Puerto del la Ragua, Granada Province, Spain.*

A day of ups and down, bird and terrain wise.

Ebird List for Ragua.

Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita).

I meet good friends Sonia and Ricky Owen at bar El Cruz in Loreto where we had some breakfast before heading along the A92 to Guadix and the up to Puerto del la Ragua.

Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita).

Rosy Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus onopordi).

Rosy Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus onopordi).

We parked and then walked up the Western side of the road along the Barranco Maja Caco, before we even left the car park we saw the 1st of 2 Golden Eagles (Águila Real / Aquila chrysaetos), other birds we saw and heard as we walked up to the tops included Western Bonelli's (Mosquitero Papialbo / Phylloscopus bonelli), Western Subalpine Warbler (Curruca Carrasqueña Occidental / Curruca iberiae) and Western Orphean Warbler (Curruca Mirlona / Sylvia hortensis), Eurasian Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Curruca capirotada), Coal (Carbonero Garrapinos / Periparus ater) and Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes), Common Firecrest (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapillus), European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla), Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), European Serin (Serin Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula) and at least 2 Common Chiffchaffs (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita) which we saw and heard calling.

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas).

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae).

Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia).

Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia).

We also saw several Butterfly species, these included Rosy Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus onopordi) x4, Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia) x2, Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) x1, Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) x7, Small (Pieris rapae) x9, Large (Pieris brassicae) x2 and Bath White (Pontia daplidice) x4, Provence Orange-tip (Anthocharis euphenoides) x3, Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) x2, Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) x6 and Panoptes Blue (Pseudophilotes panoptes) x25+.

Looking down into the Barranco Maja Caco.

Andalucian Wall Lizard (Podarcis vaucheri).

Common Dog Violet (Viola riviniana).

Marsh Violet (Viola palustris).

Snow Gentian (Gentiana sierrae).

Moonwort (Lunaria menor / Botrychium lunaria).

At the top end of the  of the ravine on a more open grassy area we found several nice plants including Snow Gentian (Gentiana sierrae), Moonwort (Lunaria menor / Botrychium lunaria), Common Dog (Viola riviniana) and Marsh Violet (Viola palustris), Cerastium gibraltaricum, Genista longipes, Lobularia maritima and Sedum mucizonia as well as Andalucian Wall Lizard (Podarcis vaucheri), Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela maroccana) and Eumigus rubioi ???????

Large White (Pieris brassicae).

Small White (Pieris rapae).

Southern Blue (Polyommatus celina) male.

Eumigus rubioi ???????

Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela maroccana).

Once we were up on the tops Sonia and Ricky went up in one of the ravines and I took another route up on to the tops finding Woodlark (Alondra Totovía / Lullula arborea), Common Whitethroat (Curruca Zarcera / Sylvia communis), Tawny Pipit (Bisbita Camprstre / Anthus campestris), Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Thekla (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae) and Skylark (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis) and Common Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina).

Sonia and Ricky at around 2400m.

Looking West.

Looking West.

We also saw Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) 5x, Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) x8, Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra) x1, Large Wall Brown (Lasiommata maera) x2, Cardinal Fritillary (Argynnis pandora) x2, Helianthemum apenninum, Leontodon boryi, Leucanthemopsis pectinata and Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula).

Leontodon boryi.

Panoptes Blue (Pseudophilotes panoptes).

Apollo (Parnassius apollo) Caterpillar.

Apollo (Parnassius apollo) Caterpillar.

Helianthemum apenninum.

We failed to find the target species the Ortolan Bunting (Escribano Hortolano / Emberiza hortulana) but still had a nice, if not longer and harder going on the knees and ankles walk, on the way down off the tops we picked up Apollo (Parnassius apollo) Caterpillar x2, Southern Marbled Skipper (Muschampia baeticus) x4, Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera) x5 and Rabbit (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus).

Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula).

Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula).

Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula).