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Tuesday, 9 July 2024

Argüébanes, Potes, Cantabria, Spain.*

A few hours in the field, some with Andy again.
 
Sooty Copper (Lycaena tityrus) male.

After a better nights sleep than expected after spending all afternoon coughing I was awake about 06:00, during the night I had again heard Tawny Owl (Cárabo Común / Strix aluco) and European Nightjar (Chotacabras Europeo / Caprimulgus europaeus).
I met Andy in Potes after getting some breakfast in town and we headed out to a spot which Ed Mckrill showed me last year but I was not confident we would see much as it was very cloudy and spitting with rain occasionally.
We parked in the village and walked up hill (which was harder than it should have been as the chest was still not very good) and out into the woods and then to an area of track that had been concreted in amongst woods and grassland.
It was still cloudy and all we managed to see butterfly wise were singles of Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) x12, Wood White (Leptidea sinapis) x1, Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) x3, Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) x1 and Southern Heath Fritillary (Melitaea nevadensis) x1.
Bird wise I saw and heard Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes), Eurasian Jay (Arrendajo Euroasiático / Garrulus glandarius), Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), Middle-spotted (Pico Mediano / Dendrocopos medius) and Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Great (Carbonera Común / Parus major) and European Crested Tit (Herrerillo Capuchino / Lophophanes cristatus), Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea)European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Mistle (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus) and Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Eurasian Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Curruca capirotada), European Serin (Serin Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) and Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs).
Spanish Purple Hairstreak (Laeosopis roboris).

After a couple of hours it still hadn't brightened up so Andy headed off and I lay down on the bank at the site and promptly had another 40 winks and I only woke when the sun got bright in my eyes and I found that things had livened up quite a bit so I got to work.
During the period of sun I added two species to the trip list, singles of Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus alceae) x1 and Sooty Copper (Lycaena tityrus) x1 along with Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) x3, Small White (Pieris rapae) x13, Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) x1, Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) x3, Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) x2, Silver-Washed (Argynnis paphia) x1 and Knapweed Fritillary (Melitaea phoebe) x1, Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) x1 and Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) x2.
After a while the thick cloud returned and I dropped back down to the car, on the way I added Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) x1, Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) x3, Spanish Purple Hairstreak (Laeosopis roboris) x1 and both male and female Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) x3.
I returned to the campsite early and did some washing, showered and went to sit in the bar and do some of the blog.
Counts next to the species are from the whole day or the site.

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