Central Spain - wildlife pictures and notes from March

John Muddeman
15/05/2012 22:17:02

A few pictures and notes regarding bird, butterfly and other observations during a couple of brief outings in March in Madrid and Guadalajara

Posted in: Flora, Butterflies and Moths, Other Invertebrates, Birds, Mammals | Castile-La Mancha, Madrid | Mainland Spain, Central Spain

Fine weather in late winter and early spring sees the first flush of things to come, including a few butterflies, moths, other insects, the first flowers and migrant and breeding birds as well.

I've just included a few pictures to illustrate the changing of the seasons and that we enjoyed unseasonably good weather still until late March, when it suddenly broke.

A colourful geometrid moth
Lythria purpurata© John Muddeman

Common throughout Europe: Hen's-bit
Lamium amplexicaule© John Muddeman

Church roof-nesting White Storks
Ciconia ciconia© John Muddeman

Adult grasshoppers are not usually present in late
winter, but after the very dry and mild conditions,
were quite common this year (Acrididae)© John Muddeman

One of the first hymenopterans to emerge was this
Violet Carpenter Bee sp.
Xylocopa sp.© John Muddeman

And one of the earliest butterflies to
emerge in C Spain is the gorgeous
Western Dappled White
Euchloe crameri© John Muddeman

Read more blog posts