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Day 2 of the trip began with a very short walk from the hotel into the habitat of Common Tiger Blue (Tarucus theophrastus), where its larval host plant, the Jujube bush is thriving. True to form, this lovely tiny Blue butterfly showed very well. Another new butterfly for me! Pau then took us to some nearby wetland near Cabo de Gata, where we saw Flamingo and the very rare White Headed Duck.

Our third and final site of the day took us to a site just inland from Playa de Cabo de Gata, where we had lunch, and then spent around two hours looking for dry habitat butterflies.

Here amongst a huge number of Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathseba), David found our only Southern Gatekeeper (Pyronia cecilia) of the two weeks. I also found our only Dusky Heath (Coenonympha dorus) of the two weeks too, and a Spanish Marbled White (Melanargia ines). Also seen was False Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolinus), which was another new species for me.

Day 3 of the trip took us first to just north of Cala de la Cueva on the coast. David had found it good habitat the year before. But this year the grass was completely yellow/brown and desiccated. The only sighting of note was more Common Tiger Blue (Tarucus theophrastus). We then drove inland and on to Ayuntamiento de Albanchez. We had lunch where we parked, before walking eastwards along the mostly dry Barranco del Concejo. When we started, it was overcast, and the lazy spoiled Spanish butterflies were not very active. However, as we continued to walk, more and more butterflies were seen, including a number of Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra), Provence Orange Tip (Anthocharis euphenoides), Lang’s Short Tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous), Long Tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus), Black Eyed Blue (Glaucopsyche melanops) and Spanish Marbled White (Melanargia ines). The highlight for me, however, was this Provence Hairstreak (Tomares ballus). In Spain this species can emerge as early as late January, especially in an early year like this year. So I’d not had any hope of seeing this species. Yet here one was, extremely tatty, but identifiable. Another new species for me.

Day 4 of the trip was transit day. The first part of the journey took us to a site just south of Granada, where Spanish Fritillary (Euphydryas desfontainii) might be seen. It was, but only one individual and only by two of the guests. Panoptes Blue (Pseudophilotes panoptes) was in huge numbers, however. The next site visited was a bit of a gamble. Given the earliness of the season, I had a strong feeling that Spanish Zephyr Blue (Kretania hesperica) would be in flight. This is quite a rare butterfly, seen only to the east of Madrid, in the Monte Universales, and in just four small locations in the Sierra Nevada, one of which being near Granada. Having done my research, and helped by a local contact of Pau’s who gave specific site information, David kindly allowed a small diversion to this location for our lunch stop. Within ten minutes of stopping, and as I was still eating lunch, I spotted a suspiciously fresh bright blue butterfly. Could it be the target species? It was! David and I were particularly delighted, as were all the guests. Another new species of butterfly for me!

Pau then took us to some wonderful habitat south of Venta del Rayo, where Montagu’s Harrier was nesting, and seen. He explained that this habitat was much under threat, with nearby similar habitat having been ripped up in just the last 3 years, to make way for Olive plantations.

At this location, amongst a number of other lovely butterfly species, we saw our first Cardinal (Argynnis pandora) of the week – this butterfly is always a star. And finally, the short remaining drive back to the hotel in Antequera where I’d stayed in the two days between holidays. We arrived too late to head out for further butterflying, but hugely satisfied at what had been seen on a transit day.

Day 5 of the trip began with a visit to the site near Villanueva del Rosario, primarily focused on Spanish Fritillary (Euphydryas desfontainii). It was still in good form, and all guests saw this attractive species. Black Veined White (Aporia crataegi) was arguably in even greater number than five days earlier.

I spent a lot of time focused on the profusion of Panoptes Blue (Pseudophilotes panoptes) at this site. Despite all the searching in the previous two weeks by myself, none had turned out to be False Baton Blue (Pseudophilotes abencerragus), albeit one of the other guests had a photo of one individual. The search today was worth it though, with False Baton Blue confirmed for the first time. Also, during the search, David found Lorquin’s Blue (Cupido lorquinii). Looking back at a photo I’d taken on the previous visit to this site, in exactly the same location, I did have a photo of this species. So, another two new species for me today.

In the afternoon, we headed to the meadow above the hotel in Antequera. Much the same species were seen on this visit as the previous visit, albeit with another freshly emerged Cardinal (Argynnis pandora) showing well, and it was nice to see Green Striped White (Euchloe belemia) again.

