Padfield

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel and Buzzard. And Buggy - I’d missed your last post from Spain, with all the things I had to do last week. Great pictures of Provence hairstreak.

The weather was actually good today. A little cloud in the afternoon but otherwise impeccable. I got to my hilltopping site shortly after 10h00, in full sunshine, and the very first hilltoppers were beginning their frolics. Walls always call the first shots, closely followed by long-tailed blues. Soon, several Spanish marbled whites were up there with them but before it really got going I headed off for the Provence hairstreak site to see if they really were over. It seems so - at this site at least. Not a sniff of one, and I know they fly there in good numbers. On the way there, I encountered another indication of what an incredibly early season it is - a Spanish gatekeeper. In total, I saw half a dozen of these during the day. These should not really be on the wing before the end of April. Black-eyed blues were common during the day and I caught up with a few Spanish festoons, though not many. Other new species for the visit were both swallowtails, speckled wood and Cleopatra, of which I saw just one female. I came down relatively early in yet another mission to find Ziz Knys Finally, success - I found a single, rather weary (but also wary) male. For a moment, I had in my field of vision Europe’s largest and smallest butterflies - a monarch, swooping around the Lantana, and an African grass blue creeping around in the dirt.

Here are a few pictures:


(A tranquil scene up in the hills)


(black-eyed blue)


(Spanish festoon)


(Spanish marbled white)


(Spanish gatekeeper)


(swallowtail)


(Iberian scarce swallowtail)


(another, on a wild almond tree)


(Small copper)


(clouded yellow)


(helice)


(African grass blue)


(monarch)


(swifts at my hilltopping site)


(a pair of long-tailed blues at that site in the afternoon - this is what they go there for)


(bee-eaters were rarely far away - but almost impossible to photograph)


(stonechat)

Must get some sleep now, to be up in time for more action tomorrow. According to my iPhone stats, I’ve walked more than 100km in total over the last three days (31km on Sunday, 39km yesterday and 33km today) and my feet are feeling the strain.

Guy

[Wurzel]

More great shots Guy - but especially envious of the Spanish Hedge Brown Hope you got the sleep - looking forward to the next part of the report

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

I’m so glad the weather cleared up for you, Guy. You don’t expect several days of non-action in southern Spain during spring!

Lots of exciting stuff there – Spanish Gatekeeper is undoubtedly the biggest surprise. I’m pleased you caught up with African Grass Blue, and I hope you get another shot at ballus before you leave (although I somehow doubt it given the situation thus far).

I’m not surprised your feet are protesting – those mighty kilometre tallies are quite something….and I bet a fair bit was uphill!

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel and David. The Spanish gatekeeper (ahem ... hedge brown ...) was indeed a surprise, not least because it was out in reasonable numbers.

Today’s mission was false baton blue. I took the first bus to Antequera, on the sole authority of Tolman, who mentioned this town in his list of three places it flew near Málaga. Obviously, I did my Google Earth research too and decided on a plan. I thought at the very least I would come across Panoptes blue, and in hope of the latter I set about searching for thyme. Until about midday it looked as if I would come home almost empty handed. There had been setbacks. I’ve never crossed quite so many ‘prohibido pasar’ signs in one day, nor crawled under quite so many barbed wire fences. One path I wanted to follow was blocked by cows with calves and I wasn’t sure I was brave enough to go there. I had a beer, and then I knew I was brave enough. But one of the calves set off towards me, followed by his mum, and I wanted to keep my next beer for when I found some butterflies, so chose another way. However, the day came good. First, I found a single, rather tatty Provence hairstreak - which flew after the record photograph. Then southern brown argus, and finally I came across a small colony of false baton blue. My first lifer of 2019! These are absolutely tiny butterflies and getting good photos was difficult. They are also theoretically - but not in practice - difficult to distinguish from Panoptes blue. There are certain key features which are decisive given a really good view, and I am confident of this ID.

