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 We took the drivable track that enters the Sierra de Las Nieves natural park from the western perimeter on the Ronda road. It heads about 10km in before reaching "Los Quejigales" picnic area. We were pleasantly surprised at how well the mainly gravel tracks have been maintained especially after the heavy spring rains. Cistus crispus which is a low shrub with large deep pink flowers stands out brightly against the drying grasses. We only travelled a few hundred metres before stopping to watch a Booted eagle that was carrying something in its talons. Whilst we watched a second eagle grappled, trying to steal the meal which dropped to the ground followed closely by one of the birds.
We set off again with our next stop being at a marked circular walk named “Sendero Conejeras”. It is an easy walk and took us longer than the suggested hour as there was so much to see and photograph.
Beetles and butterflies added colour to the attractive array of late spring flowers. Iberian marbled white butterflies were by far the most numerous with occasional Black–veined white, Meadow brown, Clouded yellow, Wall brown and Cleopatra flitting through the low oak woodlands. A large man-made water holding pool for emergency fire use was quite noisy with Iberian water frogs Pelophylax perezi (formerly Rana perezi) singing loudly at the edge, Common swifts were skimming the surface for a drink and dragonflies were zipping through the air catching small insects on the wing.
The broad track was easy to walk with occasional vistas opening up across the tops of the evergreen oaks so that we could see large areas of the park before us. The occasional Large Psammodromus scurried away and many Jays squawked as they kept just ahead of our movements. We saw several of the unusual Thread-tailed lacewing insects flying low to the ground in the dappled shade of the trees. A stretch of dried stream bed was very popular with butterflies and here we also saw Swallowtail, Grayling, Spanish gatekeeper, Cardinal, Brimstone and Marsh fritillary. Nearing the end of this walk we crossed a small meadow area of mixed grasses, Thymes, Yellow flax and Scabious and managed to get close up view of Libelloides baeticus a yellow, white and black coloured flying insect with intricately veined wings.
We carried on driving along the track stopping frequently to see different wildflowers which change with the altitude and terrain. After a climb through a rocky area the oaks are replaced by pines and the scrub is dominated by roses, honeysuckles and hawthorns bearing mistletoe (the red berried form). The picnic area of Los Quejigales has a large parking area along side a now disused barbeque building. (Closed due to the fire hazard). Walking again  we passed around the road barrier and were entertained by groups of butterflies feeding eagerly off two forms of scabious. As well as those already mentioned there were several very bright Burnets and a beige mottled butterfly that we have not managed to photograph before, The Hermit, posing on a rock in the image to the left. We disturbed a Bedriaga’s skink below the shady pine trees whilst searching for the one of the many insects making a churring sound from the grasses. They turned out to be young cicadas that must have recently emerged from their larval stage under ground and not yet reached the trees.
Further along this track the large, darker green trees that are often gnarled are the rare and protected Spanish Fir (Abies pinsapo). Scanning the surrounding hillsides these trees are visible due to their distinct dark colour and shape. The birds around us included Wood pigeon, Rock bunting, Crossbill and Jays. We returned by the same track with memory cards on two cameras bursting at the seams.
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