Spring shots from Spain and Portugal

Greetings all,

I've just returned from a three-week stay in Spain and Portugal. This trip was for work so I only had weekends free to walk and search for animals. The weather on two of my three weekends was good with warm to hot (36C) conditions. One weekend was surprisingly cool (10C) and wet as a late cold front crossed Europe. It was late spring in this area so there were many flowers to be seen, especially early in the trip. Most of these had disappeared by the end of my three week visit.

Here is a map that highlights Almonaster La Real where I spent most of my time. I worked out at a copper/polymetallic mine not too far from the village.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ay2012/map.jpg


Almonaster La Real was a lovely area with live-oak forest and pine plantations in the surrounding hills. The dominant feature in the village was an old monastery. It was originally built by the Moors around a 1000AD.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...vaProvince.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...terLaReal8.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...vaProvince.jpg


My wife arrived during the second week of my stay. We climbed Cerro San Cristobel behind the village one day. The view from the summit was nice. The mine where I worked is visible at about 11:00 (two white domes). I was surprised to see how near the village it was considering that it took us about 40 minutes to drive to the mine.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...terLaReal6.jpg


habitat near the apartment where we stayed:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/habitat1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/habitat3.jpg



Spring flowers included these vibrant red poppies:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/flower15.jpg

Here are a few more shots of the flowers. They were colourful and of course attracted many insects including butterflies.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...geflowers1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...geflowers2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...geflowers3.jpg

Small Coppers (Lycaena phlaeas) were common.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...naphlaeas1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...naphlaeas7.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...naphlaeas6.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...naphlaeas2.jpg


Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) is a widely distributed species. I see it here in Australia as well.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...esboeticus.jpg

I think that these are Common Blues (Polyommatus icarus) but am not certain.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tusicarus2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tusicarus1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../lycaenid3.jpg


I think that these are Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...iacramera2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ciacramera.jpg


Satyrinae were the most numerous butterflies. I think that this Spanish Gate Keepers (Pyronia bathseba) was particularly colourful.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...abathseba2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tabathseba.jpg

Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) were common.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pamphilus4.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pamphilus5.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pamphilus2.jpg


Wall Browns (Lasiomma tamegera) were fairly common. I usually saw these in shady areas along rock walls or trails.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...atamegera2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...atamegera1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...atamegera4.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...atamegera5.jpg

A very common satyrinae was the Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...lajurtina1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...eadowBrown.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...lajurtina3.jpg


Speckled Woods were common.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...geaegeria2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...geaegeria3.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...rgeaegeria.jpg


I saw Spanish Purple Hairstreaks (Laeosopisro boris) on two occasions.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pisroboris.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...isroboris2.jpg

More,please :)

Not certain about this blue. I think that it may be an Adonis Blue (Polyommatus bellargus) due to the heavy spotting but am not certain.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...abellargus.jpg


Pierids included the Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea). These were a common species.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...iascrocea1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...iascrocea4.jpg


Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra) were seen a few times but in low numbers.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...xcleopatra.jpg


Western Dappled White (Euchloe crameri) were seen only twice.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...oecrameri2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...oecrameri1.jpg



Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) was a common species.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...essacardui.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ssacardui2.jpg

One of my favourites on this trip was the Spanish Marbled White (Melanargia ines). I saw these lovely butterflies on many occasions.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...argiaines3.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...rgiaines17.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...argiaines1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...argiaines5.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...argiaines6.jpg


Another new species to me was the colourful Spanish Fritillary (Euphydryas desfontainii baetica) (thanks for id correction, Les). This species flew and behaved much like a Tawny Coaster. I saw two of these one afternoon but then did not encounter the species again.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...euphrosyne.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...uphrosyne2.jpg

David,

Very nice butterflies and shots !

It is always a pleasure reading your travelog, many thanks for sharing with us!


Cheers!

Beautiful butterflies shots, David!

Love to visit Spain soon!

