Madeira Day 2

The next morning was free of firm commitments so I decided with some reluctance to visit the local tourist trap, the Cabo Girao Miradourou  At 589m above sea level, the cliff is reckoned to be the highest in Europe.  As I suspected it is largely a place for taking selfies and admiring the views detailed in the link above though possibly not bad value at five euros a pop given the prices at other tourist hotspots.

However I did manage one interesting sighting.  The wall lizards were already active on a rock just below the glass platform and in there among them were some birds I though might be rock sparrows.  I managed to get a few shots which turned out to be of island canaries, a different species to the atlantic canary seen yesterday and not obvious songsters.

Island Canary (and cactus)

Island Canary - front view

I had the notion that they might be hunting baby lizards as I understand some other small birds do but AI on the subject was not conclusive.

I also thought I might have seen at distance a bee that wasn't a buff-tailed bumblebee or a honey bee but it proved to be an old familiar - the common drone fly.

Common Drone Fly

This species was encountered on a number of subsequent occasions.

In the afternoon I was on a butterfly tour which proved to be a decided mixed bag in that not very much was seen but a couple of key endemic species did turn up.  

I had been previously warned that an untypically cold and wet winter and early spring meant that sightings had for a while been non-existent and were only just starting to pick up.

We headed West from Cabo Girao and the first spot was a riverside site where nothing turned up of note - no expected small whites, just a few more clouded yellow, the ubiquitous speckled woods and the odd red admiral. Plus at one point the tour leader had a mini mining bee on his finger.

He also noted that he thought the local goat had taken a dislike to him, but it seemed friendly enough to me:

Goat

I thought I might have seen a blue in flight but this couldn't be confirmed.

We then moved on to a levada that headed North towards the Fanal Lauressilva Forest, which is where it got interesting.

Here we encountered the Madeiran Speckled Wood, all the others seen up to then being the mainland European version.  The Madeiran Speckled Wood is a larger butterfly with different markings that are less precise on the underwing.  One of them landed in front of us but only briefly and once again I missed the shot, trying to focus through the viewfinder.

We were now in the area where the environment was favourable for the Madeiran Cleopatra.  In Madeira they actually call it Madeiran Brimstone, though my understanding is that the powers that be think brimstone and cleopatra are identifiably separate species. Prospects of seeing one were reckoned to be extremely small this year, although they had been sighted once or twice in the few days before my visit.  My hopes of bettering a brief sighting of a Cleopatra in France were not high.

Well in fact one did flutter down right in front of where I was walking.  It didn't settle but flew away along the treeline of the levada.  Realising that there was no other option, I attempted a speculative video, hoping to catch its path along the trees:-

Clearly that didn't work but if you watch carefully or stop the video around the five - six second mark you can see a butterfly shaped object against the skyline. This is not a UFO!  It is in fact - and you'll have to take my word for it - the Madeiran Brimstone (aka Madeiran Cleopatra.) 

As this was the butterfly I was keenest to see I was in favour of hanging around for a repeat performance, but we were duly ushered back to the van, where ironically the driver, also a Naturalist, had seen another iconic species, the Indian Red Admiral  - which of course the Madeirans call something different i.e. Macaronesian Red Admiral.

All our party got on the way back was more views of the Madeiran firecrests and chaffinches, one of which I did manage get a passable image of.

Madeiran Chaffinch

You can notice the greenish tinges not found on UK chaffinches.  This bird has the reputation of being exceptionally tame to the point of visiting restaurant tables in search of titbits.

We moved on to a nearby woodland site where the Madeiran Speckled Wood apparently breeds. On arrival we did see a few rising up into the trees but on foraging around nothing but a wild pussy cat.  I eventually sat down at a picnic table where it was a firecrest rather than a chaffinch that made bold approaches for possible handouts.

This area used to be home to the Madeiran Large White, recently officially declared to be extinct.