David M

[David M]

Saturday 13th August – Excellent numbers….

Another roaster today, so I thought I’d visit a relatively damp site to reassure myself that the colour green still existed!

Kenfig dunes is only about a 50 minute drive from my home and is unusual in that it is a dune site that regularly gets waterlogged given the clay sub-stratum.

The ground had hardened up everywhere, although around the bird hide near the lake, the water table is quite high, meaning that it was still quite lush:

There were plenty of butterflies in this area, with several Wall Browns catching my eye:

Then, as I was walking down the track I suddenly disturbed a Clouded Yellow, which promptly flew some distance over the vegetation meaning I lost sight of it behind the scrub. I walked round to where I’d last seen it and then waited for 15 minutes but was unable to relocate it.

I felt confident I might see more as I went onto the drier part of the dune system:

In the lower parts of the site, there were copious amounts of wild mint in flower, and these were literally thronged with butterflies, mainly Meadow Browns and Common Blues which, together, must have numbered into four figures:

The only times I’ve seen these numbers have been on occasions when I’ve visited sites in England such as Aston Rowant, Daneway Banks & Bernwood Forest. It really was a pleasure to see so many.

Amongst the commoner species were a handful of Graylings indulging themselves:

There were Small Whites, Painted Ladies, Small Heaths & Hedge Browns flying in this cauldron, to the point where I was glad to reach the seashore for a 10 minute break!!

I kept my eyes out for anything yellow amongst these huge numbers, but unfortunately was not able to track down another crocea. There have been quite a few reported in south Wales this last couple of weeks so hopefully there will be other opportunities.

[David M]

Lovely shots David of the Brown Hair Streaks especially the open winged one, it's just another on the list I've got to get yet , they don't seem to be near me in Kent, I'll have to venture further a field

Thanks, Goldie. Yes, Kent isn't a major hotspot for Brown Hairstreak, sadly, but you really must see this butterfly. It's something quite special.

[Goldie M]

Hi! David, Kent is great for lots of Butterflies and I've yet to find places where the WHS is also quite a few Butterflies that or on the West coast and further South we don't seem to get here, BHS being another also PBF /SPB, I'll have to do some coach trips next year I think Goldie

[David M]

Fabulous shots in a year when it has been anything but easy to find this species

Thanks, Pauline. They seem to be doing okay in SW Wales this year - saw 7 females last Thursday which is my joint second best return.

Sunday 14th August – Nothing extraordinary…

Another hot day, so I thought I’d get out early and go looking for Clouded Yellows at Crymlyn Burrows on the Swansea coast.

No joy, sadly, but once again there was a three figure number of Meadow Browns, with a dozen or so Common Blues. This one was a little unusual, practically all brown with pale markings near the hindwing margins:

A small number of Hedge Browns were still going, along with a handful of Small Whites and Small Heaths.

Speckled Wood and Green Veined White were also recorded, as was this Small Copper:

Heatwave due to end tomorrow, which is a bit of a relief. 30c+ in Swansea is something we’re not used to!!

[David M]

Friday 19th August – A new site…

Having stayed overnight in Abergavenny, I reckoned it was worth a detour to the Cardiff coast to visit a site where I’d heard at least 5 Clouded Yellows had been recorded in the preceding few days.

That site was Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, near Lavernock, and there are two meadows, the east and west paddocks, which are managed specifically for wildlife:

The habitat looked ideal for Clouded Yellows, but despite spending two hours there, I didn’t find any. However, there were getting on for 200 Meadow Browns:

Common Blues hit three figures as well:

A handful of Small Whites were around, including this well behaved female:

Just 4 Hedge Browns, all females, and 3 Small Coppers:

There were also 3 Speckled Woods seen, with this one posing wings closed:

Solitary Brown Argus and Painted Lady were the other species seen:

[Goldie M]

Hi! David, your first shot of the Small Copper looks different to the other one, it's almost yellow compared to the darker Orange of the other one, could it be ab or is it just weathered
The Common Blue looks lovely on the white flower Goldie

[David M]

Thanks, Goldie. May be a trick of the light with the Coppers. One was taken in bright sunshine, the other in cloud. Some of the Common Blues were fresh, so they looked lovely everywhere.