:cheers:

David: Enjoy seeing the "broad picture" followed by close-ups, followed by some great butterfly shots. You appear to have really mastered using the T180 during the past year or so. Thank you for including all those images! Great fun! William

Lovely series, David. I particularly liked the Spanish Purple Hairstreak and Spanish Marbled White, much nicer the the british species!

All the IDs appear correct, or, at least, give me no reason to doubt, except one.

The photos of the Pearl-Bordered Fritillary set off alarm bells, they looked very different from what I often saw in Britain, both on the upper and undersides. After checking the 50+ Fritillary species, I finally came to the right one, last in the list, as usual (I should have started at the back). This species is Euphydryas desfontainii baetica (Spanish Fritillary), a much more interesting and local species. The markings fit perfectly.

Thanks for making BC a little more "international" with your adventures to other countries, David. :cheers:

I like the Marbled Whites. Are they as skittish as the Pierids we have here?

Thanks, guys, for the feedback.

Bobby, this is a good time to go to Spain. Costs were low and much cheaper than what I experience here in Australia. A beer or coffee was 1 Euro everywhere. Dinners were typically around 10 Euro. If you go there, I hope that you like pork. I have never eaten so much pork in my life. Virtually every meal was a variety of pork. It was good and I had smoked, cured, and various cuts cooked in many different ways. The Spanish don't seem to like "green" food so most lunches and dinners were meat with fries. Their lifestyle is totally different to mine. Dinners were never served before 9pm. After the "mandatory" drinks with the customers, my dinner was usually 10:00pm or later. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the trip since the workdays began at 7:30am and usually did not finish until 8pm or later. Here in Australia, I walk each mornings for exercise but that was impossible in Spain.


Thanks, Sunny and William. William, I still have a long ways to go when I look at Sunny's photos. For me, it seems to be really hard to know when the lens is exactly perpendicular to the butterfly. I think that everything is fine but then get home, look at the photos on the computer and see that part of the butterfly is not sharp. I am beginning to wonder if this might be age related since my eyes are not as sharp as they once were.

Thanks for your help, Les. I will change the mis-identified fritillary. By the way, these certainly act much differently to the fritillaries that I knew in the States. Those were typical nympalids where these act so much like acraeids. The Spanish Hairstreaks were slow and almost lumbering flyers.


Thanks, Khew. The BC forum is almost always "exotic" to me. The Marbled Whites were not too hard to approach. They usually departed after a few photos but were no where near as wary as the Clouded Yellows. These are called "Whites" but they are actually Nymphalids rather than Pierids.

Regards,

I saw three species of skippers near Almonaster and photographed two of these. I think that the following are Mallow Skippers (Carcharodus alceae):
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...dusalceae2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...dusalceae1.jpg


These I think to be Marbled Skippers (Carcharodus lavatherae):
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...avatherae2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...avatherae1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...avatherae3.jpg


Interesting pentatomid:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pentatomid.jpg

Scorpions were common beneath rocks. These were big animals.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/scorpion.jpg


Large Psammodromus (Psammodromus algirus) were fairly common:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...usalgirus6.jpg

Large Psammodromus (Psammodromus algirus) were common lizards in the hills.

females:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...usalgirus5.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...usalgirus4.jpg

males:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...usalgirus3.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...usalgirus2.jpg


Our visit to Spain was special to my wife, Angie, and I. This trip coincided with our 30th wedding anniversary. Here is a picture of Angie at the summit of Cerro San Cristobel.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...012/Angie1.jpg


On the weekend, we also drove to a few of the surrounding villages. Here is a shot of Cortegana, a little town about 6km from Almonaster.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../Cortegana.jpg


Aroche, a little town in Spain near the Portuguese border:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...012/Aroche.jpg


... and the habitat near Aroche:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...habitat1-1.jpg

I started and ended the trip with a night in Mertola, Portugal. I found Mertola on the net when looking for a place to stay near the Spanish border. It turned out to be a lovely area and well worth a visit.

