North to Albarracín, Teruel Province, Spain.

Heading North to meet friend Andy Tweed for a few days looking for butterflies.

 

Corn Poppy (Papaver rhoeas).

I started out early as I wanted to reach a spot by mid-afternoon to give me a chance of seeing one of the two target butterfly species I had for the next few days, before I stopped for some breakfast at approx the halfway point in the drive I saw Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Iberian (Rabilargo Ibérico / Cyanopica cooki) and Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica), Crested Lark (Cogujada Común / Galerida cristata) and House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus).

Roemeria hybrida.

Roemeria sicula.

I came off the motorway at the Hostal Restaurante El Puente junction where I had breakfast before continuing on, a little while later I left the main A4 and went east on the A-43 but pulled off to message Paqui, I spent a few minutes stretching the legs and had a single Great Bustard (Avutarda Euroasiática / Otis tarda) fly over as well as several singing Calandra Larks (Calandria Común / Melanocorypha calandra), European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Europeo / Merops apiaster), Corn Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), Roemeria sicula and hybrida, Hypecoum imberbe and Small White (Pieris rapae) x1.

Again I continued on adding White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia), Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans), Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) and Corn Bunting (Escribano Triguero / Emberiza calandra).

Panoptes Blue (Pseudophilotes panoptes).

I made another stop to have a walk and parked right by a small puddle where I had a few Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) x4 and a couple of Panoptes Blue (Pseudophilotes panoptes) x2 as well as Common Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos), Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes), Eurasian Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Cyanistes caeruleus), European Stonechat (Tarabilla Europea / Saxicola rubicola) and a little further on before I reached Moscardón I had a group of Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) on a carcass in a ditch, unfortunately there was nowhere to stop so I continued on.

As I drove through the Meadows near the village of Moscardón I had Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe), Liverwort (Hepatica nobilis) in blue and white forms on the roadside as well as Provence (Anthocharis euphenoides) x2 and Common Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) x5.

Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia).

I reached the spot that Andy had sent me and started to have a look around but only found Painted Lady x8+, Large (Pieris brassicae) x1 and Wood White (Leptidea sinapis) x1, Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) x4, Provence Orange-tip x1♂ and Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia) x1 as it was quite cloudy with a cool wind.

Spring Ringlet (Erebia epistygne).

The Habitat.

After a while the sun came out and the wind dropped for a few minutes and during this brief bit of heat I had three sightings of at least 2 different Spring Ringlets (Erebia epistygne) which was one of the two species I had driven up for so I was very happy even with just these brief views.

Southern Early Purple Orchid (Orchis olbienis).

Southern Early Purple Orchid (Orchis olbienis).

Southern Early Purple Orchid (Orchis olbienis).

Southern Early Purple Orchid (Orchis olbienis).

I also saw Southern Early Purple Orchid (Orchis olbienis), Globularia vulgaris, Potentilla cinerea, Hairy Spurge (Euphorbia hirsuta), Montpellier Milkvetch (Astragalus monspessulanus), Iberian Mole (Talpa occidentalis) hills, Common Firecrest (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapilla), Coal Tit  (Carbonero Garrapinos / Periparus ater), European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Eurasian Wren, Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs) and Common Cuckoo (Cuco Común / Cuculus canorus).

Potentilla cinerea.

Globularia vulgaris.

Montpellier Milkvetch (Astragalus monspessulanus).

Hairy Spurge (Euphorbia hirsuta).

Iberian Mole (Talpa occidentalis) hills.

Andy arrived so we searched the area again but it had gone cold and dull by now so we didn't get any more views of the Target so we headed for the hotels in Albarracín and met up again later at La Zahora where we had a very nice meal and a few drinks whilst chatting about butterflies.