www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

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

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

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

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

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
.

Hi

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

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

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.

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! 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.

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

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

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

Keep the photos coming.

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

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

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

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

Matsukaze wrote: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

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

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

cjackson wrote: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