered fritillaries. It was the warmest day of the year at 25 degrees and full sun. That's 12 degrees more than we had all of May! Unfortunately I didn't see any SPBFs but I did see at least three speckled woods. They were all in lovely condition, so I wonder if they are a second generation. The only other butterflies I saw was one small white, one orange tip, one small copper and one comma. It is funny that speckled woods that seem to have only recently arrived in East Lothian were the most numerous butterflies there!
The Countryside Ranger saw another speckled wood on her transect last week at the other side of the Park last week and the Ranger at Yellowcraig saw one there too. It looks like they are starting to become common!!

On yet another overcast day today, I was walking up the track taking our dog for a walk at lunchtime, thinking how nice it would be to live in the Swiss Alps, when I saw a small tortoiseshell. While I was speculating whether it was one that had come through the winter or a new generation I noticed that it was paying a lot of attention to a patch of nettles, landing on a plant and looking as though it was about to lay some eggs and then flying to another plant. Eventually, it chose a plant that it liked and started to lay some eggs. I waited and watched for about half an hour hoping to be able to take a picture of the eggs and eventually I decided to return later as it was taking so long!
I went back a couple of hours later armed with a rubber glove and I was surprised to see that the eggs were piled up in a cluster. I had expected them to have been more neatly arranged!
Not very exotic, but another first for me.

We seem to have reached the lull between the first flush of butterflies and the next lot appearing.
Yesterday's transect didn't produce very much, just two orange tips, two green veined whites, a small copper and my first ringlet of the year. The weather wasn't too bad and there were hundreds of chimney sweeper moths in the grassy areas. I kept thinking I had floaters in my eyes!
Today I headed off to John Muir Country Park to see what was flying around the dune grassland. Sadly the sunny 20 degree morning turned overcast and grey just as I arrived, so there wasn't as much there as I expected. I did manage to see a few common blues, two small heaths, two small coppers and a red admiral. I am beginning to wonder if there is some link between me going out of the office at lunch time and grey clouds!

The weather has been miserable here recently. Friday was warm and sunny, but unfortunately I was laid up in bed with food poisoning. So, I haven't seen a butterfly in 11 days! This afternoon I had a look at the small tortoiseshell egg and at last they have hatched. That's 18 days since they were laid, which seems like a long time to me, but is maybe a reflection of the weather we have been having.

How very thoughtful of them to delay their emergence until you were on your feet again!

Great photos, Nick. You should stick them in the Species-specific Albums, if you've not already!

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks Pete. I have only just had a look at the gallery and what a fantastic collection of pictures it is. That will give me plenty to look at over the winter. I feel honoured to add some pictures to it!