A good butterfly day
This afternoon I excused myself from the beach and headed off on a sweep of the minor roads west of S'Albufereta. This takes you through an open area of small, weedy fields with a variety of orchards. The bird life, as befits the middle of a hot afternoon in July was largely quiet, although an adult Booted Eagle and a startled Red-legged Partridge did decide to break the quiet.
Today was much better for butterflies, with a sudden emergence of Cleopatra, a Two-tailed Pasha (that most exotic and large of European butterflies), a 400m strip of blackberries that had good numbers of Long-tailed Blue, a single Lang's Short-tailed Blue (good images obtained), Southern Brown Argus, Southern Gatekeeper and Wall. A single Hummingbird Hawk-moth buzzed me.
I ended up at the southern end of the marsh and found a new footpath that took me through a pine plantation (2 Hoopoe, a Woodchat and a family party of Crossbill), onto a mound that looked out over the wetlands and the 'estuary'. Highlights included Great White Egret, Stone Curlew, Gull-billed Tern, 4 Purple Herons and Purple Swamphen.
Today was much better for butterflies, with a sudden emergence of Cleopatra, a Two-tailed Pasha (that most exotic and large of European butterflies), a 400m strip of blackberries that had good numbers of Long-tailed Blue, a single Lang's Short-tailed Blue (good images obtained), Southern Brown Argus, Southern Gatekeeper and Wall. A single Hummingbird Hawk-moth buzzed me.
I ended up at the southern end of the marsh and found a new footpath that took me through a pine plantation (2 Hoopoe, a Woodchat and a family party of Crossbill), onto a mound that looked out over the wetlands and the 'estuary'. Highlights included Great White Egret, Stone Curlew, Gull-billed Tern, 4 Purple Herons and Purple Swamphen.
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