Salinas area and near Trabuco, Malaga Province.

A day of Dragonfly hunting.

Small Spreadwing (Lestes virens).

I started off by taking Jayne to the Craft Group meetig in Trabuco before doing a run around some of the nearby Hotels doing leaflet drops. After this I went and had a look at a small pool and stream near Salina's, straight away I picked up a nice male Blue / Common Emperor (Anax imperator), Broad Scarlet (Crocothemis erythraea), Iberian Blue-tail (Ischnura graellsii) and a male Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum).
I started by checking out the well vegetated small stream which ran alongside the road and found a very nice male Small Spreadwing (Lestes virens) in a small group of juncus clumps and on the stream there was a pair of Mercury Bluet's (Coenagrion mercuriale) in tandem.

Blue-eye / Goblet-marked Damselfly (Erythromma lindenii).

Birds in the area as I walked around included Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops) and Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real Meridional / Lanius meridionalis).
Further along the track I located several male Southern Skimmers (Orthetrum brunneum), one of which was guarding an egg laying female, also seen here were Epaulet Skimmer (Orthetrum chrysostigma), Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens), Migrant Spreadwing (Lester barbarus) and a tandem pair of Western Willow Spreadwings (Lestres viridis).

Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens).

I walked back towards the car and picked up a few butterflies on the way including Bath White (Pontia daplidice), Clouded Yellow (Colias corcea), False Ilex Hairstreak (Satyrium esculi), Marbled Skipper (Carcharodus lavatherae), Sage Skipper (Muschampia proto), Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) and Iberian Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthameli).
From here I crossed the motorway and visited a second but much bigger pool on my way back towards Trabuco.

Small Red-eyed (Erythromma viridulum).

As soon as I parked I added a nice male Cleopatra (Cleopatra / Gonepteryx cleopatra), Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas), Small White (Artogeia rapae) and Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathsheba).

Small Red-eyed (Erythromma viridulum).

Once I was down by the water I was soon out in the water amongst large numbers of the delicate but beautiful Small Red-eyeds (Erythromma viridulum), along with smaller numbers of both Blue-eye / Goblet-marked (Erythromma lindenii) and Common Blue Damselflies (Enallagma cyathinerum). Further out in the pool there were several Lesser Emperor (Anax parthenope), Red-veined Darters (Sympetrum fonscolombii), Black-tailed Skimmers and perched back nearer the bank a teneral Keeled Skimmer.
Whilst I was wading I saw and heard loads of Iberian Water Frogs (Rana Común / Rana Perezi) and disturbed several Viperine Snakes (Culebra Viperina / Natrix maura) all of which went away from me this time.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathinerum).

Birds included good numbers of Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), Great Crested Grebe(Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus), Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus), Golden Oriole (Oropéndola / Oriolus oriolus), Woodlark (Totovia / Lullula arborea), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala) and Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirudo daurica).