A morning search for Spanish Festoon 1st April 2024
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 5:59 pm
Amid a gloomy mid-winter Claire, my wife found a decently priced cruise sailing out of Southampton visiting a half dozen ports around the Iberian Peninsular departing 25th March this year. (We are currently still on the cruise, but a sea day allows me some time to write this up.)
My usual prerequisite is I can spend time at a given port looking for butterflies. This cruise would, hopefully, give me a chance of a few hours’ self-exploration in either Gibraltar or failing that, Cartagena in search of that fabulous early spring specialty Spanish Festoon. I have never seen any species of Festoon but have always yearned to see one as I think they are one of the most beautiful and intricate of European butterflies.
The first week of the cruise was a wash out weather wise. A stop at Lisbon enabled us to have a morning touring this delightful city in cold and overcast conditions. We did have the opportunity though to sample the delights of the famously delicious Pastel de Nata’s fresh and hot from the oven.
Our second port of call Cadiz was cancelled due to strong winds and a heavy sea swell preventing the port pilot to board and navigate us in. We therefore continued to Gibraltar where we would spend an extra day, staying overnight in port.
The weather in Gibraltar for both days was torrential rain!
A glimmer of hope, and with regular checks on the BBC weather app, showed that Cartagena, our next stop, was forecast to be sunny with a moderate breeze. I certainly hoped so as this was going to be my one and only chance of getting off ship and heading for the hills in search of the Festoon.
Arriving at the port of Cartagena at 09:00am the weather gods were smiling and with sunrise at around 7:45 the day was looking bright and sunny though a little chilly.
I had done a little bit of research before our departure and taken some snapshots of various potential areas to explore on foot not too far out of the port area. Google maps had estimated a 40-minute walk to some likely looking hills, and this would be my destination. Plenty of time to get there, a few hours searching, then back on board for a late lunch.
My usual prerequisite is I can spend time at a given port looking for butterflies. This cruise would, hopefully, give me a chance of a few hours’ self-exploration in either Gibraltar or failing that, Cartagena in search of that fabulous early spring specialty Spanish Festoon. I have never seen any species of Festoon but have always yearned to see one as I think they are one of the most beautiful and intricate of European butterflies.
The first week of the cruise was a wash out weather wise. A stop at Lisbon enabled us to have a morning touring this delightful city in cold and overcast conditions. We did have the opportunity though to sample the delights of the famously delicious Pastel de Nata’s fresh and hot from the oven.
Our second port of call Cadiz was cancelled due to strong winds and a heavy sea swell preventing the port pilot to board and navigate us in. We therefore continued to Gibraltar where we would spend an extra day, staying overnight in port.
The weather in Gibraltar for both days was torrential rain!
A glimmer of hope, and with regular checks on the BBC weather app, showed that Cartagena, our next stop, was forecast to be sunny with a moderate breeze. I certainly hoped so as this was going to be my one and only chance of getting off ship and heading for the hills in search of the Festoon.
Arriving at the port of Cartagena at 09:00am the weather gods were smiling and with sunrise at around 7:45 the day was looking bright and sunny though a little chilly.
I had done a little bit of research before our departure and taken some snapshots of various potential areas to explore on foot not too far out of the port area. Google maps had estimated a 40-minute walk to some likely looking hills, and this would be my destination. Plenty of time to get there, a few hours searching, then back on board for a late lunch.