Mirador Del Alto De Hondonero, Malaga Province, Spain.

Still searching for a Butterfly Lifer but the wind won again.

 

The view from below the Mirador.

I returned to the Mirador del Alto where I had been a couple of days earlier hoping for more favorable weather and all the way there and halfway up the track all looked good but things soon went down hill as I got towards the Mirador again.

The sun coming up over the ridge above the Mirador.

Today the sun was out but the breaks in the high winds that had come along on my last visit never happened so even though the sun was out the Frits weren't.

Black-veined White (Aporia crataegi).

Clouded Yellow (Colias corceua).

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris).

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris).

I dropped down the hill again and had a good search around the grasslands and around the pool, on the way I recorded Common / Southern Blue (Polyommatus icarus / celina), Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra), Black-veined White (Aporia crataegi), Clouded Yellow (Colias corceua), Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris), Red-underwing Skipper (Spialia sertorius) and down by the pool the Migrant Spreadwings (Lestes barbarus) still showed well.

Male Cirl Bunting (Escribano Soteno / Emberiza cirlus).

Birds included a singing male Cirl Bunting (Escribano Soteno / Emberiza cirlus), Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Melodious Warbler (Zarcero Común / Hippolais polyglotta), Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos), Pallid Swift (Vencejo Pálido /Apus pallidus) and Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla).

Migrant Spreadwing (Lestes barbarus).

I went back up to the Mirador and walked down onto the grassy areas but struggled to find anything to photograph due to the wind but did see Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), Spanish Marbled White (Melanargia ines), Long-tailed Blue (Lampides baeticus),  Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera), Small White (Pieris rapae) and Sage Skipper (Muschampia proto).

Long-tailed Blue (Lampides baeticus).

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris).

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris).

Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera).

Southern Marbled Skipper (Carcharodus baeticus).

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris).

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris).

On the lower track I also heard a singing Western Orphean (Curruca Mirlona / Sylvia hortensis) and Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia) and as I walked back up towards the car Southern Marbled Skipper (Carcharodus baeticus) and Western Dappled White (Euchloe crameri).

Spanish Marbled White (Melanargia ines).

Western Dappled White (Euchloe crameri).

Day flying moth that still needs a name.

I reached the car and again dropped back down the hill, strangely today I could not convince myself that any of the Skippers I had seen were Essex (Thymelicus lineola) but on Monday all that I saw were Essex.

Ladder Snake (Culebra de Escalera / Etaphe scalaris).

I decided to admit defeat and headed home but as I dropped further down I had a very handsome Ladder Snake (Culebra de Escalera / Etaphe scalaris) on the track.