Here is a map that shows the location of Mertola. I found it on the net while looking for a place to stop before heading into Spain.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ay2012/map.jpg


Mertola was a pretty place with an old Moorish castle and walls around the town.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/Mertola2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../Mertola11.jpg


It was especially beautiful at night with its soft lighting:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/mertola6.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/mertola7.jpg


Street views in town. White-washed buildings with red-tile roofs were the standard in both Portugal and nearby Spain.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../Mertola12.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/mertola4.jpg

It was interesting to see a flock of Lesser Kestrels that roosted each night on the castle. Spotless Starlings, House Martins, Swift, Great Grey Shrikes, House Sparrows and Blackbirds were all common in town.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/mertola9.jpg

The surrounding hills were dry and often overgrazed. Reptiles including snakes were obviously numerous based on the number of DORs that I saw, but I only spotted one live snake briefly before it disappeard into cover. Lacertid lizards were numerous.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../Mertola13.jpg


River valley where I spent a few hours. European Bee-Eaters, Eurasian Golden Orioles and Azure-winged Magpies were numerous here. Birding was pretty good in this area with sightings of many Red-legged Partridges, Crested/Skylarks, Serin, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, White Storks, Jay, Sardinian Warbler, Dartford's Warbler, Red-rumped Swallows, Barn Swallows, Common Buzzard, Hoopoe, Blue Tit, Great Tit and others.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...2/habitat1.jpg


I saw these turtles in the river but could not get close to them so I don't know the species.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...12/turtles.jpg


I saw a single live Montpellier Snake (Malpolon monspessulanus) and a number of DOR including the one photographed here. The live animal was sighted mid-morning along a dirt track but it quickly raced into cover before I could stop and jump out of the car. I could not relocate it.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pessulanus.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...essulanus2.jpg


Large Psammodromus (Psammodromus algirus) were the common Lacertidae of the area. I also saw a large, green lacertid on the road while driving but I was unable to take photos.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...musalgirus.jpg


At the start of the trip, there were many flowers on the roadsides. Three weeks later, though, these were mostly gone.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...12/flower3.jpg

Lavenders must be native to this area and they were in full bloom on the hillsides.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../lavendar1.jpg

flowers:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...geflowers1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...12/flower4.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...12/flower1.jpg


Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...allcopper1.jpg


Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes plinius)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...spirithous.jpg


Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../lycaenid2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ciacramera.jpg


Butterflies in the subfamily Satyrinae were abundant. I did not see many species of these but there were larger numbers of individuals on the roadsides.
Southern Gatekeeper (Pyronia cecilia)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tacecilia1.jpg

Southern Gatekeeper (Pyronia cecilia)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tacecilia3.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tacecilia2.jpg


Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathseba)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tabathseba.jpg


Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...allheath1a.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...mallheath1.jpg


Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...adowBrown1.jpg


Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...atamegera1.jpg


Not certain, but I think that this is an Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola):
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...uslineola2.jpg

Another wonderful travelogue with plenty of beautiful pictures. David. :)

Thanks for sharing.

:cheers:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Commander

I like the Marbled Whites. Are they as skittish as the Pierids we have here?

---

Ahem... Marbled Whites are Nymphalids (Satyrinae)! :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Painted Jezebel

Ahem... Marbled Whites are Nymphalids (Satyrinae)! :)

---

:bsmile: Ya... ya... my knowledge of butts limited to Southeast asia only. :embrass:

Looks like a wonderful country with great scenery and weather. As a Singaporean, I wonder how is the food like as well?

It seems that the butterflies are out in full force and you've captured them perfectly! :cheers:

Thanks, guys.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Painted Jezebel

Ahem... Marbled Whites are Nymphalids (Satyrinae)! :)

---

Les, I knew that these were Nymphalids but did not know that they were subfamily Satyrinae. Wow, white Satyinae! There must not be many with this colour. I can't think of any others that are this white elsewhere in the world.


Mark,
The food was good. They are real meat-eaters in the area where I visited. Most dishes were made with varieties of pork but beef was also available. One of my workmates ordered a fillet steak thinking that this would be small. It was not! The steak was thick and covered the entire plate. Chicken and seafood don't seem to be eaten as much but then I was inland and away from the coast. All meals were served with fries. Breakfasts are very strange when compared to Australia. In Spain and Portugal, breakfasts were usually cakes, pastries, cheese, ham and sourdough toast. Coffee is excellent and usually strong (espresso). Given a choice, though, I much prefer the spicy Singaporean/Malaysian food!


Here is a nice day-flying moth:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...y2012/moth.jpg



White Storks were common near Mertola. In some areas, nearly every telephone pole had a nest of these big birds.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...WhiteStork.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...hiteStork2.jpg


Stonechat:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../stonechat.jpg


Here are a final few shots from Lisbon. Lisbon was beautiful and it reminded me of San Francisco with its hills, cable cars, bay and "Golden Gate" bridge. The old quarter of the city was especially nice.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...on/Lisbon3.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...on/Lisbon4.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...n/Lisbon10.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...n/cablecar.jpg


Portuguese egg tarts were excellent as were their other pastries:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...n/eggtarts.jpg


I found a shop dedicated to anchovies. They also had this shrimp paste. I wonder if it is as effective as blachan at attracting butterflies?
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...hrimppaste.jpg


That is it for photos from this trip.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...n/Lisbon11.jpg



Regards,

David: Thank you for your great story. I was fortunate to visit Lisbon many, many times in the 1970's and it was a favorite destination of mine. It was a great place to unwind after a long trip. It certainly appears to have "grown up" based on a couple of shots you posted. William

Uncle David, your shots are great, especially the painted lady(let me guess, male?);P . So far, I only saw 3 lycaenids flying over the sea while I was taking a ferry. I have not seen a single butterfly on land,:-( so until today, I'm just birding whenever I can. Is it always like this during au winters?

Thanks, William and Brian.

Brian,
Where are you located? On sunny days like today (Wollongong/Sydney), you should be able to find a few butterflies. I normally see plenty of Black Jezebels at this time of the year. Botanic Gardens can also be good for a few species including lycaenids. In general, though, there are not many butterflies active in the winter and the numbers will be massively less than what you are used to in Singapore.

If you can visit the wet tropics (Townsville to Cape Tribulation), you will have better luck. Darwin should also be productive. There always are many species active in those areas since they are much warmer than the southeast of Australia.

Regards,
David

Spain is a beautiful country, that includes the food and sangria;P

Hi David, very interesting travelogue, thanks for sharing :) I am sure you had a wonderful trip with Angie.
Brian might have missed to reply the thread along the way as we did not have continuous wifii connectivity during our trip between 31/5-11/6. We flew to Adelaide and crossed over to Kangoroo Island at which we explored for 4D3N. Thereafter, we returned to Adelaide and continued our journey along The Great Ocean Road towards Mornington Peninsula, stopping at a few towns along the way, before flying home from Melbourne. Brian is currently sharing his photo records in a thread progressively while catching up with his revision. I got him the field guide to au birds by Simpson & Day during the trip which he enjoyed reading it. We did not come across any butt during the trip as we battled the 6-12degC with occasional passing shower.

EC,

Your trip sounds like it was good ... but cold! Southern Australia is a chilly place in the winter. I hope that you time. Kangaroo Island and the Great Ocean Road are both beautiful. In the summer, there are many satyrinae to be seen. Lycaenids, though, are more common in the north.

You should have seen a good variety of birds. Seabirds are diverse in those areas and there should have been several species of albatross and giant petrels near some of the headlands. I used to organize pelagic seabird trips here in Wollongong and June was good for a number of the sub-antarctic species.

Regards,