Birds and Butterflies of Montana Palencia

We had two days in Montana Palencia and on the first day, we visited Couvee des Francises in the morning.

Our walk started through a ravine where wildlife was scarce due to the rain, but we did see a couple of Hoopoe, Pied Flycatcher, Bonelli’s Warbler and Griffon Vulture. We found a 3-toed skink, which is usually very secretive, but this one stayed long enough in view for us to photograph.

Emerging on the flat plateau, the weather brightened and suddenly we were surrounded by butterflies, including a number of the stunning Apollo. We also saw Woodlark and Tree Pipit here.

We then went onto the edge of the plateau

Birds seen here included Common Redstart, but again it was the butterflies that stood out including Swallowtail, Cardinal, Pearly Heath, Queen of Spain Fritillary and Bath White.

We had lunch in Aquifer de Campo, where we found this European Firebug in the car park.

From here we moved on to Las Tuerces, another ravine valley.

Undoubtedly here the star was the Adonis Blue butterfly.

We also saw Grayling, Comma, Spanish Gatekeeper, Iberian Marbled White, Speckled Wood (Spanish race) and Pearly Heath.

We heard Melodious Warbler and Golden Oriole and saw Booted Eagle, Alpine Swift and Crag Martin, but perhaps the highlight was seeing the nesting Griffon Vultues on their ledge with young.

On the second day, I opted for a walk along the River Pisuerga, which flowed through the village in which we were based.

On this walk, I recorded Dipper, Black Kite, White Stork, Black Redstart, Serin, House Martin, Sand Martin, Swallow and Swift plus White and Grey Wagtails. Being a hot day the butterflies were very active and constantly on the move. Species seen included Iberian Marbled White, Green-veined White, a Tortoishell sp, almost certainly Large Tortoiseshell and a large yellow butterfly, that was likely to have been a Cleopatra from what I saw of it as it flew away from me. I also recorded Common Field Grasshopper and Beautiful Demoiselle damselfly.

We were based for these two days in the village of Cervera de Pisuerga at the hotel Penalabra, which made a lovely base as it is on the river and is surrounded by unspoilt countryside.

Taking into account both the crossing and our days in Spain, I recorded 61 species of birds and 29 species of butterfly, of which many were for the first time. A short break but really enjoyable with lots of great wildlife.