www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi,

The other half is trying to twist my arm to go somewhere in late March and I had been thinking of Southern Portugal/Spain as somewhere that would have a few butterflies about at that time?

Does anyone have any experience of those areas at that time of year? I've been looking a little into the Algarve/Central Portugal or the Malaga region in Spain. I have read that Festoons, Provence Hairstreaks (Would love to find those), Moroccan Orange Tips, Swallowtails and maybe a Fritillary or two could be about at that time of year. If anyone knows of any good sites for March I'd be most appreciative

I don't know if Two Tailed Pasha would be flying that early?

Take a look here viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3936 & viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4013

If you happen to be in the centre of Malaga, the base of the southern walls of the Alcazaba fortress are worth a look.

THanks. I had seen that first thread but not the second. I'll follow that one up

I had package holidays on the Costa del Sol in late March 1977 at Mijas and in 1986 at Nerja. It is difficult to recommend specific localities because there has been so much development in the area since then. Looking at Google Earth I can hardly recognise the place now. However, if you're prepared to explore, I should be surprised if you failed to find the following:
Spanish Festoon (including the orange form canteneri)
Swallowtails (common and scarce)
Moroccan Orange-tip
Western Dappled White
Green-striped White
Black-eyed Blue (often around bushes of Genista umbellata, almost leafless with globular flower heads.)
Lorquin's Blue (the local Kidney Vetch has pink flowers)
Provence Hairstreak
African Grass Blue (damp places, often on irrigated land.)
In the last week of March '77 I was surprised to find both Spanish Marble White (ines) and Spanish Gatekeeper (bathseba) emerging in numbers. I didn't see these species at Nerja though.
The Monarch is now a possibility; I saw it at Nerja in '86, and also the Sooty Orange-tip.
You would be too early for Aetherie Fritillary, which I found near Estepona in late April.
All these finds were made without any prior knowledge of localities.

Misha

Thanks Misha.

I'm quite excited now. Hadn't occured to me before that there are good numbers of butterflies flying relatively close to home so early in the year.

That canteneri form of the Spanish Festoon looks a stunner. I've seen a few of the regular form in France.

We'll have a hire car and I will do as much butterfly exploring as I can get away with during the trip though there will have to be a bit of non-butterfly time to keep the other half happy. It could well turn out to be an exploratory trip for more dedicated trips in the future

Algarve was booked on christmas eve for 26 March-2nd April staying at a place 30 mins north of Faro. Can't wait!

Well done, you`ll have a great time, some of the fish restaurants are fantastic just look for ones where the locals eat.
Here are a few pics from my stay last March, its not just Butterflies
Steve.

Thanks steve. We hope to see some of the other wildlife besides the buterflies. I'd love to find a chamelion! I've only ever seen one once before in Uganda while fishing. I've been fascinated by them since I was a kid!

I have spent a couple of weeks in the Algarve during March and April in 2008 and 2010. There were plenty of butterflies in the air, but it can be quite dependent on where you go. If you have a look at my diary you will see some pictures of what I saw this year. Many of the butterflies are a bit tattered, but there are also some newly hatched ones flying around, too. The best place I found was on an abandoned building plot, close to the villa we rented near Almancil. The ground had been disturbed in the pasts and there were all sorts of wild flowers growing there. Just next to it was an area of ever-green oak and grassland, so there was a great variety there. I also travelled north into the hills and along the coast, but nowhere was as good as that little spot. If you want directions let me know, assuming that a house hasn't been built there this winter!
I am sure you will have a great time.

PS I also found a chamelion at that site!

Hi Nick,

If you had any directions that would be fantastic. We are staying close to Sao Bras de Alportel which isn't far from Almancil!

From Alportel you would probably want to head for Lule. You want to aim for the western-most junction off the N125 into Almancil. Go round two roundabouts following signs towards Almansil. Within a few meters there is a right turn signed to the karting center. You then turn almost immediately right again and go just past the karting centre. Hopefully then on your right you will see an open area covered in patches of wild flowers. Just beyond that there is a track going down through some ever-green oaks and there are several paths off this. It is only a very small area, but particularly at the first section of wild flowers there were tremendous numbers of butterflies last April - Green-striped Whites, Western Dappled Whites and Clouded Yellows were very numerous. There were also a few Common Blue and a Brown Argus. In the grass area beyond there were a number of Spanish Festoons, small whites and meadow browns. The track had green hairstreaks and speckled woods.
We found an amazing village in the hills to the north of where you are staying. I am afraid that I can't remember its name, but it was like something from 100 years ago. We walked from there down to a river and saw a good number of butterflies there, but nothing like the density of the little patch above!

