|
|
| The beautiful Sierra de Grazalema slopes down to a little town called El Bosque, popular with Hangliders, but nice for butterflies also. The Speckled wood, Pararge aegeria is a novelty for northern lepidopterists, with its orange colouration it can be quite confusing. Green hairstreak, Callophrys rubi was common here also. (Species list) |
|
| Species: | Scientific: | First sighting: | Last sighting: |
| Spanish festoon | Zerynthia rumina | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Large white | Pieris brassicae | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Dappled white | Euchloe crameri | 08-Apr | 08-Apr |
| Orange tip | Anthocharis cardamines | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Moroccan orange tip | Anthocharis belia | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Clouded yellow | Colias crocea | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Brimstone | Gonepteryx rhamni | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Cleopatra | Gonepteryx cleopatra | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Wood white | Leptidea sinapis | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Green hairstreak | Callophrys rubi | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Holly blue | Celastrina argiolus | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Red admiral | Vanessa atalanta | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
| Painted lady | Vanessa cardui | 08-Apr | 08-Apr |
| Small heath | Coenonympha pamphilus | 08-Apr | 08-Apr |
| Speckled wood | Pararge aegeria | 08-Apr | 08-Apr |
| Wall | Lasiommata megera | 07-Apr | 07-Apr |
From 'Wild Spain'
The butterflies (75 species) are also of interest, with the 1,103m Puerto del Boyar (on the A-372) a prime locality. Notable records for the park include mallow, southern marbled, sage and safflower skippers, both swallowtails, Spanish festoon, black-veined white, large tortoiseshell (often on the wing from February onwards), cardinal, many fritillaries - Niobe, Queen of Spain, Provençal, knapweed, Aetherie, Spanish and marsh - two-tailed pasha, dusky heath, dusky meadow brown, Spanish and southern gatekeepers, rock, tree and striped graylings, nettle-tree butterfly, Spanish purple, blue-spot and Provence hairstreaks, purple-shot copper (subspecies boyarensis), long-tailed, African grass, Osiris, Lorquin’s, green-underside, Iolas, Panoptes, false Baton and Spanish chalk-hill blues.
Sierra de las Nieves: (parque natural; 20,172ha and Biosphere Reserve; 93,930ha) karst landscape (maximum Torrecilla; 1,919m) to the east of Ronda with extensive Spanish fir forests on higher north-facing slopes and abundant Spanish Lorquin’s and green-underside blues, Spanish fritillary and western marbled white among the butterflies.
© All pictures in these pages copyright to Simon Coombes. Permission must be sought and obtained for any use. |