Heading South home Via Cillamayor and Refugio Golobar in Palencia, Spain.

A few more Butterflies with Monica and Ed on my way Home.

Ripart's Anomalous Blue (Polyommatus ripartii).

Today I was heading south again after a great trip but thought I would try somewhere on the way so I contacted Ed and asked him if he had anywhere that would be good and not too far off my route back and he came up with Cillamayor saying that they were not far from there so they would meet me again.

Great Banded Grayling (Kanetisa circe).

Grayling (Hipparchia semele).

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus).

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus).

I loaded the car and set off over on the route south which took me up over Mirador de Piedrasluengas and down to Cervera de Pisuerga where I had breakfast before going to the point near Cillamayor where we were going to meet, on the way I saw Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Yellowhammer (Escribano Cerillo / Emberiza citronella), Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos), Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus), Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans), Common Quail (Codorniz Común / Coturnix coturnix) heard only, Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea) x2 and White Storks (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia).

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina).

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas).

Esper's Marbled White (Melanargia russiae).

Esper's Marbled White (Melanargia russiae).

I was early so I went for a walk along the stretch of road that I knew Ed and Moonica would have to come along finding Red-backed Shrike (Alcaudón Dorsirrojo / Lanius collurio), Melodious Warbler (Zarcero Común / Hippolais polyglotta), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Skylark (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis), Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Cirl (Escribano Soteno / Emberiza cirlus) and Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra) along with Great Banded Grayling (Kanetisa circe), Grayling (Hipparchia semele), Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) and Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus).

Damon Blue (Polyommatus damon).

Clouded Yellow (Colias corceua).

Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia).

I was a few hundred meters along the road when Monica and Ed arrived so I walked back up and once they had parked we headed out across the site, I was soon regretting putting on my shorts and sandles as the many thistle species were making their presence felt the whole time but it was worth the discomfort when Monica found an Esper's Marbled White (Melanargia russiae) and Ed came up with the first of a few Damon Blues (Polyommatus damon), both of which were new species for me.

Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus).

Long-tailed Blue (Lampides baeticus).

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus).

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus).

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus).

Other records included Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia), Clouded Yellow (Colias corceua) and  Berger's Clouded Yellow (Colias alfacariensis), Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera), Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera), Iberian Marbled White (Melanargia lachesis), Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas), Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathsheba), Turtle Dove (Tórtola Europea / Streptopelia turtur), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Iberian Green Woodpecker (Pito Real / Picus sharpei) and Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica).

Twin-spot fritillary (Brenthis hecate).

Twin-spot fritillary (Brenthis hecate).

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris).

Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum).

Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum).

On the drive up to this first spot Ed and I had both notice a flower rich roadside verge and area of Pine Woodland a few KMs back so we decided to go and check the area out which turned out to be a good idea, here we had many of the same species but added Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus), Long-tailed Blue (Lampides baeticus), Knapweed (Melitaea phoebe) and Twin-spot fritillary (Brenthis hecate) yet another new species for me, Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris), Chapman's Blue (Polyommatus Thersites), Ripart's Anomalous Blue (Polyommatus ripartii), Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum) and Ed also had a Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus) which I missed. 

Ripart's Anomalous Blue (Polyommatus ripartii).

Ripart's Anomalous Blue (Polyommatus ripartii).

Damon Blue (Polyommatus damon).

Damon Blue (Polyommatus damon).

Other species seen as we walked included Pine-cone Knapweed (Leuzea Conifera), Catananche caerulea, Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia), Bonelli's Warbler (Mosquitero Papialbo / Phylloscopus bonelli) and Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus) before we started to head back North for a while to reach the heights of Refugio Golobar.

Chapman's Blue (Polyommatus Thersites).

Chapman's Blue (Polyommatus Thersites).

Chapman's Blue (Polyommatus Thersites).

Once there Monica and Ed had some food whilst I had a walk down the road a short way finding

Chapman's Ringlet (Erebia palarica), Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene),  Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus), Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) and Peacock (Aglais io).

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene).

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene).

Bird wise I added House (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) and Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Griffon (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) and Egyptian Vulture (Alimoche Común / Neophron percnopterus), Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Dunnock (Acentor Común / Prunella modularis), Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax), Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs) and Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major) but missed the Bluethroat (Pechiazul / Luscinia svecica) Ed saw at the pool near to the car park.

Peacock (Aglais io).

Peacock (Aglais io).

Chapman's Ringlet (Erebia palarica).

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae).

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae).

Time was now getting on and I still had a long drive home so I said my farewells to Monica and Ed and headed back south getting home just before Midnight after a couple of stops for coffee on the way, just after turning right at the bottom of the hill my final new species for the trip was a Common Cuckoo (Cuco Común / Cuculus canorus) sat on the wires.