Photos from the Andalusian Mountains, Spain

[moloch05]

I recently spent two weeks in south western Spain. On this trip, I stayed at Los Veneros. It was a conference centre with accommodation and was only about a 15 minute drive to the mine where I worked. My work days were long and I rarely was able to get out for a walk even though it was light until 10:30pm or so. I did have a free weekend and I spent the time in the hills enjoying the sights. These photos are from that weekend and include many habitat and butterfly shots as well as photos of the herps that I encountered. I would like to thank Jeroen van Leeuwen and Doug Taron who helped me with the identifications of the various animals.

Here is a shot of my home for two weeks:

The surrounding countryside reminded me a little of the hills and chaparral in California. Oaks were numerous and in some areas, there were groves of Chestnut Trees.

This area has been settled for centuries. Trails like this one were common.

This is the little village of Santa Ana La Real. It was about a half-hour walk into the hills above my accommodation. Most of the small towns in this part of Spain looked similar with white-washed buildings and roads built from stone.

Spring flowers were numerous. The area must have received good winter rain.

Large Psammodromus (Psammodromus algirus), habitat and photos. These large lacertids were fairly common. Males had a nice orange throat.

Iberian wall lizard (Podarcis hispanica), habitat and photos. These were also common lizards.

Montpellier Snake (Malpolon monspessulanus)? I only encountered this single snake during my two days of walking. It appeared to be looking for wall lizards. After I took a couple of shots, it vanished and I could not relocate it.

Long-tailed Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus)

False Ilex Hairstreak (Satyrium esculi):

Lang's Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous)

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)

Marsh Fritillary (Eurodryas aurinia), habitat and butterflies:

Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)?

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) was one of the commonest butterflies.

Southern Gatekeeper (Pyronia cecilia). Common.

Bath White (Pontia daplidice) was an oddly patterned pierid. I only saw a few of these.

Small White (Pieris rapae). Common

Common Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni). Some of these big pierids had an orange patch on the upper wing (males?).

Most likely Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) but it could also be the yellow C. hyale or C. alfacariensis

Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros) had such a strange texture to the outer wings

Painted Lady

Isn't this a strange mantis? I saw them a couple of times on the walls of the accommodation where I stayed.

Stonechat.

Griffon Vulture: I saw these several times as they sailed high over the hills.

flowers along the trail:

 

[Venomous_RBB]

Thanks for sharing mate, great pics

 

[Nephrurus]

Hahahaha love the snake photo. Looks like a lovely place to visit.

 

[Skeptic]

Beautiful pics

 

[borntobnude]

David I think its time you stayed at home and stopped taunting us with your fantastic travels and beautiful photography :lol:

 

[izzys1]

That Mantis is stunning!!

 

[moloch05]

Thanks very much, everyone. I've enjoyed these work trips to Spain and will be sad when they come to an end in the near future.

Here are a few aerial photos along the flight path from Dubai to Lisbon. My flight departed at 10am and then followed the sun for the 8 hour flight to Lisbon. It felt like a geography lesson when I looked out and saw places that I had read about for years.

Dubai:

Saudi Arabia, Oil loading facility

Iraq, outskirts of Basra:

Iraq, Tigris River:

Iraq, Mosul Dam, Tigris River:

Mountains in eastern Turkey:

Alps in eastern France/western Italy:

France:

Mediterranean Coast of Spain:

Approach to Lisbon:

Lisbon:

Lisbon's "Golden Gate"

Lisbon Airport: