European Butterflies - A personal diary

[selbypaul]

Glad to have sparked this interesting debate, Roger and Guy - it is really helpful to see you explain your thinking.

Let's deal with the Dusky Meadow Brown vs Oriental Meadow Brown first. The various distribution maps I've seen suggest that Oriental doesn't exist in that part of the Picos. Of course that doesn't mean it doesn't, new colonies can always be found. Added to this, my co-guide for the trip has been visiting this area for years, and never known of Oriental to be there either. Again, it doesn't mean it isn't there, but it is useful to have local insight. The other factor was that this individual was noticeably smaller than the Meadow Brown's in the area. All the ID guides I can read suggest that Dusky Meadow Brown is smaller than both Oriental Meadow Brown and Meadow Brown. All this has me strongly leaning towards Dusky, accepting that these are tricky species to tell apart.

Onto the Hipparchia that I labelled as Rock Grayling, apologies, that was a genuine mistake, I was rushing. I have now corrected.

And of course, Guy, I'll try to remember to post the specific dates of the sightings in the future. I'll also look to edit the former posts.

[Roger Gibbons]

I put this image blind to a French expert who has studied lupina and confirmed IDs by examining the male upf, so he is well qualified to comment. His view was that it is lycaon, with quite a degree of uncertainty, based on the irrorations (speckles), which I thought quite light and pointed towards lupina, so I’ll go with lycaon. So how are these two species differentiated with any degree of confidence, without examining the male upf?

I don’t have books with me, but I have a vague recollection that Lafranchis says lupina has no discal line and his photo clearly has one. Who can you believe when the butterfly deity contradicts himself?

I would be wary of using size as a means of differentiating (these two) species. You have to see both, and in good numbers, to be able to make any sort of judgement. Female satyrids are often larger than males. I think I can tell Rock Grayling (Hipparchia alcyone) and Woodland Grayling (H. fagi) apart in flight, just, given that fagi is slightly larger.

As to known distributions, France is still very much under-recorded, although I have no knowledge if the same is true in Spain. Before we went to Var in 2006, it was believed that Provence Hairstreak (Tomares ballus) only occurred (in France, only in Var) in two locations. I had researched various locations to explore before we went to Var and subsequently found five new locations, some very far removed from either known location. The effect of this was for CEN-PACA to organise a working party every April to look for it in other possible locations and, lo and behold, they were finding it more often than not.

Roger

[selbypaul]

Totally agree with all you say Roger. Distribution maps are just an indicator of things. I too have discovered new colonies of some species, far away from previous known locations. It shows how much new stuff can still be discovered, even by amateurs such as myself!

[selbypaul]

Day 3 of the trip (14th July 2024), and our morning was spent near Yugueros, our furthest location south and west all week, which gave us very different habitat to explore.

The first stop was along a road, where a large colony of Bee Eaters are known to breed. They put on a fabulous display for us, a delight to see so many of this most colourful of European birds.

The road near Yugueros

The second stop was a bit further along the road, near a monastery. We saw our first Spanish Purple Hairstreak’s (Laeosopsis roboris) of the week, our only Blue Spot Hairstreak (Satyrium spini) of the week, as well as a bunch of various Grayling species. Also this lyllus form of Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus).

Blue Spot Hairstreak

Small Heath, form lyllus

We stopped briefly for coffee in Cremenes, before having lunch at the nearby picnic spot. Scarce Copper (Lycaena virgaureae) was seen here.

Scarce Copper

The afternoon was a walk along the river from the village of Las Salas, where we parked. Here we saw Lang’s Short Tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous), Southern White Admiral (Limenitis reducta) and Large Wall (Lasiommata maera). Near the end of the day, we suddenly saw a very large butterfly, which landed only briefly by the track, a Lesser Purple Emperor (Apatura ilia).

That said, there were many less butterflies around than the previous year at this location, both in terms of numbers and species. This reflected the experience across much of western Europe during 2024.