Day 6 was Aetherie Fritillary (Melitaea aetherie) day, revisiting the location near Ubrique. Everyone saw this target species very well, in beautiful surroundings. I was also pleased to see the Marsh Fritllary (Euphydryas aurinia) form beckeri, as well as Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) form lylas. After lunch there, we drove on to Cueva del Gato, where there was hope for more Aetherie Fritillary amongst other things. Sadly, this site proved not so good, having been grazed to the ground by goats. David and a few guests did see Monarch (Danaus plexippus) though, quite a surprise given how inland it is.

Also, along the roadsides during the driving in this area, were huge numbers of Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra). There were literally clouds of them, a profusion I’d not seen before anywhere.

Day 7 involved a very long day of driving from Antequera to Tarifa and back, nearly six hours of driving in total. The hope was to see more Monarch’s (Danaus plexippus), but potentially also Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) and Two Tailed Pasha (Charaxes jasius) too. With an outside chance of some other very special butterflies.

The first stop was a birdwatching site called Cazalla Observatorio de Aves Planeadoras, a high vantage point looking over to Morocco, and used by birdwatchers to track raptor migration. There were barely any butterflies flying at this location, albeit a small number of Honey Buzzard’s were seen, so we moved onto Tarifa. Monarch’s really were in good numbers and it was lovely to see so many together, having only ever seen one individual at a time before. Also, Spanish Festoon (Zerynthia rumina) was in good numbers at this site. Sadly, no Plain Tiger though. The third stop was a site Pau knew of above the Cascada Río Guadalmesi. With Strawberry Trees, Two Tailed Pascha was again a target. The habitat was lovely to walk through, but no luck on the target species. That said, it was worth visiting to see the ancient Cork Oak forest and watch a huge migration of Honey Buzzards. Also, strangely, the most common butterfly was Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus), in absolutely huge numbers.

Day 8 had no time available for butterfly spotting, as some of the guests needed to be back at Malaga airport quite early for some of the flights.

The long wait at the airport gave me a chance to reflect on the longest continuous spell of butterflying I’ve done, 18 days in total. This involved traveling through most of north, central and south Spain, covering a huge range of habitats.

Spain is such a diverse country, and this was just one season, Spring, in an early year. I’ve visited the Spanish Pyrenees before (in July) and the Monte Universales before (in July/August) and there are an even greater range of butterflies to be seen then.

Over the 18 days the two groups racked up 90 species, of which I saw 88. Of the two I dipped out on, none were species I hadn’t seen before, so that was a relief!

Also, of the 88 species I saw in the 18 days, 14 were brand new to me, namely:
• Spring Ringlet (Erebia epistygne)
• Black Eyed Blue (Glaucopsyche melanops)
• Sooty Orange Tip (Zegris eupheme)
• Western Dappled White (Euchloe crameri)
• Green Striped White (Euchloe belemia)
• Spanish Fritillary (Euphydryas desfontainii)
• Spanish Marbled White (Melanargia ines)
• Desert Orange Tip (Colotis evagore)
• Common Tiger Blue (Tarucus theophrastus)
• False Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolinus)
• Provence Hairstreak (Tomares ballus)
• Spanish Zephyr Blue (Kretania hesperica)
• False Baton Blue (Pseudophilotes abencerragus)
• Lorquin’s Blue (Cupido lorquinii)

This was a thoroughly enjoyable 18 days away from the cold, grey and wet UK, and a fantastic beginning to my 2023 butterflying year.

Being such an advanced year, the trips missed out on seeing Portuguese Dappled White, Spanish Greenish Black Tip and Chapman's Green Hairstreak. There were also outside chances of seeing Plain Tiger, Spanish Iolas Blue and a few of the Skippers, which we missed out on. But the misses just mean I'll have to go back another time!

My huge thanks go to David Moore, Jon Dunn and Pau Lucio for their expert guiding, but also for their driving of very long distances on some days. Also, to all the other guests on the two trips. The humour and companionship on these sorts of trips is always greatly appreciated, and these two trips were no different.

Great report, Paul. Nice to read someone else's perspective on the trip.

14 lifers in just over a fortnight is some going for a widely travelled individual such as yourself.

Just shows how many endemic/near-endemic spring species this part of Europe has.

Thanks David. There are now only two places in Europe left where I can see so many lifers in a week/fortnight now. Bulgaria and Scandinavia.

Just 12 days after having returned from Spain, on 21st May, I was off to Europe again for another Greenwings trip. This time to the northern Peloponnese in southern Greece. I’d been to this area before in mid-June 2017, for the early summer butterflies. So, I’d booked this current trip with the aim of seeing some of the Spring butterflies, as it is amazing how quickly this part of Greece transitions from Spring to Summer in just four weeks.

Yiannis Christophides was the guide for this trip, and the Greenwings aim was for it to be a bit of an exploratory trip, primarily focused on botany. That said, Yiannis and I had been communicating since the autumn about the butterfly potential, and some of the sites we aimed to visit had butterflies specifically in mind.

Sadly, Day 1 got off to a disappointing start, when the Wizz Air flight from Luton to Athens was delayed by five and a half hours! This affected myself and one of the other guests. And while that was frustrating for ourselves, both of us felt more guilty about its impact on Yiannis and the other three guests who had a very long wait at Athens airport for us!

We eventually landed at 6.30pm in Athens, and set off for our base in Kalavryta at about 7.30pm. Torrential rain covered most of our journey, and we arrived at roughly 10.30pm and went straight to bed.

I'm looking forward to reading about this one, Paul, in spite of the inauspicious start.

Despite the long previous day, all of us were upbeat and raring to go on the morning of Day 2. The weather forecast was for it to be the worst day of the week, cool and cloudy, with the strong likelihood of heavy rain in the afternoon. Not impossible for botany, but disastrous for butterflies.

In the end it didn’t rain all day, thankfully. But it was cold and cloudy until about 3pm. Our first stop was on the hillsides of Mount Klokos. Despite the cloud, the meadows were lovely and showed huge potential for butterflies if the sun was to come out.

Our second stop was just outside Pteri, where we had lunch in the grounds of a church, with views looking out towards the Gulf of Corinth. Not a butterfly seen though, not even roosting! I was beginning to think this might end up being my first no butterfly day ever, in 8 years of European spotting.

Then we stopped a few times at some lovely roadside verge on the way back to Kalavryta, where the sun came out briefly. Straight away the butterflies began to show, and I took a photo of what I believed to be a Green Underside Blue (Glaucopsyche alexis). It wasn’t until I was back at the hotel that evening that I realised it was a Pontic Blue (Neolysandra coelestina), one of the main target species for the week, this area being the only part of Europe where it exists. I knew Pontic Blue was possible, but for some reason it just didn’t come to mind when in the field. It just shows how you can do stacks of research prior to visiting somewhere, and still forget key information! Other species seen included Small Blue (Cupido minimus), Brown Argus (Aricia agestis), Chapmans Blue (Polyommatus thersites), Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus), Painted Lady (Vanessa Cardui), Large Wall Brown (Lasiommata maera) and Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus).

So, despite the weather not being ideal for the majority of the day, it was actually a really good one, with the Pontic Blue being a new species for me.

More generally, it had been cold and wet first part of May in this part of Greece, and it felt like we were still generally seeing early Spring species, rather than late Spring species.

Day 3 was primarily focused on a visit to Mount Saitas. However, we stopped a number of times on the way there, at roadside verges, for plants and butterflies.

The first stop was a mountain pass where a number of roads converged, between Kalavryta and Kletoria. The views were stunning. And, despite being early, at only 10am, some butterflies had begun to fly. This included Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera), Large Wall Brown (Lasiommata maera), and a very large number of Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus). Also, our one and only Sooty Copper (Lycaena tityrus) of the week. At around 11am we arrived at the foothills of Mount Saitas, and parked in the Church of the Prophet Elias. It was just clouding over at that point, and threatening rain. Thankfully, while it did rain to the north of us, it never did where we were walking. Over the next hour we slowly walked up the winding track through the forest, most of the group looking for plants, me stopping to look at each butterfly seen. I saw Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius), Wood White (Leptidea sinapis), Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardomines), Mountain Small White (Pieris ergane), Eastern Bath White (Pontia edusa), Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia), Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia), amongst other things. But the highlight for me was Gruner’s Orange Tip (Anthocharis gruneri). I’d seen this on my trip to North East Greece in April 2022, however, it had been an absolute nightmare to photograph. This year though, in greyer and cooler conditions, it was much easier. After lunch, Yiannis, one other guest (Trevor) and I continued the steep walk up to just below the tree line. Here the gaps in the trees were filled with some rarer plants that Yiannis was desperate to see. It was also brightening up. We saw one, but were thwarted from seeing the second by a wild horse running to us angrily and getting ready to kick us with its back legs. We beat a hasty retreat, suspecting the horse had a newly born foal somewhere nearby. That potential disaster and lucky escape in the end turned out to be the most fortuitous butterflying event of the week. Five minutes after turning round I spotted a very big yellow/white butterfly flying in the far distance. I quickly got my binoculars on it and could tell it was a Swallowtail of some sort, possibly Scarce Swallowtail, but it looked bigger. I’d been on alert for Southern Swallowtail (Papilo alexanor) all week, knowing it was a possibility, so I gave chase. Amazingly, it then flew towards me, and landed just 10 metres away from me. It was indeed a Southern Swallowtail!!! I shouted Yiannis and Trevor towards me, and we all got excellent photos. Even Trevor, who isn’t a butterfly enthusiast was caught up in the excitement. We continued our walk back down to the minibus, after a very eventful afternoon.

