Arroyo Vilano and Balsa de Riegedor, Granada Province.

A couple of new species of Dragonfly for my Granada list.

Steve, Lynn and Adam, Day Six.

Water Measure (Hydrometridae).

Lynn, Adam and Jayne all headed off up to Granada to go to the Sunday market whist Steve and I predictably ended up wading in a river near the house looking for Dragons. We started off at a spot where Steve, Lynn and Adam had been a few days earlier and whilst they were there they Jammed in on a couple of species which I still need for my Granada list but it was quite early and nothing was moving so we continued on up the valley a bit and found another good looking site. We parked on the side of a track a little further up the valley and started to check out a small pool which had been formed by a small trickle of water coming from the main river. Straight away we had the first of many teneral Orange-winged Dropwings (Trithemis kirbyi) most of which were spending their time amongst the vegetation a little way from the water. Further on along the stream we saw Long-tailed (Lampides boeticus), Lang's Short-tailed (Leptotes pirithous) and African Grass Blues (Nina esmaltada / Zizeeia knysna), Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), Small White (Artogeia rapae) and Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas).

Iberian Water Frog (Rana Común / Rana Perezi).

In the shallow we had loads of Iberian Water Frogs (Rana Común / Rana Perezi) and a small number of the very small Water Measures (Hydrometridae). On our way back we saw a couple more species of dragon including Iberian Blue-tail (Ischnura graellsii), a female Violet Dropwing (Trithemis annulata), Epaulet Skimmer (Orthetrum chrysostigma) and Copper Demoiselle (Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis). Birds included a couple Purple Herons (Garza Imperial / Ardea purpurea), a Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Golden Oriole (Oropéndola / Oriolus oriolus), Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea) and Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus).

We moved slightly further up stream and walked another stretch of the Arroya and this time the morning was starting to warm up and we saw several more species including Southern Skimmer (Orthetrum brunneum) and lots of  White Featherlegs (Platycnemis latipes), Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathinerum) and Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii). Whilst here we had some cracking views of several more Golden Orioles, a Bonelli's Warbler (Mosquitero Papialbo / Phylloscopus bonelli) and a fly over Golden Eagle (Águila Real / Aquila chrysaetos). We also saw a nice looking fly which I am still looking to put a name to (later identified as Exoprosopa jacchus).

Steve photographing a butterfly.

From here we headed in to Granada to have some lunch with Jayne, Lynn and Adam and then headed back towards Huétor but stopped off at Balsa de Rigedor on the way to have a look at the dragons. On the water we had some good views of Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus) and Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis). 

Southern Skimmer (Orthetrum brunneum) male.

On the Dragon front we had cracking views of Long Skimmer (Orthetrum trinacria), Violet Dropwing, Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum), Red-veined Darter, Broad Scarlet, Blue / Common Emperor (Anax imperator), Lesser Emperor (Anax parthenope), Blue-eye / Goblet-marked Damselfly (Erythromma lindenii), Small Red-eyed (Erythromma viridulum), Common Blue Damselfly and along the side amongst the brambles a few White Featherlegs. 
Other birds includes Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Turtle Dove (Tórtola Europea / Streptopelia turtur), Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirudo daurica), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos), Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops) and 50+ Western Cattle Egrets (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis).

Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum).

We then returned to our first site where we started to look for the Small Pincertail (Onychogomphus forcipatus) which Steve had seen a couple of days earlier and after a while we found the insect on a quieter shallow length of water. In the same area we had good views of Orange-winged Dropwings, Iberian Blue-tail, Violet Dropwing, Broad Scarlet, Epualet Skimmer and Blue-eye. 

Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum).

Birds seen here included another Golden Eagle and Purple Heron plus a elegant Little Egret (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta). From here we headed back to the house and spent another evening on the terrace looking through the days shots and having a dring whilst watching the local Red-necked Nightjars (Chotacabras Cuellirrojo / Caprimulgus ruficollis).