Despite the lower numbers, we still saw 55 species of butterfly over the course of the day, taking us to 72 species overall.

[selbypaul]

Day 4 of the trip was the 15th July 2024. Prior to breakfast, we had an early morning walk in our village hotel, with the specific target being birds. While there was occasional drizzle, the tail end of an overnight weather front, we still saw a good number of species, including White Stork, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Red Backed Shrike, Sand Martin, Nuthatch, Black Redstart, Common Redstart, Grey Wagtail and Dipper.

After breakfast, we spent the whole day in the Valdeon, at various sites. On the way to the first main site, we stopped briefly at a viewpoint where we were able to take in our first views of the spectacular and beautiful Picos massif.

We then moved on to a very sensitive site, known for the incredibly rare (in Spain) Woodland Brown (Lopinga achine). Despite extensive searching, as part of a survey Pau had arranged for us to do, none of us saw any of our target species. It had been there last year, and I'd seen a brief view of one fluttering away. But I was disappointed to miss out on a better viewing this year.

Woodland Brown territory, albeit not this year

But we did see Marbled Skipper (Carcharodus lavatherae), Short Tailed Blue (Cupido argiades), Adonis Blue (Polyommatus belargus), and Dark Green Fritillary (Argynnis aglaja).

Short Tailed Blue

One of the guests was particularly pleased to photograph a still Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra), one of his main aims of the week. While he had seen this butterfly before, he’d never had one stay still enough to photograph.

We stopped briefly at the site of the last Wolf Trap ever to be used in Spain, and then briefly again in Posada de Valdeon for coffee, before having lunch at a picnic site nearby.

The afternoon was then spent near the viewpoint from the morning, one of the best sites for Chapman’s Ringlet (Erebia palarica), the largest Erebia in Europe, and a Picos endemic.

Chapman's Ringlet territory

All of us got great views, although photographs were harder to take, as they were quite active in the hot sunshine. Also seen here were our only Apollo (Parnassius apollo) of the week, plus Purple Edged Copper (Lycaena hippothoe).

Our total butterfly species for the day was 53, with 9 being new, taking us to a week total of 81.

[selbypaul]

Our first stop in the morning of Day 5 of the trip (16th July 2024) was a brief one to take in the views across the reservoir near our hotel.

Views across Embalse de Riano

We then moved onto Puerto de Las Senales. This had been an excellent site the previous year, but this year, high cloud was obscuring the sun, and very few butterflies were flying. Also, an excellent pond for dragonflies had been trashed by cattle and horses!

Puerto de Las Senales

That said, we did get our best views of Knapweed Fritillary (Melitaea phoebe), Meadow Fritillary (Melitaea parthenoides) and Provencal Fritillary (Melitaea deione) of the week, allowing us to discuss the key identification features.

Meadow Fritillary

We moved on, stopping for coffee in Acebedo, before our lunch stop near La Una. Here we had our first views of Dusky Large Blue (Phengaris nausithaus), an extremely rare butterfly in Spain. They are very confiding, especially when feeding on their favoured sanguisorba foodplant, allowing us to take some good photographs.

Dusky Large Blue

After lunch, we walked along a track and back, and it actually got quite hot. Purple Edged Copper (Lycaena hippothoe) was seen, as were both Lesser Marbled Fritillary (Brenthis ino) and Marbled Fritillary (Brenthis daphne).

[selbypaul]

Day 6 of the trip (Wednesday 17th July) was the most anticipated of the week, up Fuente De. This was our longest drive of the week, but well worth it for the spectacular views and higher altitude species.

Having booked the cable car ahead, we were on the mountain plateau by 11am, allowing us to take a leisurely stroll to the scree areas. There were large numbers of Griffin Vulture, plus a small number of Egyptian Vulture too.

Looking down from the top of the Fuente De cable car station

Butterfly numbers were low, but we did quite quickly find one of our main targets of the week, Gavarnie Blue (Agriades pyrenaicus), on the main track. Many of the walkers passing by were also interested to see what we had stopped to take so many photographs of!