These pictures have been processed on an iPad. They were much better on the camera and will be better when I have processed them properly on the computer - the resizing and compress always messes up on my iPad:













There were good numbers of Lorquin’s blue at the same site:



This one enjoyed the sweat on my backpack:







This wasn’t a lifer, but I’ve only seen one previously, in Portugal in 1991, so it was a very welcome sighting.

Here’s the one Provence hairstreak I found:



That picture won’t be redeemable even when I reprocess it ...

This is the spring brood of the Andalucian small heath - the one that in summer is called lyllus and some authors claim is a distinct species:



I watched a female Cleopatra laying - one egg per leaf, laid in less than a second, so impossible to photograph:



This is one of the eggs she laid:



A few other pics before my final quiz question:


(western dappled white)


(southern brown argus)


(Spanish festoon)


(one of the zillions of corn buntings in full song)


(another of them)

And the quiz question:

Which female Lysandra is this?



I have got an underside, but it seems I haven’t uploaded it to my server so I can’t post it in this post!

Guy

[bugboy]

That was definitely a worthwhile trip! You're braver than me though, I've never risked a wander through a field of cows with calves... mind you there's a few butterflies out there that could probably tempt me

I'd have to plump for bellargus for that last one

[Jack Harrison]

“Hairy Coos” (Highland cattle) are incredibly laid back. On Isle of Mull (where I used to live and am going again on holiday in a few weeks) the bulls aren’t even corralled – you can confidently walk close by. At one spot (near Glengorm Castle) I was often amused by two obviously gay bulls! I’m not sure that’s what the farmer had in mind when he presumably paid good money for a two stud bulls

Mind you, I would never go near any cow with calf.

If you never hear from me again after I am due back from Mull in early May, then you might presume that my understanding of “Hairy Coos” was faulty.

Jack

[essexbuzzard]

Wow, you certainly know how to make us drool, Guy! False baton blue, whatever next. Loving your adventures but, I too, would not have been brave enough to go through the field of calves. Well, perhaps, if I knew there were false baton blues on the other side. As for the I.D., I too would go for Adonis, as I don’t think Provence chalkhill flies that far south. As always, i stand corrected,of course!

[millerd]

What an amazing selection, Guy - and I feel proud of myself if I walk 10km a day too! Extraordinary stuff.

On the basis of no first-hand knowledge of the possible alternatives down there in Spain, that butterfly looks a lot like some of the Adonis females I saw last August at Denbies, and so my vote is with those of Buggy and Essex.

Cheers,

Dave

[NickMorgan]

Guy,
You have me really excited with all of your sightings! I am due to fly out to Malaga on the 18th and we will be staying in Alora about 45km north west of Malaga. We have stayed in this village on four previous occasions, but always in July, when it has been hot and parched. I have a few local hot spots that I visit in the summer and I can't wait to see what is there in April.
I am planning on a visit to Torcal de Antequera, which isn't far away.
I am looking forward to reading more about what you have seen.
Nick

[Wurzel]

Another cracking selection Guy Good to see a very European selection in the one post - dual British/Swiss in Spain taking on Dutch courage You're right to be concerned though the normally docile cows can get a bit shirty when with calf Love the False Baton I'm heading to Portugal at the start of August but I reckon as the season seems early I could miss out on Panoptes

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Thank you all for your comments. I agree - I think the female Lysandra must be bellargus - but even in Spain isn’t 3rd April early for this species? And yes, false baton blue will go down as the highlight of this trip (so far). I’ll be interested to see what you turn up in a couple of weeks’ time, Nick. False baton and Lorquin’s blue should still be flying (PM me if you want any hints on those ... ) and lots more besides. I don’t see any reason why panoptes shouldn’t be flying in August when you go to Portugal, Wurzel. I suspect the timings then depend not on how early spring is but what kind of summer they get. A scorcher might delay butterflies. They really don’t like flying when it’s 44 degrees in the day and there’s no vegetation ...

