Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: Near Huétor Tajar, Granada Province, Spain.

Tuesday 16 March 2021

Near Huétor Tajar, Granada Province, Spain.

Butterflies in the Olives.

Common / Southern Blue (Polyommatus icarus / celina).

I went for an afternoon walk through the Olive groves at the back of the house and as usual I saw naff all on the first section near the house but once I was over the Barranco I was finding good numbers of butterflies.

Common / Southern Blue (Polyommatus icarus / celina).

The first were several Common / Southern Blues (Polyommatus icarus / celina) including some older insects and a mating pair which were getting bothered by another male.

Spanish Brown Argus (Aricia cramera).

I also found lots of Clouded Yellows (Colias corcea), a few Provence Hairstreaks (Tomares ballus) which spent most of their time spiralling around chasing each other, False Mallow / Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolinus / alceae) and Small White (Pieris rapae).

Provence Hairstreak (Tomares ballus).

Further along several Western Dappled Whites (Euchloe crameri) were flying amongst the Mustard plants, Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus), as were a couple of Spanish Brown Argus (Aricia cramera) and both Small (Pieris rapae) and Large Whites (Pieris brassicae).

Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus).

I dropped down to the barranco and found a couple of spikes of Giant Orchid (Himantoglossum Robertiana) which were flowering under the trees along with lots of Hoary Cress (Lepidium draba), Neapolitan Garlic (Allium neapolitanum), Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), Wild Grape Hyacinth (Muscari neglectum) and White Mignonette (Reseda Alba).

False Mallow / Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolinus / alceae).

I walked back down the dead side of the barranco seeing scuds of Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina) and Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis).

Western Dappled White (Euchloe crameri).

Further along there were several Somber Bee Orchids (Ophrys fusca / foresteri), Andalucian Gorse (Ulex baeticus), Common Fumitory (Fumaria officinalis), Henbit Deadnettle (Lamium amplexicaule), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa), Iberian Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki), Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops) and Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major).