Greenwings: Montes Universales, Spain, 30 July - 5 August 2020

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Aristocrats

Not too many of these seen, and just two Painted Ladies was an extraordinarily low return. Southern White Admiral was probably the commonest, and even they numbered fewer than two dozen.

56. Red Admiral
57. Painted Lady
58. Comma
59. Southern White Admiral

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Satyrids

This is the best represented group by far on this tour.

60. Speckled Wood
61. Wall Brown
62. Large Wall Brown
63. Spanish Chestnut Heath
64. Dusky Heath
65. Small Heath
66. Gatekeeper
67. Southern Gatekeeper
68. Spanish Gatekeeper
69. Meadow Brown
70. Dusky Meadow Brown
71. Oriental Meadow Brown
72. Zapater's Ringlet
73. Esper's Marbled White
74. Iberian Marbled White
75. Black Satyr
76. Rock Grayling
77. Grayling
78. Tree Grayling
79. Striped Grayling
80. False Grayling
81. Great Banded Grayling
82. The Hermit
83. Southern Hermit

[Janet Turnbull]

Six types of Grayling!!
Janet

[Roger Gibbons]

Only five in practice - False Grayling is a red herring (if you'll forgive the fishy analogy).

Roger

[David M]

Only five in practice - False Grayling is a red herring (if you'll forgive the fishy analogy).

Very good, Roger.

[David M]

Last of the groups:

Pieridae

84. Wood White
85. Large White
86. Small White
87. Green-veined White
88. Bath White
89. Clouded Yellow
90. Berger's Clouded Yellow
91. Brimstone
92. Cleopatra

[selbypaul]

A good list of species David. You saw two species I've not seen before, and which weren't seen on the 2019 trip.

Also, the long list once again shows what a brilliant holiday it is. I'd encourage all UK Butterfliers on here to consider this and other European holidays offered by Greenwings and other wildlife tour companies.

[David M]

A good list of species David. You saw two species I've not seen before, and which weren't seen on the 2019 trip.

Thanks, Paul. Yes, the list differs every year. This year we had two we hadn't recorded before, and the lowish relative final tally was mainly due to some of the commoner species not being sighted this time round.

I've looked through the lists for the previous two years and there are 18 others that have been recorded, meaning that there have been 110 different species over the three years we've been going there, and also, as you are aware, we've yet to see Sandy Grizzled Skipper, which we know is there but just can't find (yet)!!

Here are all the ones seen in 2018 and/or 2019 which we didn't see in 2020:

Peacock
Small Tortoiseshell
Nettle Tree Butterfly
Niobe Fritillary
Southern Small White
Marbled Skipper
Rosy Grizzled Skipper
Panoptes Blue
Meleager's Blue
Amanda's Blue
Idas Blue
Geranium Bronze
False Ilex Hairstreak
Apollo
Mazarine Blue
Pearly Heath
Great Sooty Satyr
Black Veined White

[selbypaul]

Ah yes, the Sandy Grizzled Skipper! I'd have put a bet on you seeing it this year! Perhaps in 2021....

[John Vergo]

Hi David
After now sorting all my photos I found this one, for me it looks like a Marbled Skipper, so that brings the total up to 93

[Roger Gibbons]

I would have labelled this as a Sage Skipper (Muschampia proto). If you have an upperside shot, that should be conclusive.

Roger

[David M]

I would have labelled this as a Sage Skipper (Muschampia proto). If you have an upperside shot, that should be conclusive.

I'm confident it's proto as well, albeit with with a very faded underside. Here's one I got an image of last year to compare with John's:

The underside of lavatherae is very white indeed:

The ground colour of the uppersides is much paler than proto as well:

[John Vergo]

Roger, yes you are right, but that very pale hindwing underside confused me , Sorry David we are back to 92

[David M]

...Sorry David we are back to 92

Not to worry, John. Only 33 more than the entire list of UK native species/guaranteed migrants.

[David M]

So, to conclude, this trip yet again provided an opportunity to see a variety of rare, and sometimes endemic, butterflies. In particular, the Grayling family was superbly represented, whilst other desirable species were seen in excellent numbers.

Here's a view of the habitat where the first Zapater's Ringlet was encountered (there were a few Cardinals here too):

This is the prime spot for Southern Hermit:

This pretty barren looking swathe of arable land was where we found two Southern Marbled Skippers:

Black Satyr country:

....and finally, one of the joys of participating in these trips - finding out from a local about a new site and subsequently visiting it to discover that it is species rich, verdant and highly attractive:

[essexbuzzard]

Wonderful stuff,David. What a trip this must have been, well worth the quarantine after, for those who are able.

I hope all the participants had a thoroughly good time.

[John Vergo]

Essexbuzzard, it was for sure a great trip, and all the participators had a great time

[petesmith]

This is the prime spot for Southern Hermit:

01.Habitat3(1).jpg

That photo brings back many happy memories David! Great report on a "must-visit" part of Spain for any serious European butterfly enthusiast.
I look forward to viewing photographs of Sandy Grizzled Skipper from the future 2021 trip...

[David M]

Wonderful stuff,David. What a trip this must have been, well worth the quarantine after, for those who are able.

It certainly was worth the quarantine, Mark. We were probably lucky with the timing as well given how things have developed in Spain since early August.

[David M]

That photo brings back many happy memories David! Great report on a "must-visit" part of Spain for any serious European butterfly enthusiast.

Happy memories indeed, Pete. Is it really over 13 months ago?

Perhaps even better are the memories of just being 'normal', which is something I'm not convinced we'll return to in 2021 given recent developments.

I look forward to viewing photographs of Sandy Grizzled Skipper from the future 2021 trip

Hope I can oblige. I actually emailed Paul Browning to see if he had any specific locations seeing that I proof-read the updated e-version of his excellent earlier book Butterflies of the Iberian Peninsula but I don't think he spends much time online so I haven't had a response.

The problem (as you know yourself) is the sheer numbers of Cinquefoil Skippers you have to contend with, which makes finding a different pyrgus tricky unless you know exactly where to look. I'll keep trying!