Tigers of Hidalgo

 

Every year in Tenerife I make the pilgrimage to Punta del Hidalgo. It is a spectacular place at the mouth of a ravine. There is a three mile hike up to Chinamada, a tiny picturesque collection of houses, through amazing scenery, on a narrow, steep, dirt trail. However the main reason I return every year is a small patch (less than the size of a tennis court) of dry riverbed and scrub, with some lavender-like flowers that attract Plain Tiger butterflies. Every time I have been there so have the butterflies. I know from friends' experiences they aren't always present, so there is always something of a drum roll and nervous anticipation. This year we got particularly lucky with the weather and it was a brilliant day out.

the bus terminus at Punta del Hidalgo
- after 2 buses and about 90mins of travelling

skies were hazy but largely cloud free

We had been watching the forecast. Several, as the BBC forecast seemed to be some people in London scratching their heads and saying well Tenerife will probably be sunny. We found another website AccuWeather that actually did the details slightly better and gave us warning of the occasional rainy or mixed days. There weren't many of those but as we found at Barranco de Ruiz it can make the difference to the wildlife appearing or not. Initially I'd seen a great forecast for a day on which Mary was working and had earmarked that. Mary was not particularly bothered about me going solo as she knew there'd be plenty hanging around while I took a million photos, if the butterflies were there. 

Then the forecast changed and a better day appeared when we could both do the trip. Mary had opted out of the journey last year but was more up for it this year. I was glad of the company and we made sandwiches and took drinks. I had the feeling the small cafe in Chinamada was closed more than open and we wanted to be self sufficient.

looking back to the bus terminal and the winding trail past the generator
buildings then the butterfly patch in the foreground - small but bountiful!

I couldn't help but race slightly ahead of Mary and then shout back to her - they're here - after I spotted the first couple of large butterflies. They are just slightly smaller than monarchs and a similar colour without as many dark lines. They fly in a floaty manner and are medium tolerant of humans approaching. Most photos were probably taken (like the clouded yellows) about 2 to 4 metres away and with the long lens rather than the 90mm. Closer than that and they'd fly off. They were active in the sunshine and moving between flowers collecting nectar. All apart from a mating pair who were mostly innactive although flew off when approached. It was impossible to say how many were there. I felt I was seeing maybe 4 or 5 but it could have been any number between 3 and 8. Perhaps fewer than some years. I tried to find ones in the best condition to photo - there were a couple of older raggedy ones.

Mary had a wander around the area, took a handful of photos then let me know she would start up the trail. It was a warm day and she'd take her time as it is quite a climb. This gave me another 10 minutes of crawling around the dusty riverbed (if that is what it is) trying to get photos of these amazing creatures. I think I probably got distracted by the process and eventually shook myself from the ecstatic trance I was in and legged it up the hill. I was soaking in perspiration by the time I caught Mary and tried to disguise my heavy breathing. The walls of the gorge seemed to intensify the heat and sunlight.

fences protect you from the worst drop offs

I really love the scenery here. It looks spectacular and yet the trail is relatively easy and safe. It is no more of a scramble than going up to the top of Arthur's Seat. There are some quite high drop-offs next to narrow trails and you REALLY need to pay attention at sections - if you tripped and fell over you'd be shredded by cactus before potentially falling to your death. However, I made a point of seeing if I could do the whole thing up and down comfortably without using my hands to hold on at the worst bits and it was possible. (I'm not recommending anyone do this, in fact I recommend you defo hold on where possible.) It looks daunting at places (and a mistake would be catastrophic) but whoever made these trails did a fantastic job. Where it gets steep they have carved steps into the rock or manufactured steps using rocks. No scrambling required. Often on these sorts of adventures there will be a bad step where it is just not possible to make an easy alternative past an airy ridge gap. Not here. It is all possible without harnesses and ropes if you can climb steps for an hour or 2 in the heat. Although you do need to pay attention. Don't fuck about or be an idiot here! 😄

not sure what you can do about this warning

lots of these!

spectacular trail across the middle of the photo

Chinamada
we stopped and ate our sandwiches although the cafe was open

While we were tempted by the thought of lunchbeers, Mary wanted to be down off the trail before we celebrated (or got tipsy.) And so we promised ourselves beers in the cafe in Punta del Hidalgo afterwards. We had enjoyed a plate of chips with cold beers in a small cafe 5 years ago after we first did this trail and could still remember how good they tasted. 

