Greenwings: Montes Universales, Spain, 27 July - 5 August 2019

[David M]

Nymphalids - Satyrids

One of the greatest joys of this trip is the sheer number of Graylings. These are generally late season butterfies and apart from Great Banded and Woodland Grayling, I don't tend to see any on my earlier overseas jaunts.

Last year on this trip, Rock Graylings were approaching pestilent levels. This year, they weren't quite so numerous, but Great Banded Graylings were certainly contenders for commonest butterfly of the week with multi-thousands seen.

They're difficult to ignore given their size, and it's quite a delight to disturb half a dozen or more with virtually every step made in the grassy meadows.

I watched this one keenly as it nectared on a thistle head. Every so often, a wasp would encroach and aggravate it, causing it to open its wings briefly as a sign of its discontent:

[David M]

Nymphalids - Satyrids....

Rock Graylings built in numbers during the week, and here's one in the company of the beautiful iphinoides form of Chestnut Heath found in this part of Spain:

Hipparchia semele (Grayling) was also very common, boosting numbers of these three species combined into five figures overall.

However, there were other desirable members of this group around, one of which was False Grayling, which was absent for the first couple of days but quickly became very common indeed:

[David M]

Nymphalids - Satyrids....

With so many Great Banded, False, Rock and ordinary Grayings, it's easy to miss some of the other members of this group out here.

Tree Graylings aren't much to look at, but quite a few were around if one paid attention:

If anything, Striped Grayling is the most attractive within this family. They were only seen at two sites, and probably numbered about 20 or so:

[David M]

Nymphalids - Satyrids...

There are three particularly desirable satyrids in this region, the first being Black Satyr, which can be found in dry, arid, scrubby, rocky places:

Hermits are usually found in the same habitat, although the odd one can crop up anywhere. It's a shame they don't settle with their wings open as they have beautiful uppersides, especially the females, although the hindwing undersides of these same females are rather dull:

The really sought after species though is the Iberian endemic, Southern Hermit. We probably saw around two dozen during the trip:

The zig-zag markings give it away at rest whilst in the air it is noticeably brighter than Hermit:

[David M]

Nymphalids - Satyrids....

There are two varieties of Marbled White to be seen in Montes at this time of year. One is the incredibly common Iberian Marbled White. It's no exaggeration to say that these are around in the multi-thousands:

If you remain observant though, there are Esper's Marbled Whites around too, the greater extent of black markings being the indicator, although the hindwing margins always stand out quite clearly to me as well:

[David M]

Nymphalids - Satyrids....

There were plenty of other members of this family around - the three Gatekeepers, although Spanish Gatekeeper was practically at the end of its flight period and all individuals seen were very worn. Shamefully, I once again neglected Southern Gatekeeper (partly because they are twitchy even first thing in the morning and there is so much else of greater interest nearby).

Dusky Meadow Browns were extremely common, certainly into the low thousands, whilst Oriental Meadow Brown could usually be found if time could be devoted to studying these species.

Spanish Chestnut Heath won the prize amongst this group for sheer numbers, followed by Dusky Heath. Strangely, Small Heaths were quite uncommon, and we didn't see Pearly Heath at all!

Large Wall, Wall Brown and Speckled Wood also turned up in low numbers.

[David M]

Nymphalidae - Satyrids

20. Speckled Wood
21. Wall Brown
22. Large Wall Brown
23. Spanish Chestnut Heath
24. Dusky Heath
25. Small Heath
26. Gatekeeper
27. Southern Gatekeeper
28. Spanish Gatekeeper
29. Meadow Brown
30. Dusky Meadow Brown
31. Oriental Meadow Brown
32. Esper's Marbled White
33. Iberian Marbled White
34. Black Satyr
35. Rock Grayling
36. Grayling
37. Tree Grayling
38. Striped Grayling
39. False Grayling
40. Great Banded Grayling
41. Hermit
42. Southern Hermit

[David M]

Pierids

Most of the usual suspects turned up, but amazingly only one Large White was seen. The most notable absentee was Black Veined White, although unlike 2019, this year we managed to nail down a couple of definite Southern Small Whites on the first two days.

None of this family appeared in great numbers though; probably the commonest was Green Veined White, which was surprising in such a dry region.

Pierids

43. Wood White
44. Large White
45. Small White
46. Green Veined White
47. Southern Small White
48. Bath White
49. Clouded Yellow
50. Berger's Clouded Yellow
51. Brimstone
52. Cleopatra

[David M]

Hesperiidae

There are some interesting skippers in this region, none more so than Cinquefoil Skipper, which is quite a rarity in France, so it's strange to see them so abundant in this part of NE Spain. Their undersides are quite reddish:

Sage Skipper is also fairly common, especially in the drier spots. This one was perfectly positioned for me to get an underside image:

Both species are puddlers par excellence, and here they are side by side at a watering hole:

[David M]

Hesperiidae....

