Arroyo Hondo in Malaga Province and NW of Tarifa in Cadiz Province, Spain.

First day Butterfly hunting with Andy Tweed, in search of the Desert Babul Blue (Azanus ubaldus).

 

After getting a few jobs done around the house (hearing Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua) in the Olives) I drove down to Benalmádena, on the way down I saw Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Eurasian Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Eurasian Jay (Arrendajo Euroasiático / Garrulus glandarius) and Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica). 

I got to Benalmádena where I was leaving my car at Friend Andy Tweeds place before we continued on to the Tarifa area calling at Arroyo Hondo just up the road so that Andy could show me one of his local spots, here we saw Striped Grayling (Hipparchia fidia) x2, Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) x1, Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Curruca melanocephala) and Spotless Starling.

 Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus).

 Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus).

We continued on seeing good numbers of Griffon Vultures (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) at several spots before we arrived at the area along the A-340 where we were looking for butterflies and we soon found the first Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) and Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus).

Monarch (Danaus plexippus).

As we searched the area for the extremely rare Desert Babul Blue (Azanus ubaldus) (without any real hard information) which Jon Dunn had seen somewhere in the area a few weeks earlier we picked up our first Mediterranean (Gegenes nostrodamus) x1 and Zeller's Skippers (Borbo borbonica) x5, Small (Pieris rapae) x3 and Large White (Pieris brassicae) x1, Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) x5, Lang's Short-tailed (Leptotes pirithous) x3 and Southern Blue (Polyommatus celina) x1 butterfly wise as well as Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii) x3♂ and x5♀, Crimson Speckled (Utetheisa pulchella) moths, Oriental (Vespa orientalis) and European Hornet (Vespa crabro), Eurasian Collared Dove, Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Common Redstart (Colirroja Real / Phoenicurus phoenicurus) immature ♂, Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Cecropis daurica), Sardinian Warbler and Spotless Starling.

Monarch (Danaus plexippus) caterpillar.

After a good while and plenty of searching for Acacia bushes / trees which we didn't find we moved just up the road to another spot and again searched the tracks side and meadows but only managed to see Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) x1, Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) x2, Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) x2, Red-veined Darter x1♂ and x2♀, Carpentor Bee (Xylocopa violacea), Sticky Fleabane (Dittrichia viscosa), Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas), Sardinian Warbler and Zitting Cisticola (Cistícola Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis).

Mediterranean Skipper (Gegenes nostrodamus).

Another road and more searching but at least we found what looked like a kind of Acacia and we added Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) x4 and False Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolinus) x1 to the list.

False Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolinus).

False Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolinus).

We also saw Monarchs x1, Painted Lady x2, Meadow Brown x3, Lesser Emperor x2♂, Red-veined Darter x1♂ and x4♀, Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) x8, Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo) x2, Griffon Vultures x2, Northern Raven (Cuervo grande / Corvus corax), Crested Lark (Cogujada Común / Galerida cristata) and European Stonechat (Tarabilla Europea / Saxicola rubicola). 

Southern Blue (Polyommatus celina).

It was getting on so we headed to the Hotel and then checked an area nearby where we saw more Zeller's Skippers x6, Monarchs x3, Plain Tiger x2, Painted Lady x1, Large White x1 and Clouded Yellow x2. 

Zeller's Skipper (Borbo borbonica).

Back at the Hotel we had some beers and food and also saw a few Moorish Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) on the walls.