Some of you reading this may be aware that before my family holiday to France we took a week's holiday to Tenerife in May. You may also know that I have posted findings of my past trips to Tenerife in 2011 and the last one in 2014 coming in 6 instalments. Although there were some holiday highlights (drive visit to Candelaria and Santa Cruz), this trip fell well short of the heights of that 2014 adventure and as a result it will be relatively short and sweet
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A big part of the disappointment/frustration was getting a hire car that had a button handbrake (why oh why change tried and trusted things that work?) The amount of stressful parking and hill-start situations plus a load of other 'irritating quirks' ensures I will never hire a VW again
Our Club-la costa destination was Monterey Royale. Having been to Monterey before (2011) I knew that the waste ground around the complex was good for Long-tailed Blues; African Grass Blues and the odd Canary Blue too. After the first night where we watched a fabulous firework display from our balcony I was up early the next morning (while the others slept), and getting straight down to business.
Nothing had changed since 2011. Even a tramps' hideaway, of old boards and plastic barrels amongst a bushel of palms and cacti was still as I remember it. I wondered whether I twigged a memory nerve when he saw me (that 'strange tourist' again) searching the ground but this time with a big DSLR and not a compact camera hanging round my neck.
Eventually my searching paid off with the first LTB individual, an expected female, having large chunks missing from her hind-wings.
Others were eventually found that was in slightly better nick
. All the long-tailed Blues I saw were females.
- The butterflies look drab but in sync with their surroundings compared to the UK examples that have been posted on here
- Ovipositing
Another thing I noticed were what looked like a caddis larval cases halfway up grass stems (though not a drop of water anywhere) anyone know what it might be
- strange construction around 2cm in length
Next morning we all went on a submarine safari which was great fun if a little expensive. I took loads of (poor) pictures of the fish through the thick Perspex portholes my favourite being a Duck-billed Ray (not in the submarine centre's spotter charts so took some time to identify later).
- Pteromylaeus bovinus: Duckbill Ray
- Barracuda
Determined to see some butterflies after the submarine excursion, I left the ladies at their request at the resort and made a return 25Km journey or so, to the butterfly hunting area behind Club Marina Las Galletas. This area had been kind to me in the past yielding over 6 butterfly species as well as interesting birds, moths, wasps and spiders. This time the only butterfly reward were a handful Bath Whites which were far more alert and much more difficult to approach than I remember them being previously.
- Butterfly nectaring on tiny succulent flower
- Another scrubby plant providing nectar for the Bath White
Undeterred I did some walking and my usual exercise climb of the steep hill Montana Amarilla for a few view shots and watched the swifts race the incoming airliners
- ovipositing Bath white seen in this hollow last year
- Swift v Airliner
- Lava rock formations of Montana Amarilla
Among the opuntias in the butterfly area were the Black & White tent web spiders (Cyrtophora citricola) and Beet Moth (spoladea recurvalis) (posted in the 2014 report) and a bird which I need to identify:-
The next day we took a trip out to Masca in the Teno mountains taking the normal 'easy' less tortuous route than we had to make in 2014
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So far the weather had been cloudy over the hills which although not cold to some extent spoilt the views. The cloud was to be a consistent feature of that whole week in May
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Having visited out favourite restaurant and coffee bars and done our amble around the picturesque village I did my best to find some wildlife to photograph but was not having too much luck. In fact things were so bad that I was reduced to photographing the feral cats which my daughters delighted in making up names for them.
- View from the restaurant Chez Arlette
One species that did prove more frequent than on 2014 was the Canary Speckled Wood, but even then things just seemed to conspire to make the photo capture difficult for one reason or another.
Also seen and pictured was an Emperor Dragonfly and a Bordered Straw moth
The Bordered Straw is a migrant to the UK and this year (2015) has been turning up in light traps for just about everyone I know bar me
Phil
I have an interest in moths which includes the 'micros' but I haven't as yet come across any of the Psychidae bagworm family (to which Amicta cabrerai belongs) in the UK. I have to say the cases the bagworm larvae construct are fascinating 