This sign is at the top of the trail, 3 miles from Hidalgo and always seems to present a challenge to beat the clock. I remember racing it last year (on my own) and would have made it under the hour had I not stopped to photograph a speckled wood. We hadn't many on that trip and so photos were in short supply. This year I did the 3 miles in about 65minutes I think. I walked the top half with Mary. Then just after the viewpoint at halfway I picked up the speed, leaving Mary to descend at a sensible pace. The idea being it would buy me an extra 15 minutes before Mary appeared and she wouldn't be left hanging around bored while I chased butterflies. 

I enjoyed the tip-toe jog down the trail, being extremely careful at the narrow bits and legging it at the easier sections. It took me back to my hillrunning days: I was always better at descending than ascending. I filmed bits of the run with the DJI Pocket while carrying the G9 in my left hand. Leaving no margin for tripping and falling.

One of the highlights of the day was coming across this Striped Hawkmoth. The same species as I'd seen at the track a few days before. It flew past us on the trail and at first I thought it was one of the large grasshoppers that look like small birds in flight. However it stopped to nectar at some flowers and we had a couple of seconds to get photos and video before two runners went past and disturbed it and it flew off. I had the short lens on but zoomed in to max and it was probably the best lens to capture such a flighty beast - they do not hold still for a photo and it never landed, just hovered next to the flowers. Not an ideal 10seconds of video but we were very pleased to see this species; having never seen it on previous trips. I'm presuming it only appears on the hottest days.

stills from the video below

short video of striped hawk-moth

spilostethus pandurus again

looking back up the trail to Chinamada - what a place!

I got to the trail end breathing hard and looking for plain tigers to photo. There were one or 2 about but I also noticed this dragonfly, nearly as big as an emperor, land on a shrub nearby. I crept up and got a couple of shots before it took off again. I had seen them flying about but they don't often land. It is Pantala flavescens and is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly on the planet with possibly the largest migration (11,000 miles covered by multigenerations of as much as 3,700miles per generation, (which seems crazy)) of any insect. Giving it the common names wandering glider, globe skimmer and globe wanderer. I was happy to finally get a decent shot of this female. Another Tenerife first.

Then back to the tigers - they were about, but not in great abundance, and I followed a couple of handsome specimens as they went about their business. There was also this spectacular small copper (just the one) but it seemed to have the copper instinct for sitting somewhere dull as soon as it was pursued by a photographer. Crafty devil. So I chased tigers until it flew back onto a flower.

gotcha! what a specimen!
Even among larger more brightly coloured butterflies this one shone.

I'd love to report that Mary appeared and we went off to a cafe to celebrate, however she had already been drumming her fingers for 20 minutes, possibly half and hour after arriving at this point and I reluctantly admitted I probably had way more photos than I'd ever use and it was time for chips and beers. 

Alas things did not go smoothly from this point. It had been a fantastic day out till now but the rest was a bit of a grind. We were on our way to the cafe when a bus appeared, so we postponed the refreshments and jumped on it. After maybe 25minutes I stopped recognising the scenery and suspected we were going a different route to the one I knew from having done this trip 4 or 5 times previously. We realised we were off to Santa Cruz not La Laguna and heading into rush hour traffic. We were able to catch another bus back to Puerto from Santa Cruz but that added another 40+ minutes and we ended up taking a long, tedious 2hrs20 to cover what should have been 90mins. And no beer and chips! 😥

It made the whole day last much longer than it should and we arrived back at the hotel, weary and needing hosed down. However I felt it was a small price to pay for an excellent trip to an outstanding place. And the butterflies turned up and performed brilliantly. Can't ask for more than that!

plain tigers taking off
(stills strung together, rather than video)