Ronda, Sierra de las Nieves and near Serrato in Malaga Province, Spain.

A visit to the town and it's surroundings and some butterflies and Orchids later.

Karen and Rob in tourist mode in Ronda.

We were off a little earlier than usual today as we were going to visit the town of Ronda over in Malaga Province before the hordes arrived, a place Karen and Rob had wanted to see and I enjoy visiting when its quiet.

Puente Nuevo.

On the way over we saw Booted Eagle (Aguililla Calzada / Hieraaetus pennatus), Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax), Woodchat Shrike (Alcaudón Común / Lanius senator) and on a pylon near Campillos we saw 20 odd roosting Black Kites (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans) which were waiting for the thermals to build before they continued on North.

Puente Nuevo.

We parked near the top end of the high street and then walked down through the shops to the Bullring and then along the top of the Mirador de Ronda to the Puente Nuevo and on to the Mirador de Aldehuela.

A male Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius) from Puente Nuevo.

After taking in the views we had coffee and Cakes before returning to the car and driving down to the Mirador La Hoya Del Tajo where we had a nice view up through the gorge.

Looking back up to Ronda.

In the town and down below at the Mirador we saw Pallid (Vencejo Pálido /Apus pallidus) and Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus), Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) x1, Bath (Pontia daplidice) x5 and Small White (Pieris rapae) x19, Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) x4 and Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) x6.

Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychlorus).

Swallowtail (Papilio machaon).

Once we had seen enough around Ronda we dropped down south to the entrance of the Sierra de Las Nieves off the A-397 and parked in the Área Recreativa Conejeras and then walked in this area, this was another of the site Rob had heard about and wanted to visit.

Yellow Phlomis (Phlomis lychnitis).

Curly Rockrose (Cistus crispus).

Grey-leaved Cistus (Cistus albidus).

Linum setaceum.

Around this first area and as we drove a little further in we found Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real Meridional / Lanius meridionalis), Firecrest (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapillus), Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), 6843 Macroglossum stellatarum (Hummingbird Hawkmoth), Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychlorus) x1, Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra) x1, Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) x2, Meadow Brown x5, Red Admiral x1, Bath White x1, Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathsheba) x11, Epipactis helleborine subsp tremolsii, Lange's (Androrchis langei) and Champagne Orchid (Orchis champagneuxii), Yellow Phlomis (Phlomis lychnitis), Curly Rockrose (Cistus crispus), Grey-leaved Cistus (Cistus albidus), Linum setaceum, Large Blue Flax (Linum narbonense), 

Epipactis helleborine subsp tremolsii.

Epipactis helleborine subsp tremolsii.

We returned to the main road and made our way back up to Ronda and after seeing the masses of large coaches parked in a few different areas around the outskirts we realised that we made a good choise to get in and out early, as we drove towards our next spot near to the South of the  town of  Cañete la Real we saw a pale morph Booted Eagle (Aguililla Calzada / Hieraaetus pennatus).

Champagne Orchid (Orchis champagneuxii).

Lange's Orchid (Androrchis langei).

We parked our final stop of the day where with information from a friend we were hoping to see the rare Aetherie Fritillary (Melitaea aetherie) x5 and not long after we arrived we saw a rather tatty male but after a bit of searching we found a couple more which weren't in to bad a condition.

Aetherie Fritillary (Melitaea aetherie).

Aetherie Fritillary (Melitaea aetherie).

Aetherie Fritillary (Melitaea aetherie).

Aetherie Fritillary (Melitaea aetherie).

In the same area we also saw Bath x3, Small x8 and Spanish Marbled White (Melanargia ines) x4, Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) x2, Southern Blue (Polyommatus celina) x4, Large Psammodromus (Psammodromus algirus), Cynara cardunculus, Rabbit (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus), Turtle Dove (Tórtola Europea / Streptopelia turtur), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla), Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) and Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala).

Cynara cardunculus.