In 1983, the then Dean of Gibraltar, the Very Revd John Rowland, asked the then 19 year-old Guy Padfield to cut up an old car tyre into small squares and nail them to the feet of the wooden chairs at the back of the Holy Trinity Cathedral so these didn’t make an unholy din every time someone moved. I duly got an old tyre from one of the stevedores in the docks, cut it up with my Swiss army knife and nailed the pieces to the chairs. Well, I visited Holy Trinity Cathedral today, 36 years later, and I’m proud to say my handiwork is still holding up:



It was a lovely day but relatively little was flying on the Rock. Around the Med Steps it was mainly Spanish festoons - or more strictly, for the time being at least, British festoons - and these were mostly gravid females:



I watched one laying, deep in half-shade:



She took her time, carefully laying a small cluster of eggs on the under-surface of the leaf:



Nearby, I found two early-instar larvae:



Not far away, a gecko was lurking ...



Other than these, a few Provence orange tips were still around - again, all but one females - and a few large and small whites. On coming down from the Upper Rock I visited the Alameda gardens, where monarch now breed. I saw none, but did see one swooping around the Trafalgar cemetery, exactly where I saw my first European monarchs back in 1999. It didn’t stop. Also in the cemetery were a few speckled woods and this female Cleopatra:



I’m not 100% confident with the other female Cleopatras I’ve seen this trip, as brimstones also fly in Andalucía. But only Cleopatras fly in Gib.

Up the Rock, I enjoyed making friends with the monkeys again. A passing American kindly offered to take a shot of me with one I was communing with. He was decidedly unimpressed with this:



A lot of mutual grooming goes on in the monkey world. I have no idea if they seek consent before touching, but I am confident the one receiving the attention here would gladly have given it:





They are very photogenic creatures.





A few pints of London Pride in the Angry Friar and then back to La Linea to catch the bus for Málaga. It will rain again tomorrow. I won’t mind.

Guy

[essexbuzzard]

Glad to see you made it to GBZ, Guy. And the weather looks pretty good,too. I too see lots of Festoons on the Rock, but I’m slightly surprised there weren’t more Provence Orange Tips. Perhaps they have already passed their peak? Judging from your other sightings, it seems to be an early spring down there...

[bugboy]

It was all male Provence Orange-tips when I was there. Interesting to note that Brimstone don't fly on The Rock, that clears up my female shots I got that I wasn't 100% sure on . I feel like this website needs a temporary name change to ESP Butterflies until the UK weather stops playing silly buggers

[NickMorgan]

Thank you Guy,
Expect a pm!! You have certainly managed to see a great selection of springtime butterflies. I would agree that it seems early for bellargus but I find that many species appear to be beating the dates in the books these days. Not that I have ever seen a bellargus, but maybe that will change later this month.
Nick

[Padfield]

Thanks Buzzard, Buggy and Nick. Provence orange tip flies from early February in Gibraltar so it is little wonder its season is coming to a close now. In the Pyrenees, of course, it will still be flying at the end of July ... Yes, there is a lot of ESP Butterflies about this site just at the moment, with the Andalucía thread too. But the UK season will be back on very shortly, I’m sure!

It poured this morning so for once I decided not to go on a long hike. In the afternoon, as things cleared up, I decided to spend some time with Ziz Knys and the monarchs. The weather was off and on and in the end they didn’t really start flying until about 17h00. I spent most of the time with Ziz Knys, though I saw only two individuals - both males and one of them the same one I photographed a couple of days ago. This was the only one of them that posed for me today, but he did settle quite frequently. I spotted a second helice and saw plenty of painted ladies but other than that very little flew - just a handful of small whites. Finally I checked Pelargoniums for marshalli but saw none - nor any tell-tale signs on the leaves.

Last day in Spain tomorrow. The forecast isn’t brilliant so I might go back to Antequera and look for the abencerragus foodplant, Cleonia lusitanica.


(helice)


(monarch)


(knysna habitat)


(knysna)


(knysna)

Guy

[Matsukaze]

I know that site! I've not seen Zizeeria there though.

[David M]

So glad you got your ballus, Guy, although judging by its worn appearance I daresay it may not have been there had you gone the next day!

Wonderful array of other treasures too. I really must put a March visit to that part of Spain on my agenda!

PS - I love the barbary ape 'duet' (even though it must be repeated thousands of times each year by tourists).

[Wurzel]

Cheers for the reassurances Guy, fingers crossed for some hot weather prior to our visit As Bugboy mentioned these cracking reports and shots are a welcome break from the UK weather at the moment it feels like Spring is just toying with us; "yay it's started...nope it's not...yay it's started...nope it's not etc"

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Just as a matter of interest, Guy, how commonplace are Monarchs in spring in this part of Spain?

[Padfield]

Hi Matsukaze. I think the grass blues breed over quite an extended area but that’s one of the places I always look - and usually find them there. It’s also one of the few places I’m generally alone to photograph them in peace!

David, I don’t think monarchs are commonplace anywhere in Spain, principally, I think, because of the scarcity of the foodplant, milkweed. They are well established very locally, usually in the vicinity of cultivated plants - as in botanical gardens, where milkweed is sometimes expressly grown for the butterflies. I see them in Málaga and Gibraltar. I’ve also seen them on the North African coast, around Tangiers. Unlike African grass blues, you can’t miss them!

You’ll have a great time in Portugal in August, Wurzel. I expect two-tailed pashas will be on the menu ... But don’t wish away the spring and summer in anticipation! There are lots of lovely butterflies to come first!

As I thought I would, I revisited the false baton site today, to look for the foodplant. I think I found it, though it wasn’t in flower. It was pouring with rain most of the time, and very cold, and like an idiot I didn’t check under the leaves for eggs. This was because I remembered Tolman saying the caterpillars spend their whole lives in the flowers. But now I have checked up (I never take a book into the field, but I have a copy in the hostel) and he says the eggs are laid under leaves. Presumably the caterpillars move into the flowers as these develop.

Anyway, I believe these are the leaves of Cleonia lusitanica. Please do correct me, any botanists, if I’m wrong:


(the small pink flowers have nothing to do with these leaves)

I was also glad to find plenty of Ophrys lutea, the yellow bee orchid I usually see in Málaga but which was already over there this year:



Not only did it mostly rain, but it was very cold at altitude, with a strong wind. There was no real chance of any butterflies putting in a show. There weren’t even any painted ladies up there at the site, though these did brave the weather lower down.

Because of the awful weather I didn’t spend terribly long up the mountain and was back at the Antequera bus station with an hour to spare for the bus. It was occasionally sunny then (but still utterly grim up the mountain, I could see!) so I went to look for pelargoniums, on the offchance of geranium bronze. I found some, in a very suitable situation, with other plants around, but no butterflies. It was just too cold (max. temp for the day forecast to be 11 degrees) and windy. Only a painted lady persevered with enjoying herself.


(always look for these if you have time to kill in a southern European town)



She was quite keen on having her photo taken:



So that’s it for Málaga 2019 (spring, at least). I had heavy rain on 4 out of 7 days and walked over 210Km in pursuit of butterflies, but was rewarded with 32 species, including one lifer. I’ll have a lot of work to do, processing all the pictures properly when I get back to the UK. I hope the few I’ve posted in real time have given a taste of what can be done on a budget. 8 nights in a hostel in central Málaga cost €216, and travel and food while I’ve been here have come to about €140. So the whole thing has cost just €360, plus the Easyjet fares and rail fare in the UK. Oh - plus two pints of beer and a plate of chips in the Angry Friar in Gibraltar, and a fiver for access to the Upper Rock.

Guy