Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: Above Hoya de la Mora and the Old Road to Güéjar Sierra, Sierra Nevada, Granada Province, Spain.

Thursday, 25 June 2026

Above Hoya de la Mora and the Old Road to Güéjar Sierra, Sierra Nevada, Granada Province, Spain.

A day in the High mountains looking for butterflies with Paqui.

Ebird List for Sierra Nevada.

Above Hoya de la Mora.

We set off at 08:00 and were fairly quickly up at 2500m in the Hoya de la Mora car park after coffee and a Tostarda at Hostal Restaurante El Desvio where Paqui picked up a pale morph Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas).

Heading up to the main site.

Paqui on the way up getting battered by the wind.

After getting our kit sorted we walked up the road towards the area we want to visit, it was very windy and I was not sure if it would be worth the effort but we still pressed on, as we walked we saw and heard Western House Martin (Avión Común Occidental / Delichon urbicum), Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia), Eurasian Skylark (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe), Common Linnet (Pardillo Común / Linaria cannabina), Bath White (Pontia daplidice) x2, Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) x25+, Pyrausta limbopunctalis, Hormathophylla spinosa, Eryngium glaciale, Carduus carlinoides ssp hispanicus, Silene boryi, Sideritis glacialis, Euphrasia willommii, Plantago nivalis and Common Kidney-Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria).

Paqui still fighting against the high wind.

We reached the area we were aiming for but it was still windy, we started to find a few blues which were mostly Nevada () x35+ and Escher's Blue ( escheri) x3.

Nevada Blue (Polyommatus golgus) ♀.

Nevada Blue (Polyommatus golgus) ♂.

Escher's Blue (Polyommatus escheri) ♂.

Escher's Blue (Polyommatus escheri) ♀.

Escher's Blue (Polyommatus escheri) ♀ slight aberrations with a few extra spots.

A bit further along the road and in a bit of a sheltered area we found a few Spanish Argus (Aricia morronensis) x8+ and a good show of their food plant Erodium cheilanthifolium and Mountain Stone Grasshopper (Eumigus monticola).

Spanish Argus (Aricia morronensis).

After a good while we decided to start to make our way down the hill as the wind wasn't getting any better, on the way we added Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) x3, Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia) x2, Niobe Fritillary ( niobe) x1, Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) x4, Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) x2, Spanish Ibex (Cabra montés / Capra pyrenaica hispanica), Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus), Tawny Pipit (Bisbita Camprstre / Anthus campestris), Pallid (Vencejo Pálido /Apus pallidus) and Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) and Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor).

Mountain Stone Grasshopper (Eumigus monticola).

Spanish Ibex (Cabra montés / Capra pyrenaica hispanica).

Queen of Spain (Issoria lathonia).

We made a stop at the Virgen de las Nieves for a photo and just before we got to the car we had a nice ♂ Common Rock Thrush (Roquero Roja / Monticola saxatilis) by the military building.

Virgen de las Nieves (2600 m).

By now we were getting hungry so we dropped back down to the same bar as earlier and got some food.

Once we had eaten we made a final stop at a spot a little way down the old road to Güéjar Sierra where we checked the more open areas amongst the woodlands, here we found Common Golden Ringed (Cordulegaster boltonii), Sage Skipper (Muschampia proto), Iberian Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthameli), Small White (Pieris rapae), Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas), Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra), Holly (Celastrina argiolus) and Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus), Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera), Painted Lady, False Ilex (Satyrium esculi) and Blue Spotted Hairstreak (Satyrium spini), Dusky Heath (Coenonympha dorus) and Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina).