General Summary
It is over for another year. I returned to the UK yesterday, 28th January. My 2nd year at Golf Del Sur on the western side of the south coast of Tenerife has been brilliant. The weather has been glorious with average daytime temperatures around 23 degrees (max. 26 degrees) and night time temperatures rarely below 19 degrees. The sun shone brightly almost every day and the longer daylight hours give me so much more energy and enthusiasm for getting out and making the most of it.
However that glorious weather, with a total of about 5 minutes rain over the entire 58 days, certainly seemed to have a detrimental affect on the wildlife. It had also been a warmer and drier year in the Canary Islands generally. Compared to last year the wildflowers, especially in the volcanic scree (malpais) areas, were up to 6 weeks later in flowering than last year. Later wildflowers have an immediate knock on effect on the insects which rely on nectar and that impacts the insect eating birds. Having just 2 years to compare I do not know whether last year was exceptionally good with rains in November and the first week of December (luckily for me only at night) making everything flourish and this year was more typical.
Another slightly disappointing aspect for me personally was that access to my most productive butterfly site last year, the Reserva Ambiental at San Blas, is under the strict control of an hotel. Access from my second week there was only available to us after many begging emails and WhatsApp messages and 2 visits. This was because they found the "unofficial" entrance that I used weekly last year and fenced it off. Having said that this area also seemed to be affected by the lack of wildflowers anyway. The reservoir at Las Chafiras, which was usually a good birding site, was also undergoing major renovation from the second week onwards and empty of water and therefore birds.
On the much more positive side however was the discovery of a small pool of water just inland from the coast at El Medano which was a wading bird haven especially at high tide. I found 8 species there on my first visit when it was quite full of water. However that too started to dry up quite quickly.
Also because of the lack of wildlife in the malpais areas I spent much more time exploring the mostly-dry river valleys (barrancas) around the edges of the golf courses. Because they water the fairways and greens every night and some of that water runs off these surrounding areas are greener and many of my best wildlife finds came from there.
Wildlife Recording Summary
I was determined this year to record all of the wild insects and birds that I found and most of the truly wild flowers and plants. I discovered last year that there was a lack of records from Tenerife and so this would be a valuable use of my time. This was more than borne out when the majority of my ObsIdentify records have had to be passed to the local experts for verification and in fact about half have still to be verified. In some instances the species that I was trying to enter did not even come up in their list of possibilities, I assume because it had never before been recorded there.
My final lists will therefore be a bit delayed while the verification continues however the numbers are something like:
Butterflies : 8
Moths : 3
Birds : 30 photographed plus 8 seen or heard(by A not me obviously) with no photos
Miscellaneous :
Insects species including 3 dragonflies/darters including the stunning Blue Emperor, 3 bees, 2 hoverflies, a wasp, a grasshopper, 2 flies and the overall highlight being the Thistle Mantis.
Spiders 2
Crabs 2
plus Grey Mullet, many Tenerife Lizards, Pond Sliders, Cotton Scaly bugs, and various rock pool inhabitants
I think in summary while this year will probably be down on numbers of butterflies and possibly birds compared to last year I would say that the quality has been higher with several new species and good numbers of other species such as the Monarch butterfly. The other insect species have definitely been a case of quality over quantity.
What Next
In December 2024 I will return to Tenerife and carry on with my wildlife studies. However we are moving to a new area Puertito de Guimar which is much further east along the south coast. It is another coastal town with a long walk along the coast in 1 direction and the interesting looking Malpais de Guimar nature reserve with another spectacular volcano dominating it on the other side.
Being further east it may be a degree or 2 cooler and potentially a little wetter than Golf del Sur which may be better for wildlife. It will be a truer reflection of wild Tenerife however as it won't have the artificially green golf courses and surrounds. It should also provide easier access to some of the higher inland areas. It is also nearer to the Anaga peninsular with it's unique laurel forests and we hope to have the opportunity to visit some sites there. Please come back next year and I hope you have enjoyed my journey.