Gavarnie Blue, photo 1

Gavarnie Blue, photo 2

One of the guest, Pau and I walked ahead, and did our best to identify every Erebia that flew past. Only Piedmont Ringlet (Erebia meolans) was confirmed sadly. I did see what appeared to be an all black Erebia in flight through my binoculars, but it was too far away to confirm this as one of our other main targets, Lefebvre’s Ringlet (Erebia lefebvre).

Erebia territory

We also failed to see Wallcreeper, albeit we’re confident it was there, if we’d walked a further kilometre. In our binoculars, we could see a large number of birdwatchers focusing their own binoculars on the scree, where a pair of Wallcreeper are known to breed.

On the way back to the cable car, the group split in two. Pau and I took some uneven ground to a dried out pond. Here there were good numbers of Gavarnie Blue. But there were also large numbers of Oberthur’s Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus armoricanus) too, as well as our only Chalkhill Blue (Polyommatus coridon) of the week. The highlight however was a single freshly emerged Western Brassy Ringlet (Erebia arvernensis).

More scenery on the Fuente De plateau

Western Brassy Ringlet

The rest of the group took the main track, arriving earlier at the cable car station, seeing a very close fly past of a Lammergeier! One of the guests took some amazing photos, including one of it with a bone in its talons.

A thoroughly enjoyable day all round, we celebrated with some refreshments.

[selbypaul]

On our final full day (18th July 2024), our first stop was at another good Dusky Large Blue (Phengaris nausithaus) site. There were good numbers, which was fantastic to see. Here we also saw Esper’s Marbled White (Melanargia russiae), an extremely aged Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) and Red Underwing Skipper (Spialia sertorius).

Dusky Large Blue

Dusky Large Blue (still taken from video)

Esper's Marbled White

After a brief coffee stop, we drove on to Puerto de San Glorio, where we had lunch, and then spent an hour exploring the plateau. There were good numbers of Chapman’s Ringlet (Erebia palaricia) here also.

Puerto de San Glorio

We had a shortened afternoon, to allow for some guests to pack before dinner, so we stopped at a site Pau had never visited before, but always wanted to, nearby to where a colony of Bog Fritillary had gone extinct a few years previously.

While we didn’t see that species, we did see Scarce Copper (Lycaena virgaureae), amongst a number of other more common species.

Our list had reached 90 species of butterfly by the time we did it that evening. We also spent time discussing our individual highlights of the week, which were many, but included the scenery, the convivial company, the relaxed pace including coffee stops, and of course the butterflies and birds.

[selbypaul]

Departure day (19th July 2024) was an extremely early rise for myself. One of the guests had an extremely early flight from Santander airport, which meant him and I setting off from the hotel at 5am. (Pau and the other guests had a much relaxed day, with them only needing to be at the airport for mid-afternoon).

I myself also had a late afternoon flight, but from Bilbao airport. So when I'd dropped off the guest, I drove the 75 minutes to the outskirts of Bilbao, for another one of my Dryad (Minois dryas) sites.

View over Bilbao

This time I wasn't disappointed. It was only 10am, but the skies were clear and it was extremely hot and muggy. Almost straight away I saw my first Dryad.

Dryad (actually still)

I should have spent more time with this individual, as it ended up being the only one I saw that settled for longer than two seconds! But I was distracted by the bobbing flight of a species I wasn't expecting, but was delighted to see! Large Chequered Skipper (Heteropterus morpheus)! The flight pattern is unmistakeable, even though I've only seen it once before 8 years previously.

Large Chequered Skipper (underside)

Large Chequered Skipper (upperside)

After taking my time with this individual, I then spent 90 minutes chasing various other Dryad individuals through thick grass. I'd read before that they quite liked to settle on Scabious flowers. They weren't having any of that today though. They all seemed pretty freshly emerged, perhaps that was a factor. I had to resort to taking screengrabs from videos I took. Here are the best two, still not brilliant.

Dryad

Dryad (still taken from video)

It was then time to hand the hire car back, and head to the airport. It was the day of the Crowdstrike IT incident, and the airport was chaos, including my own flight with Vueling having to resort to pen and paper. Thank goodness though, it was only delayed by an hour. Many other flights were completely cancelled. I arrived back in Sheffield at 11pm.

Having spent 30 of the last 42 days butterflying in Europe, it was time to get back to work!

[David M]

...The afternoon was then spent near the viewpoint from the morning, one of the best sites for Chapman’s Ringlet (Erebia palarica), the largest Erebia in Europe, and a Picos endemic...

So good to see that, Paul. It's a phenomenal size...and a phenomenal butterfly.

[selbypaul]

...The afternoon was then spent near the viewpoint from the morning, one of the best sites for Chapman’s Ringlet (Erebia palarica), the largest Erebia in Europe, and a Picos endemic...

So good to see that, Paul. It's a phenomenal size...and a phenomenal butterfly.

It really is double the size of some of the smaller Erebia. Makes me wonder why it evolved this way, as the furthest west of all the European Erebia species.

[David M]

Dryad and Large Chequered Skipper ain't a bad combination, Paul. I've still not seen the former, but I intend to put that right soon.

[selbypaul]

Dryad and Large Chequered Skipper ain't a bad combination, Paul. I've still not seen the former, but I intend to put that right soon.

It's very rare I've seen a butterfly that you haven't! This one came at some cost!

[selbypaul]

On Monday 23rd September 2024, I flew out to Malaga, from Manchester, for my last butterfly holiday of the year. Unlike my three previous trips, however, this time I was a guest, not a guide. It was the same company though, and the guides for the week were the excellent David Moore and Jon Dunn, who are the owners, and who I know well. The trip is called Autumn in Andalucía and the aim of the trip is to see some of special species that have crossed the short distance from north Africa to the far south of Spain, and are beginning to colonise.

We all arrived at Malaga airport at various times, but by 2pm, we set off east to a site near Motril, known for Desert Orange Tip (Colotis evagore). I’d seen this species before, at the same location in May 2023, in small numbers. Sixteen months on, there were perhaps double the number, and they were slightly better behaved too.

The site near Motril

Female Desert Orange Tip underside

Male (above) and Female (below) Desert Orange Tip together, both uppersides

Female Desert Orange Tip upperside

Male Desert Orange Tip underside

I’d forgotten how small they are, they were a delight to see again. Worryingly, some of the best habitat for them at the site had been cleared of vegetation and flattened, in what looked like preparations for building work. Very few other butterflies were seen by anybody, just a lone Cardinal (Argynnis pandora).

We then had a 150 minute drive back past Malaga to our hotel, just north of Algeciras. I knew 6 of the other 9 guests from various previous group holidays, so it was great to get to catch up and get to know the other 3 guests for the first time, over dinner.

The view from the hotel balcony

[selbypaul]

Day 2 of the trip, Tuesday 24th September 2024, started off surprisingly grey and cool. The warm Atlantic surface temperatures are clearly generating moisture in the air which, when they hit the hills at the very south of Spain (near Tarifa), form quite significant cloud in the wrong conditions. Our first two stops just north of Tarifa generated nothing more than a Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera).

Wall Brown

Thankfully, the midday sun began to burn off the cloud, so when we arrived at Tarifa itself, the sun had begun to shine. The first butterfly we saw was Monarch (Danaus plexippus), and indeed there were very good numbers here, the best site of the week for this species.

Monarch

Exploring the site a bit better, we were all delighted to find Zeller’s Skipper (Borbo borbonica), a new species for me. They were very active, and it was impossible to get closer than 2 metres away from them. But what a lovely species they are.

Zeller's Skipper, photo 1

Zeller's Skipper, photo 2

Zeller's Skipper, photo 3

Zeller's Skipper, photo 4

Mating pair of Zeller's Skipper

Also at this site were Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), and the only Bath White (Pontia daplidice) of the week.

