That being said, it was still quite the day.All night we were serenaded by a nightingale outside our room window. The owner of the hotel tried to apologise!
As a treat, he had put up four moth traps, hoping to capture Europe's largest species, the Moon.Sadly, one wasn't caught, but many others were, which was a good start to the day.
Breakfast was a feast, sausages, rolls, bread, fruit, coffee, so we were set for the day.
But there is no getting over that it was going to be a long day. Three and a half hours to get to the site, then many hours searching on a steep scrubby hillside.
The road was spectacular, taking us through a mountain pass and several tunnels, then across the hot and dusty plain.While northern Europe chills in below average temperatures, Spain and Portugal have had a hot and dry winter, and now summer has come early.
By the time we reached the site, passing through "Bee-eater Alley", where a dozen birds were seen, we arrived at the site to find it 29 degrees, and the expected wildflower filled hillside, arid and dry, the flowers long since having given up and dried out.
No flowers means no butterflies, but we had to look, but none found.A way further on was an abandoned field, over a kilometre long, and home to another colony of Dusty Orange Tips. We saw a couple, but Dave caught one so we could catch it when released.
We all snapped it, and then it flew off. So we turned back for the hotel, some three hours away.The buses are large, but even still, jammed in them for half the day was hard on our knees, and it became painful as we climbed the mountain pass again, before heading through the lusher countryside that side of the mountains.
We got back at half seven, time for the debrief and then dinner. Baked cod, vegetables and fried noodles.
Delicious.
And that was that, we were all shattered, but most of all, Jon and Dave who drove all day and then chased butterflies.
Heroes, both.
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