On the way back to Kalavryta, we stopped twice, including for a soft drink in Kletoria. We celebrated that evening over dinner, one of those butterflying days that will live long in the memory.

Day 4 was a long drive to Mount Kyllini, ultimately taking us three hours rather than the predicted two hours, after having to re-route at one point as what looked to be a decent road turned out to be a rocky forest track that was not driveable in the minibus. This delay of an hour meant that we arrived 10 minutes after the cloud had bubbled up. Had we arrived at the time planned, we’d have had 50 minutes of useful butterflying weather. Frustratingly I did see a butterfly by sight that may have been an Inky Skipper (Erynnis marloyi), which does fly in the area. I literally had less than half a second view, in a brief 2 minute spell of sunshine, before it flew off not to be seen again. I can’t count it sadly, it will remain one of those mysteries.

While we did see some interesting orchids over the next 2 hours, there were no more butterflies, and at 3pm, just after we got back to the minibus, there was 15 minutes of torrential rain.

We drove a different way back, which proved that a 2 hour journey was possible, and the weather improved along the way. Altogether a frustrating day, sadly. But after yesterday’s highlights, one not so good day for butterflies is always going to occur.

Day 5 was spent around Mount Chelmos. We arrived in the main ski centre at around 10am, and I began scanning an area of rough ground that had been good in June 2018. Sadly nothing was flying apart from the odd Small White (Pieris rapae) and Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus). I then began helping Yiannis out with finding some of his target plants. From the plants that were out, my hypothesis is that initially the Greek Spring began early, but that the cold/wet spell in early May really set the season back, to the point it swung from being an early year to a late year.

Our second stop of the day was just 3 minutes drive away, at a site with these lovely wild Tulips. Quite a few Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) were flying. I also saw my one and only Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae) of the trip, freshly emerged it seemed. We stopped for lunch at a site where Inky Skipper (Erynnis marloyi) had been seen in a previous mid-May. Despite extensive searching at the precise spot, I had no luck. However, I did find this absolutely gorgeous (Greek) Mazarine Blue (Cyaniris semiargus) of the helena form. Despite being in this area in June 2018, I never saw the helena form on that trip, so this beautiful fresh individual was a delight to see. Again, it seemed like it had only emerged that day, and I saw no other individuals that day, just that one. It felt like butterflies were at the beginning of a mass emergence after an extended period of cold wet weather. We then began the drive back to the hotel in Kalavryta, stopping four times in decent looking roadside meadows along the way. Brown Argus (Aracia agestis) was the most common species seen, alongside the only Eastern Knapweed Fritillary (Melitaea ornata) of the trip. At the penultimate stop, just above Kalavryta we saw Osiris Blue (Cupido osiris) and this mating pair of Pontic Blue (Neolysandra coelestina). It was an excellent end to the day, and with the weather set fair for the remaining two days of the holiday, my hopes were high for more new species.

Day 6 was also spent around Mount Chelmos, but mostly in a different set of sites on the north and west of the plateau, sites I’d never been to before in the Styx valley.

We did stop briefly at the Ski Centre, before attempting a forest track used by the ski lift company, which we hoped might take us close to the top. Sadly, at a certain point it became rocky and undrivable, so we had to turn back.

We then drove west, stopping just after we started to descend down hairpin bends, above the village of Peristera. The views were amazing, and the habitat very different to any we saw on the rest of the holiday, drier, more rocky, and facing the sun most of the day. It was here I saw my only Green Underside Blue (Glaucopsyche alexis) and Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) of the trip. From a distance I also saw an odd looking white butterfly. At the time, I dismissed it as a female Gruner’s Orange Tip (Anthocharis gruneri). However, in hindsight, given the habitat and the size of the butterfly, I now believe this might have been Kreupers Small White (Pieris krueperi). If only I’d taken more notice!

We then spent the next three hours slowly driving the narrow roads in the Styx valley, stopping at various lovely floriferous roadside verges. Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) were in profusion, mostly fresh and having only just emerged. Eventually we ended up in the lovely village of Zarouchla, pretty much the end of the road. It had clouded over this point and we stopped for cold soft drinks.

On the way back to Kalavryta, we stopped twice in meadows on the north side of Mount Chelmos. Here we saw our only Oberthurs Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus armoricanus) of the trip.

Day 7 was our final day, and Yiannis kindly allowed me to pick all three sites to visit, targeting lower level sites for some special butterflies, but knowing that the meadows in these areas would probably pick up new plants for him and the group.

The first stop was a forest track near the village of Souvardo, that had been great in mid-June 2018. Sadly, despite being floriferous, it was cool, and very few butterflies were flying. So we moved on to a site which had had Iolas Blue (Iolana iolas) in June 2018. I was a little nervous about the lateness of the 2023 season, but equally, the good weather of the last few days had clearly been causing a big emergence of butterflies. Arriving at the parking spot near the river, the meadows were full of butterflies of many different species. This included Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) in profusion, as well as Spotted Fritillary (Melitea didyma) and good numbers of most of the other species we'd seen earlier in the week. Also a freshly emerged Amanda’s Blue (Polyommatus amanda), our only one of the trip. And a female Sooty Copper (Lycaena tityrus). We moved on to the Bladder Senna bushes, and I was disappointed to see that there were becoming enclosed and encroached by other scrub. However, my eyesight was drawn to a big blue butterfly moving on a plant just below the bush – an Iolas Blue! I rushed to take a photo, but I needn’t have worried. It stayed still for five minutes, and I managed my best ever photos of this wonderful butterfly that I’ve only seen twice before. Yiannis was equally excited, this having been his main target butterfly of the week. We had lunch at this great spot, enjoying the sunshine, flowers, and particularly the large number of butterflies. Some of the group wanted an easy afternoon in the town, so Yiannis dropped them off, before he, one other guest and I moved on to a site just to the west of the town, where Bavius Blue (Pseudophilotes bavius) had been recorded. The track to the site was disastrously rutted, and I was fearful we’d have to give up. However, all credit to Yiannis. He kept on going up the track until just 2km away from where we needed to get to, and where the track became impassable, except by foot.

As soon as we got out of the van, I was shocked to see a very fresh looking Grayling species. It was too quick to photograph, but the view I got of it helped me to identify it as Balkan Grayling (Hipparchia senthes). We moved up the track. There were good numbers of many of the other butterflies we'd seen in the week too.

About halfway up, I saw a darker looking mid-size blue butterfly and decided to chase it. It stopped briefly, and I managed these photographs. A Bavius Blue! It flew off, and I hoped to see a few more. However, despite searching for another 90 minutes, I didn’t see another one. Another lesson here, try to identify every single butterfly you see! Another new butterfly species for me. We had also hoped to see Southern Swallowtail (Papilio axelanor) again, as it had been seen on this track before. No luck sadly.

On the way back down the track, I took this photo of the view of Kalavryta. At our evening meal, we all agreed this had been a fantastic trip, despite the first cold day. The small group of just five guests and our guide Yiannis had got on very well, and had a lot of laughs along the way.

Day 8 of the holiday sadly allowed no time for any butterflying, as the earliest flight was midday, and that meant we had a very early alarm call at the hotel, in order to get to the airport on time.

So there was quite a bit of waiting at the airport for me. However, it did give me time to reflect on the great holiday. The group had seen a grand total of 44 butterfly species, of which 3 were new species for me, namely:

• Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor)
  Pontic Blue (Neolysandra coelestina)
  Bavius Blue (Pseudophilotes bavius).

This despite us only really having around 10 hours of good butterfly spotting conditions in the field all week.

I had hoped to see Kreupers Small White (Pieris krueperi) and Inky Skipper (Erynnis marloyi), and as you’ll have read earlier, I do wonder whether I did actually see both species. But I cannot be sure and therefore can’t count them sadly.

Overall though, a lovely week, in fantastic scenery and habitat, in a good hotel, with tasty food, and excellent company.

Some excellent butterflies there, Paul. Iolas Blue is always a big draw but my personal favourite is the Greek Mazarine Blue, which is quite different to the nominative semiargus form.

I think your putative Lesser Fiery Copper may be a female Sooty Copper as the hindwings are rather darker than I would expect in a female thersamon. We've been looking for that species all week in N Greece without any success. It's been quite a late season over there.

David M wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 4:36 am Some excellent butterflies there, Paul. Iolas Blue is always a big draw but my personal favourite is the Greek Mazarine Blue, which is quite different to the nominative semiargus form.

I think your putative Lesser Fiery Copper may be a female Sooty Copper as the hindwings are rather darker than I would expect in a female thersamon. We've been looking for that species all week in N Greece without any success. It's been quite a late season over there.

Thanks for this David, particularly the correction. A classic case of expectation/hope over reality! I should have checked more carefully!