tigers of hidalgo

 

When I think of Tenerife, one of my favourite memories is of the mental run Mary and I did (2 years ago) past Chinamada to Punta del Hidalgo. As we got to the bottom of the trail we found some butterflies which I photographed. What I thought were just monarchs turned out to be Plain Tigers. And relatively rare compared to monarchs which (despite their preservation status) are all over the place. 

So it was high on the list of places to revisit this trip. I knew Colin and Joan had been here at the end of last year and failed to find any tigers so I was not assuming they’d be there. But it was the only place we’d ever seen them. Mary was happy to return because the trails from Punta del Hidalgo to Chinamada are excellent. You know you are in a different country (a different world) when surrounded by pinnacles and gullies full of cactus, succulents and tropical flora. To say nothing of the dragonflies and lizards. We deliberately missed the first part of the trail from Carmen de la Cruz high in the Anaga forest as it was boring compared to what came later. So we caught 2 buses to Punto del Hidalgo and hoped the tigers would be there. 

They were!

There is a small scrappy bit of ground at the bottom of the trail at sea level in Hidalgo, just beside a generator, before the trail climbs steeply into the hills. Small purple flowers like lavender grow there and if you’re lucky, as we were, there are large orange and black tigers feasting on them. Mary saw one then another. I think there may have been 2 or 3 in total, not many. Not as many as last time, though more than when Colin and Joan came looking for them. Colin said it was cool not hot when he was here. Despite their bright colours and large form (about the size of a monarch) they seem to have that ability to flit their wings, turn a corner and disappear. 

I took many pictures. I knew Mary wouldn’t be super happy to stand about for ages. In fact she started to head up the trail, knowing I would be faster and catch her up. I already had the record shots and was now trying to take photos that would show off these beauties to their best advantage and maybe hide any notches or damage in their wings. One seemed to be hassling the other so I presumed one male and one female and I’ve yet to check if they are dimorphic or not.

Okay I’ve just googled them and males have a large black spot on the underwing with a white circle. I’m no wiser, or haven’t taken sufficient underwing shots. Although wikithingy calls it a medium sized butterfly. If you live where? It is bigger than anything in the UK. And nearly as big as a monarch, the only other bigger butterfly here. It is only medium in the sense that Icebreaker t-shirts are medium. (They swamp me and I am defo at the chunky end of a medium these days.) (Once bought several online (in a sale - who buys £90 shirts at rrp???) and followed their measuring instructions with the precision of a rocket scientist to avoid just the thing that then happened. I was FUMING and sent them back with a strongly worded letter. A pox on them and their piss poor measurements. Stop flattering the fatties and just use accurate measurements.)

So felt I should start running up that hill as Mary had come on 2 long bus rides for me to get these photos and was being a good sport about it! And there was always a second bite of the cherry as we’d be coming back through the same area on the way out. Maybe all the mint condition ones would be flying by then. (Spoiler alert: nope!)

Up the trails into these crazy hills

We turned around at this point after having the sandwiches. Last time we got a bit sunstroked after a long day out and insufficient food and drink. There is good stuff just around the corner but Mary was keen not to push it and I felt more time back at the trail start with those butterflies wasn’t the worst idea. We retraced our steps.

There were a couple of spots where the trail got a bit thin. If you took your time it was safe as houses. And a lot of effort had been gone to carve or place stone steps in several areas of potential tension. A confident hiker could probably manage without use of hands. Which would allow them to take photos of their girlfriend, not in a mocking way you understand, but so she could enjoy them later. 

Towards the bottom of the trail I ran on ahead so that I could scour the area for all likely butterfly action. There really did only appear to be 1 or 2 or 3 about the place and apart from one moment where one chased the other they stayed too far apart from each other to accurately count. I chased all I could see and Mary slowly moved in the direction of Punto del Hidalgo. I took a couple of pics of a passing white that looked more interesting than most - there are several species of white on the island but I’ve only photographed the most common which resembles our small white. 

Eventually I called it a day and was very happy to have met this spectacular species for a second time, armed on this occasion with better equipment to capture its likeness. Another fantastic day out.