What it did have was a lot of ferns and bryophytes and a particular abundance of liverworts, and this was enough to keep me entertained. I'll be doing a separate blog post on the ferns and bryophytes I saw in Madeira in due course.
I probably only saw about five species of birds, and the most abundant was the beautiful Madeiran Firecrest. We completely failed to see the endemic Trocaz pigeon, though to be fair I was looking at the bryophytes most of the time and whole flocks of the pigeon could have passed by and I wouldn't have noticed.
Madeiran speckled wood Pararge xiphia. Unfortunately I was unable
to get an open wing shot of this butterfly but it can still be easily
identified from the the photo.
Note the convex edge to the outer margin of the forewing and also the white
mark halfway along the hindwing costa. Both of these features make this a
Madeiran speckled wood, which is also a larger butterfly than common speckled
wood Pararge aegeria aegeria which also occurs on Madeira .
Speckled wood Pararge aegeria aegeria. This is the same species as
we get in the UK but confusingly this is the Madeiran race. Note the concave
edge to the outer margin of the forewing.
Madeiran Cleopatra Gonepteryx maderensis, possibly a
female. This is a declining and endangered species on Madeira.
I've never yet managed an open wing shot of any species of brimstone so this
is about as good as it was ever likely to get!
Clouded yellow Colias croceus.
Small copper Lycaena phlaeas of the Madeiran subspecies phlaeoides.
Eventually we moved on to Santana and then up into the mountains, above the annoying clouds and mist, and up into the sunshine. We were close to the summit of Pico Ruivo and only a few miles walk to Pic do Arieiro. It was beautiful up here, lots of butterflies flitting around as well as plain swifts and Berthelot's pipits. Oh and a Trocaz pigeon flew across the road in front of the car on the way up. A great end to the day.
Erica arborea endemic to Madeira.
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