We moved on further northwest for the afternoon stop, some inland farmland. Here we saw Small White (Pieris rapae), Lang’s Short Tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous), Long Tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) and Mediterranean Skipper (Gegenes nostrodamus).

Our afternoon site

Despite the poor weather to start the day, overall, the day was a success. Interestingly though, despite perfect habitat and the larval host plant, there were no Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus). This was a key target species for the week, and on two previous visits to the area by our guide David Moore, at the same time of year, he’d seen good numbers of that species. Not this year.

[selbypaul]

Day 3 of the trip, Wednesday 25th September 2024, started off with a visit to a site near the Embalse del Guadarranque. The target species here was Two Tailed Pascha (Charaxes jasius), and after a 90-minute wait, a good number of individuals began to fly around. One in particular gave the whole group fantastic views as it drank sap from a Cork Oak tree.

Two-Tailed Pascha habitat

The group, photographing the friendly Pascha!

Two-Tailed Pascha, photo 1

Two-Tailed Pascha, photo 2

Two-Tailed Pascha, photo 3

Two-Tailed Pascha, photo 4

Also seen at this site were Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) and Tree Grayling (Hipparchia statilinus).

The afternoon was spent at a site managed specifically for the Monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterfly. The hope was that Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) would also be here too. And amazingly, one was indeed seen right close to where we parked. Just the one, the only one of the whole week. And from a distance too, as it was behind a fence. Hence the slightly blurry distance photo. But another new species for me.

Plain Tiger, photo 1

Plain Tiger, photo 2

Plain Tiger, photo 3

We then walked three miles down the valley, in very dry habitat that David said in previous years had been very good. Sage Skipper (Muschampia proto), Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus), Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), and the ubiquitous Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) were all seen, but the habitat was sadly very degraded.

Sage Skipper

It reached 27C, so we were all glad of a refreshing drink in the bar near where we’d parked, ahead of heading back to the hotel.

[selbypaul]

Day 4, Thursday 26th September 2024 began with a stop near Manilva. Sage Skipper (Muschampia proto) and Southern Blue (Polyommatus celina) were the highlights here, and there were some good Dragonflies too.

Habitat near Manilva

It was already getting hot and sultry by lunchtime, and so we headed back to the site near Tarifa, where it was overcast but hot. Monarch’s (Danaus plexippus) were again in good numbers, and one gave me an excellent photo opportunity.

A relatively torpid Monarch

David found a False Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolinus), and all the group were able to get pretty close to it.

False Mallow Skipper

Finally, another Mediterranean Skipper (Gegenes nostrodamus) was seen, and I was able to get these photos, which are my best ever of this species.

Mediterranean Skipper, photo 1

Mediterranean Skipper, photo 2

After dropping the guests off at the hotel, David, Jon and I took a short trip to a site to the west of Algeciras. African Babul Blue (Azanus jesous) had been found occasionally in the environs of Algeciras, in at least three years since 2001. We knew it was unlikely, but we used a location from GBIF, which has usually been pretty accurate for me. Sadly, it took us to a site with none of its larval host plant, and despite some searching nearby, there was none of it around. We concluded that it was an inaccurate location. Worth a try though. Had we found this species, we’d have all been joyously happy – a species only seen very rarely in Europe, twice in Cyprus and three (ish) times in Spain. You’ve got to be in it to win it as they say....

[John Vergo]

Great photos of the Mediterranean Skipper, female, one I havn´t seen with open wings (female)

[David M]

Nice to read someone else's thoughts on this trip, Paul.

I'm still having dilemmas over why Plain Tigers were practically absent when they had been so numerous earlier in the month near Valencia.

Monarchs and Zeller's Skippers took on the role of stars of the show though, and that can't be something anyone would complain about.

[John Vergo]

It was definitely a really nice trip, a bit of a shame that PlainTiger only showed up once (from a distance), but otherwise everything else was okay and the group was really good.