The far south of Spain offers the opportunity to observe species at the far northern edge of their range that do not occur elsewhere in Europe. To record some of these colonists I joined a group tour by the short-haul butterfly and orchid specialist Mariposa (see here), that is operated by David Moore and Jon Dunn with a network of national guides. This post will present my personal highlights, meaning what was new, different or evolved.

Common Tiger Blue

Just to the west of Retamar, near Cabo de Gata lies an unprepossessing piece of coastal wasteland that holds plentiful wild Jujuba bushes (Ziziphus lotus), a deciduous shrub of arid Mediterranean regions also known as “Christ’s Thorn”. The trip target CTB only occurs in places where it co-exists with this foodplant, and is very localised in this part of Spain. To reach the site we travelled through even less attractive landscapes obliterated as far as the eye could see in every direction by green houses. I had not seen such mass factory farming of fruit and vegetables before, and was quite taken aback. The only structures that here and there rose above endless expanses of plastic sheeting stretched across sometimes quite ramshackle frames were as bleak and functional apartment blocks. Coastal Andalucía, one of the driest zones of Iberia, is not a visually pleasing environment.

We arrived at our destination on Friday (1st) beneath deeply overcast skies but that would not apparently be an issue. This tiny butterfly would still be active we were told, and less inclined to move around much. Indeed the group soon located some 20 – 30 specimens. Flying from April through to September, these are said to be difficult to track when fully active, so we were indeed viewing them in easier conditions. There is a Little Tiger Blue in the Balkan region and a third species that is confined to north Africa, but these are very difficult to separate on appearance in the field. The male top side is violet blue, and females brown.

Desert Orange Tip

Things had not been so straightforward with the tour’s first target. A day earlier (30th) we were taken to what was described as Europe’s best DOT site; a steep, land-filled former rubbish tip near the coastal town of Castell de Ferro. And having connected only badly we re-visited on 1st before heading further east to Cabo de Gata. On both occasions I was the first to call the butterfly, and my picture (below) was the only one gained by any group member. Indeed it may have been the only individual present, though many more DOT are said to migrate here by the autumn, attracted by the exclusive foodplant Caper (Capparis spinosa).

European distribution is tightly linked to the presence of that larval host, which in Iberia is restricted to hot, rocky places and very patchy. In my experience, always hyperactive Orange Tips cannot be visited quickly. It may require a whole day or several re-visits to acquire good pictorial records of settled butterflies. That issue is compounded by the unsafe gradient of this particular site, since observers other than qualified mountain goats must stick to the main track that runs through it, wait for butterflies to come to them and hope they settle. Whether or not the heat-adapted, arid zone DOT might survive the winter here depends on local temperatures, and numbers in spring typically vary from year to year.

Sooty Orange Tip was also on the tour wish list, being cited as possible at several sites we visited, but we didn’t find any. My impression was there are no predictable sites, and you just have to be lucky. Even then, finding settled subjects and gaining pictorial records must be quite difficult and random.

Aetherie and Spanish Fritillaries

On Saturday (2nd) we relocated inland to a base just outside the town of Antequera. The so often bleak, industrialised south coast was now left behind, and we were at a gateway to scenic and uplifting montane habitat that contained possibly the tour’s two top prizes. These are described as being amongst Europe’s rarest Fritillaries, being more widespread though still difficult to find in north-west Africa. Both have a foothold in Andalucía, and there is also a small population in Sicily.

There are several clusters of the highly localised Aetherie Fritillary (pictured above) in the region, and the one we were taken to on Sunday (4th) was a stretch of wild flower-rich roadside that was discovered two years ago by one of Mariposa’s own surveyors. Since then tour groups have connected with small numbers there, but on this day our guides estimated there could be more than 100 individuals present. In appearance the species (see here) possibly most closely resembles the more familiar Glanville and Knapweed Fritillaries. It flies in April and May.

A day later we visited what was for me the tour’s most spectacular location, Alto de Hondenero where there is a mirador (viewpoint) and car park at the top of a long and in places quite rough track. I would only have attempted the ascent in a four wheel drive, but our guides were practiced at getting the tour minibuses up there. A walk downhill then brought us to a hotspot for Spanish Fritillary (see here). This quite stunning item is single brooded in April and May, and is very loyal to established territories.

The constraint with this butterfly is it only flies in temperatures above 21 deg C, which makes locating it difficult at the altitude it also favours. The specimen in the top picture (above) was netted and jarred by our (licensed) group leader, then released when the sun went in again so it would be unlikely to fly off straight away. The species is similar in appearance to Marsh Fritillary, though more boldly and attractively marked. The lower row includes an example (right) of the Iberian race beckeri of the latter, for comparison.

Provence Hairstreak

The failure in butterfly terms of my solo trip to Malaga in March 2024 (see here) has rankled ever since. Back then, hoping to self-find the early-flying PH and some other regional specialties, I instead spent three days largely on my back or the bog in a hotel room battling the attentions of El Montezuma; and weather conditions outside were hardly conducive to my quest either. Compensating for this was the prime motivation for, against my usual disinclination joining a group tour offering some of the same species.

As we were leaving Alto de Hondonero one of the group indeed found an elderly PH, it being the very end of their flight season. In pristine condition this curious species, one of Europe’s earliest flying butterflies, is said to resemble a fusion of Green Hairstreak and Small Copper (see here). When the opportunity arose I was desperate to obtain the above picture, faded as the specimen is. It represents the lifting of a lot of frustration for me, and in the event provided a tremendous release.

Other butterflies:

Black-eyed and Lorquin’s Blues (to be added)

Something I wanted to do on this tour was to add images to the Rn’S gallery, under expert guidance, of Green-striped White, Western and Portuguese Dappled Whites. That triple aim was indeed realised (pictured below).

Of these quite similar Pieridae (the same group as the more familiar Bath White) the first two are fairly common and widespread in the Iberian region, but I had just one previous, quite poor picture of GSW from Portugal in 2014. I recorded the separated Eastern species of Dappled White in Greece in 2019. The lifer PDW (see here), a markedly smaller butterfly than Western that flies only in April and May, is highly localised and difficult to find. Several sub-species are described across its range from north Africa through the Iberian peninsular, southern France, into north and central Italy.

Other butterflies recorded again on the tour have already featured in this journal, either from Portugal at the bottom end of the trip reports tab, or the south of France in various posts that regularly attract referrals. The full species list this time was: (to be added)

To be completed