As with the flora, the fauna inhabiting the Sierra Nevada Natural and National Park is interesting for the high number of endemic species.We especially like butterflies and moths. This interest in butterflies was sparked by the beauty of a Parnassius Apollo on the top of El Chullo in August in 2008. We started taking photos of butterflies on many of our walks. Now more than ten years later we named our house after a butterfly. Pontia daplidice is a butterfly that visits the garden occasionally, it flies a large part of the year and we noticed a colony just steps away from Cumbres Verdes.
In the Sierra Nevada more than a hundred and twenty species of butterflies have been recorded. We feel fortunate that quite a few of these fly in and around Cumbres Verdes like the Chapman's Green Hairstreak for example.
Anita joined the Butterfly Monitoring Scheme in the Sierra Nevada in March 2019. We started to run a Skinner moth trap (actinic 15W) in the garden of Casa Pontia two months later. With help of experts we managed to get more than five hundred moth species identified so far. While running the trap we not only find moths in the morning, but all sorts of amazing insects are attracted to the light.
To get an idea of some of the species that can be found in Cumbres Verdes and in other parts of the Sierra Nevada, you can have a look at Observation.org.
When you consider a stay at Casa Pontia and you have an interest in 'mariposas nocturnas' you are of course more than happy to use our Skinner trap.
Butterflies
Moths
Birds
Other
