Butterflies of Spain's Sierra Nevada

A day to visit Sierra de Huétor Natural Park, at short distance from Granada city. This forested limestone massif holds nice populations of Iberian Marbled White, Cleopatra and Great Banded Grayling. We will check several spots of this protected area including a botanical garden where wll be looking for False Ilex Hairstreak and Cardinal Fritillary, among many others.

A challenging day into the Sierra Nevada National Park to watch out for its endemic butterflies and flora. We will check different locations to maximize the chances to find Nevada Blue,  Purple-shot Copper, Silver-studded Blue, Escher's Blue and Spanish Brassy Ringlet among others.

Time to travel to the coastal areas of the Granada and Almería provinces on the look out for rare species that only occur here within Europe. The main targets of the day are Common Tiger Blue and Desert Orange Tip, but there will be many other possible sightings as the habitats are completely different to those previously visited.

On these two days we will visit a variety of new areas of the Sierra Nevada National and Natural Parks, including some of its southern slopes, botanical gardens and high passes. This aims to produce new species, among them first is the local Apollo with its orange ocelli. We will enjoy scores of Idas Blue at some specific water points as we cross our fingers for Spanish Argus, several Fritillaries, Graylings, Browns and hopefully the very scarce Zullich's Blue.

On one of these days we will be joined by butterfly expert Miguel Olvera, who will delight us with his strong local knowledge after many years monitoring these mountains. We will also enjoy with him a delightful moth-trapping session.

A relaxed breakfast at our hotel and we'll head back to either Granada or Málaga for departure.