A small number of Mallow Skippers were seen during the week:

They were easily outnumbered by Southern Marbled Skippers though, which probably exceeded a dozen, although they were all seen at the drier sites:

Tufted Marbled Skipper was present too, although they spend so much time fighting with passing insects that I had neither the time nor patience to get an image.

[David M]

Hesperiidae....

I kind of ignored the golden skippers, but towards the end of the week managed to positively identify one Essex Skipper amongst the myriad of Small Skippers. The odd Large Skipper appeared too.

There were also plenty of Silver Spotted Skippers:

As ever, there were a few pyrgus that I needed to 'pot' so I could take a closer look at them. This one I reckon is Rosy Grizzled Skipper, thanks mainly to the anvil shape on the unh with a faint black border:

This one I'm still not sure about. It's strongly marked on the uppers like Oberthur's, but the undersides don't look right:

[David M]

Hesperiidae

53. Mallow Skipper
54. Marbled Skipper
55. Southern Marbled Skipper
56. Tufted Marbled Skipper
57. Red Underwing Skipper
58. Sage Skipper
59. Safflower Skipper
60. Cinquefoil Skipper
61. Olive Skipper
62. Rosy Grizzled Skipper
63. Large Grizzled Skipper
64. Essex Skipper
65. Small Skipper
66. Lulworth Skipper
67. Silver Spotted Skipper
68. Large Skipper

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Coppers

Only three of these available in this region at this time of year. Small Copper popped up occasionally, and several dozen Purple Shot Coppers were seen too, although most were past their best.

However, the other member of this group is highly desirable and after missing out on it during 2018's inaugural trip, it was very satisfying to finally catch up with it this year.

When I first saw it, I had to do a double take as it reminded me a little of Violet Copper that I see in the French Pyrenees each May.

It is also very different from the 'normal' Sooty Copper I regularly encounter in France.

Let me introduce you to the beautiful Iberian Sooty Copper.....and this is a male!!

Bleusi is a radiant beast, and even the undersides are markedly different, being more of an orange/fawn hue than a greyish one:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Coppers

69. Small Copper
70. Purple Shot Copper
71. Iberian Sooty Copper

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues

The first of this group isn't actually blue, and there was no realisation that it was present in this region until I was told by one of last year's returning guests that he had been given the only site where it could be found by a Spanish butterfly expert.

So, off we went to find Spanish Argus, and find it we did in reasonable numbers.

At first, I thought the small butterflies (I had expected morronensis to be larger) were Southern Mountain Argus, but they were all over the lhp (storksbill) and closer scrutiny removed any doubt:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues....

The second species in this group IS blue....very blue!

Azure Chalkhill Blue is now considered to be a distinct species, having been previously classified as a subspecies of coridon.

It is very common in some parts of the Montes Universales, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that at two sites, its numbers were into four figures:

Unsurprisingly, given these numbers, quite a few mating pairs were observed:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues....

Next up is a species we weren't expecting.

I was busy checking the low growing thyme patches, as they often attract good numbers of interesting species, such as Purple Shot Copper, Dusky Heath and Twin Spot Fritillary.

At first I thought the tiny lycaenid nectaring amongst the rest of the butterflies was a Baton Blue, although it looked a little dark. I 'potted' it for a closer look and there were no appreciable orange lunules, so my next thought was False Baton Blue, until I read Butterflies of the Iberian Peninsula (Paul Browning) which states that this species is single brooded (mid to late spring).

That left Panoptes Blue which, according to the distribution maps, IS present in the region AND flies in late July and August:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues....

Another quirky local species is the Southern Mountain Argus - aricia montensis. This butterfly has larger orange lunules than artaxerxes which, even in the male, extend further towards the apex of the forewing.

I stayed with this one for some while, but given how warm and sunny it was (even at 1,850m) it resolutely refused to open its wings:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues...

At lower altitude, one finds Southern Brown Argus aricia crameri. The lunules on this species are particularly well developed, and seem to form into chevrons on the hindwing.

Numbers of these exploded later in the week; we must have arrived coinciding with their late summer emergence:

[David M]

Lycaenidae - Blues...

Other interesting lycaenids included Oberthur's Anomalous Blue and Damon Blue.

Last year, Oberthur's was very fresh and very common. The season must have been a little earlier this year as even when we arrived quite a few were worn, and there were noticeably fewer of them, although they were still easy to find:

Damon Blue became more numerous as the week went by. Here's one nectaring on eryngium alongside an Iberian Sooty Copper: