I recently spent two weeks in south western Spain. On this trip, I stayed at Los Veneros. It was a conference centre with accommodation and was only about a 15 minute drive to the mine where I worked. My work days were long and I rarely was able to get out for a walk even though it was light until 10:30pm or so. I did have a free weekend and I spent the time in the hills enjoying the sights. These photos are from that weekend and include many habitat and butterfly shots as well as photos of the herps that I encountered. I would like to thank Jeroen van Leeuwen and Doug Taron who helped me with the identifications of the various animals.
Here is a shot of my home for two weeks:
The surrounding countryside reminded me a little of the hills and chaparral in California. Oaks were numerous and in some areas, there were groves of Chestnut Trees.
This area has been settled for centuries. Trails like this one were common.
This is the little village of Santa Ana La Real. It was about a half-hour walk into the hills above my accommodation. Most of the small towns in this part of Spain looked similar with white-washed buildings and roads built from stone.
Spring flowers were numerous. The area must have received good winter rain.
Here are photos of some of the butterflies that I photographed. I visited the same area last year in May (see http://www.butterflycircle.com/showthread.php?12836). It was odd but this time, I saw several species not seen last year and also missed a few that were common last year.
Iberian wall lizard (Podarcis hispanica), habitat and photos. These were also common lizards.
Montpellier Snake (Malpolon monspessulanus)? I only encountered this single snake during my two days of walking. It appeared to be looking for wall lizards. After I took a couple of shots, it vanished and I could not relocate it.
Photos from the Andalusian Mountains, Spain
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