www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

continued from part 2a

Eventually I lost sight of the little red-orange beauty so decided to go back to my initial plan and check out the lanterna. The Lanterna as expected provided me with another two Painted Ladies. The Painted Lady turned out to be the most common butterfly that I saw in my week in Southern Spain . Moving on a Red Admiral came rattling on by but didn’t stop. Also seen were Small Whites but they too kept on the move and trying to keep up with them on loose sand (even though they would occasionally land) was difficult at best. In the end I managed to get a record shot and a pic of a Rush Veneer moth which also gave me the runaround . The Small whites were patrolling mainly in the beach-front area of the dunes and overall it seemed to be the best area for seeing butterflies. This was largely an open area in front of the raised walkways and so avoided the need to 'trespass' within the walkway 'closed-off' areas. All the while I explored the weather was getting hotter and lunchtime was approaching. But just as I was considering jacking it in for a break, I came across a small butterfly which was a worn female Lang’s Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous), my sixth species of the holiday . The plant it was on was subsequently identified as Lotus creticus Broad-leaved Bird’s-foot Trefoil and the Blue was most-likely ovipositing . After a few shots I managed to lose my quarry but buoyed up by this latest find I wasn’t going to let lunch get in the way. Tbh I always find butterflying/wildlife watching takes your mind off eating. Even in Spain with its lovely food, and the fact that my post-operation sense of smell and taste had returned in full (after an absence of considerable years ), it still proved to be the case. Lunch could wait a bit longer .
My next intention was to try and capture some pictures of the numerous small birds that up until now had merely provided fleeting glimpses as they darted amongst the dune scrub. So I took the walkways and made my way into the middle zone of the dunes to managed to get record shots of the following species: -These are all common species out in Spain but I haven’t much in the way of bird photos so I’m pleased to get them . One day I’ll hopefully get some better kit and have more time search and to improve .

During the time spent looking for birds I came across another butterfly, something I wasn’t expecting in this beach dune habitat, a Speckled Wood . The Grasshopper was more like what I would’ve expected, but it turned out to be the only orthopteran picture I got from the whole of the holiday . I haven’t as yet got an ID for it. Eventually I conceded to hunger (and mindful not to keep the others waiting for me) and made my way back to Andy’s beach where I came across this castor oil plant. It is often grown as an ornamental despite the seeds being highly toxic. In this dune environment it likely to be another one considered as an invasive. Despite me getting back late we just managed to get in and grab the last table where we settled down to a hearty meal and soaked up the atmosphere for the next couple of hours. Afterwards another dip in the sea and then it was back to the dunes. Unfortunately, I think I'd left it a bit late as I couldn’t find another butterfly except for a Small Copper at the same spot I’d seen one in the morning: possibly the same insect holding territory. After that I tried the area where I’d seen the Lang’s but no luck there despite extensive searching . despite the warm weather it seems the butterflies, might turn-in earlier than they do in the UK
A shot of Lotus creticus and then another Hawaiian Beet Moth rounded off my wildlife photography for the day So as the sky darkened we packed up our gear and made our way back to the car-park at 19.00 Spanish time. The next day was to be our coach excursion to Granada . Sitting at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Granada at near 750M altitude gave slight cause for concern that it might be as cool as or colder than Ronda (perhaps I’ll need to buy a coat ). I also contemplated the odds of getting to see a butterfly in a city on New Year’s Eve Phil

Phil. The grasshopper looks very like Heteracris littoralis. However, there is another Heteracris in Spain, H. adspersa, which seems to be very similar, and in the absence of any literature on Spanish orthoptera, I can"t say which it is.

M.

Thanks Mikail .
The internet images I can find certainly point to that genus Heteracris but as you’ve alluded to, there doesn’t appear to be any literature or reliable images to draw a comparison of the two species. One website I found states that littoralis is found in Dune habitat (littoralis suggests this) so perhaps it is the more likely of the two . Interestingly one of the sites has vernacular names for both: - Splendid Grasshopper (adspersa) and Mediterranean Splendid Grasshopper (littoralis). Not sure if “Splendid” is the most apt description although the striped eyes are striking . BTW the insect I pictured was around 2.5 - 3cm in length … certainly not as big as some that I’d seen on my last visit in 2007.

Phil