Viva España part II

Our rented house in Sarvisé proved to be not only well situated for walks, but also a butterfly hotspot. One particular day was very rewarding.

We were walking in the Cañón de Añisclo when we arrived at a bend in the river where my wife found a spot in the shade to doze off, while I chased butterflies such as the Provencal Fritillary (Melitaea deione):

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM   f/5   1/100   ISO 800

When we were about to return, I spotted this Southern white admiral (Limenitis reducta) flapping its wings oddly right next to the path. When I approached, it did not fly away and seemed to be stuck to a twig. To be honest, I took a shot of its underside first with fill-flash before I gently took the butterfly in my hands and freed it from the spider web threads that it was entangled in. As a return favor, the butterfly posed on my hand for a while.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM   f/4.5   1/200   ISO 400

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM   f/4.5   1/160   ISO 400

After this long hike, my wife suggested to grab a beer in an open-air bar just 100 meters down the road from our house. However, we had not walked more than 10 meters when something small and brown caught my eye. Upon closer inspection, the bushes next to the road were literally full of hairstreaks. I had completely missed this on previous days as I had been searching for butterflies in the opposite direction. What a nice surprise! After first drinking beers and chatting about our fine day, I received the green light to go after the hairstreaks. First up was the Ilex hairstreak (Satyrium ilicis) which also occurs in The Netherlands:

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM   f/4.5   1/100   ISO 640

The most interesting one was the Spanish purple hairstreak (Laeosopis roboris), another lifer. It is fairly large at about double the size of the Ilex hairstreak and although not particularly rare it is not easily seen. Therefore I am very pleased with this specimen and photo:

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM   f/5.6   1/100   ISO 400

The Spanish Pyrenees were indeed the butterfly biodiversity hotspot that I expected: I recorded just short of 70 species in eight days of hiking. This number is even more impressive if compared to a week of fulltime butterflying in Greece that yielded “just” over 80 species.

While I write this, high summer has arrived in The Netherlands with sunshine, blue skies and 30 degrees. I’ve been butterflying all morning and afternoon and recorded my 30th species in The Netherlands in’23 and took some very nice photos. More on that in the next blog.

Viva españa

We’ve hiked the French, Swiss and Austrian Alps. We’ve hiked the Dolomites and the mountains of Montenegro and Norway. So we’ve seen our fair share of Europe’s mountainous areas, but we had never been to the Spanish Pyrenees. That’s where we selected to go for our summer holiday. And of course picking this destination had something to do with it being of the continent’s butterfly hotspots.

Arriving on location, we had three consecutive days of pouring rain until the weather cleared and the hiking could start for real. Prior to the trip I had made a long list of lifers that I hoped to see. However, the first butterfly that posed nicely for the camera was a familiar one: the Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus). It had chosen our parking lot to suck some minerals and I almost stepped on it when I brought the dirty dishes from our dinner into the house. I threw the dishes in the sink and returned quickly with my camera, took position flat on my belly and started snapping away. The late evening light and the pebbles in the parking lot give this image a nice and warm glow.

Canon RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM   f/9   1/640   ISO 250

The next day, I could tick off the first new lifer: the Scarce Southern Swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthamelii).

Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM   f/5   1/1000   ISO 100

In the evening, while my wife was preparing dinner, I began patrolling the roadside around our house, photograping butterflies and birds. Then suddenly something blue fluttered under my feet. I looked through the viewfinder to see the unmistakable features of the Black-eyed Blue (Glaucopsyche melanops), another lifer. I pressed the shutter button….and nothing happened: empty battery. I always carry a spare but not this time as I had left in a hurry to make the most of the time until dinner, and now cursed myself for my sloppiness. Ran back to the house, grabbed a fresh battery, ran back to the spot….nothing. Cursed myself again, but enjoyed a lovely dinner thanks to my wife.

For the following day we had selected quite a strenuous walk: 900 meters of steep nonstop climbing, followed by almost 19 kilometers of gradual descent through the beautiful Ordessa valley (top picture). It is one of the most popular hikes in the area and for good reason. The steep cliffs, meandering rivers and thundering waterfalls make for brilliant scenery.

The constant coming and going of other hikers prevented me from taking any decent pictures. It also had another, more serious side-effect: there were quite a few butterflies to be seen that had been mud-puddling first and subsequently been crushed under the feet of the many tourists. One of the unlucky ones was….the Black-eyed Blue! I just do not know whether I should be happy to have seen one or sad because of it being dead (the other butterfly is the Small Blue (Cupido minimus):

Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM   f/8   1/500   ISO 100

As our first week was coming to a close, I again took the best picture not in the field but two meters from our doorstep late in the evening as a Large Tortoiseshell (Nymhpalis polychloros) was attracted to our bottle of red wine. Again, I ran back into the house to fetch my camera, and this time the butterfly was still present. I used a little bit of fill-flash to bring out the details:

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM   f/5.6   1/160   ISO 640

For our second and final week, the weather promised to stay excellent so we were looking forward to more hikes and more nice butterfly encounters. Stay tuned for part II!