Hi Nick,

Thanks ever so much for the information. Very valuable and much appreciated!

Green Striped White is one butterfly I am particularly keen to photograph as well as the Festoons

We plan to explore the hills to the north so hopefully can find the village you mention.

Did you see any signs of Monarch Butterflies? I have read of some areas further west that are meant to have good numbers of them all year round.

I didn't see any Monarchs, but so often it is about being in the right place at the right time. There were a lot of Green-stripes and Spanish Festoons in the little bit of waste land. Up in the hills I saw Painted Ladies, Large Tortoieshell, Long-tailed Blue and Clouded Yellow.

Returned from the Algarve on Saturday. G/F had an eye infection that limited what we could do quite considerably for the first 4 days unfortunately.

Have to say that on the buterfly front it was a bit disappointing compared to other places I've been in Europe. Went to loads of flower filled areas but in a lot of cases there were zero butterflies. Not many insects of any type really. Totalled about 20 butterfly species.

Spanish Festoons were by far the most common species. Small Heath next then Large Whites, Small Whites and Green Striped Whites. Went to one place (Silves) which was supposed to have a good population of Monarchs. Unfortunately it was blowing a gale on the day but managed to find about 15 despite the tough conditions in a nice large wild meadow there. There were a few blues, mostly Common and Black Eyed I think. I saw my first Geranium Bronze which was a small highlight plus my first southern form of speckled wood. Saw singles of Orange Tip, Wood White and Brimstone, all of which are supposed to be quite uncommon in the algarve. Also Cleopatra, Large Tortoiseshell, several Red Admirals and a few Green Hairstreaks. Small Coppers and in one spot several what looked like Glanville Fritillaries. Also saw about 4 Swallowtails and 2 Scarce Swallowtails.

The list looks quite good actually now I've put it together, but I had to work REALLY hard to find them and as I say there were a lot of perfect looking places totally barren of butterflies (and insects in general) across a large area of the Algarve that we explored.

Hi FISHiEE. Sorry about the eye infection - it must have been very unpleasant for her.

You did well with the monarchs, and I think 20 species is an acceptable total for this time of year on the Atlantic side of Iberia. I'm very surprised you didn't see long-tailed blue or Lang's short-tailed blue, if your list is supposed to be complete. Both were much in evidence in Málaga, where I was for a few days at the end of March (only two days of sunshine, unfortunately). I would also have expected some western dappled white among the green-striped white - both species were common in Málaga. It's worth checking your pictures carefully.

Otherwise, I saw much the same as you, with Provence hairstreak and African grass blue as rather nice bonuses. No monarchs!

Looking forward to your piccies!

Guy

Hi Guy,

Yes it wasn't much fun having to have sunglasses on at night with all the lights out and unable to open her eyes outside in the sunshine.

You are right I did also see some kind of dappled whites which I have yet to check out. I had forgotten those

The trip wasn't great for photos. I have plenty of the festoons but not many of the other species. Most were just single sightings, and mostly in the heat of the day when they were very active. I had plenty of time to look for and photograph butterflies properly near to where we stayed, but apart from Festoons there wasn't a lot else.

For propper photography I need to have time with just me and my camera. My g/f's patience isn't too good, and she's also not so keen on getting up at 5am to go drive to a butterfly site before they get too active for good photography.

I found 3 or 4 places where there were good numbers of butterfliees of 2-3 species say, but lots of places were there was just about nothing. I guess I'm used to Provence and Switzerland where you can go to practically any patch of flowers in any weather conditions and find plenty of buterflies. Last year I had several very successful days in provence where it was barely 7-8c (in May!) and torrential rain! Even in those conditions the Fritillaries, Blues and Moroccan Orange Tips (Even a few Festoons) were quite easily found in most places. I could snap away quite happily until the buttons stopped working on the camera and I had to go and dry it off

Oh, I just remembered I also had several very tatty Painted Ladies

Oh, and also Brown Argus. I forgot those too

FISHiEE,
I am sorry that you had a disappointing trip. Like you I found that there were one or two really good spots but many areas where I expected to see good numbers of butterflies, but didn't see much. Last year I was lucky that our villa seemed to be in one of the good spots, but when we moved along the coast (when stranded by the volcanic ash) there were very few butterflies other than marsh fritillaries.
As Guy suggests I saw a lot of western dappled whites amongst the green-striped.
Still, 20 species is a lot better than what I have seen in Scotland!!

Very true. Certainly plenty more species than I'd have seen in the UK in the same period!

I also forgot to add Clouded yellow of which there were several seen.

And now looking at the photos the butterflies that looked a bit like Glanville Fritillaries were Provencial Fritillaries.