Thursday 25th August – Brown Hairstreaks…

I thought I’d repeat last year’s experiment by visiting the Brown Hairstreak site at West Williamston, Pembs, on the first fine, sunny day after a series of cloudy ones.

My rationale is that female betulae will be keener to descend to lay their eggs after a bout of inactivity brought on by poor weather. Last year this paid off with 7 females seen, and history repeated itself this year with another 7 recorded, and I’m confident I could have topped this had the hyperactive horse in the top meadow not restricted my time in there to 10 minutes.

The first was seen at around 11.20am resting on some hawthorn, but it soon came down and was a fairly ragged individual:

The second one was seen 25 minutes later, just as I was coming back out from the limestone ridge at the end of the site. This one was in good order:

She did a fair bit of ‘ovi-posturing’ as I watched her:

About 15 minutes later, I found a third one about 100m back towards the foreshore gate:

The fourth one was seen in an overgrown area in the first meadow down from entrance gate to the site and I wasn’t able to get an image, but after returning to the car park field, I noticed another fluttering around the nearby blackthorn suckers. I went in and managed 5 minutes with her, as well as another Brown Hairstreak that was also active in the same area:

By this time, the horse in the paddock had decided to wander over, leaving me with little choice but to leave the field (a 70 stone herbivore following you around like a limpet isn’t conducive to butterfly watching). However, as I arrived at the other gate by my car, I spotted my seventh and final betulae flying low down in the grass near the fence. She briefly paused on some bramble leaves a few metres away from me:

I also found 4 eggs whilst walking around the site, including this double:

With a run of decent weather on its way, hopefully the females will get the opportunity to lay plenty of eggs on the blackthorn. I will return in mid-September to see how many I can find.

[David M]

Thursday 25th August cont… – Other species…

Although Brown Hairstreak was the main target, there are always plenty of other species at this site. The best one on this occasion was undoubtedly the female Clouded Yellow found nectaring from the asters on the foreshore:

The limestone ridge is at the far end of the site, and several Common Blues were flying there:

Small Whites numbered around 50, with 5 Green Veined Whites also seen:

There were 4 female Hedge Browns still hanging on:

Small Tortoiseshells made it to double figures:

There were 15 Speckled Woods, 4 Painted Ladies, 2 Red Admirals and singleton Meadow Brown and Silver Washed Fritillary.

I was also surprised by the appearance of an extremely large cat! I can only presume this was somebody’s pet Maine Coon prowling the fields:

[Goldie M]

Hi! David, it looks more like a wild cat Love the Cloudy with the open wings, rare to get a shot like that. Goldie

[trevor]

Lovely BH and CY shots David, the open wing BH especially.
That beautiful cat does indeed look like a Maine Coon.

Trevor.

[David M]

Saturday 27th August – Another crocea…

A sunny, warm day over Bank Holiday weekend in August is not the ideal time to venture to the Gower coast, but the lure of finding Clouded Yellows on the dunes proved too strong, although I made sure I arrived by 10am to avoid the rush.

I checked out the Broad Leaved Everlasting Pea plants near the entrance, just in case there was a freakish Long Tailed Blue, but the only Lycaenids were of the Common variety, although one or two Small Whites were taking an interest in it:

I’d walked to the last section where the valerian grows profusely, and spent a little time watching the Painted Ladies, Meadow Browns and Whites nectaring in this area:

Suddenly, on a clump of valerian next to the beach I spotted something yellow:

Unlike the one seen in Pembrokeshire two days earlier, this female was in mint condition and I spent a good 20 minutes watching her flying around, always returning to valerian – nothing else interested her.

There were also three Large Whites:

Two Speckled Woods were seen near the light woodland, whilst singleton Small Copper and Small Tortoiseshell completed the list for the day.

[trevor]

Excellent Clouded Yellow shots David. The slightly over exposed first image has created
( for me ) a very fine picture . Good to see you enjoying a rewarding late Summer.

Trevor.

[David M]

Thanks, Trevor. Photographing them in flight is tricky and they reflect a lot of light so they're hard to get right in the air.

Monday 29th August – Bank Holiday at Kenfig…

Another beautiful, sunny day meant I headed out for Kenfig dunes, arriving just after 9.30am. The first thing that struck me as I was walking into the site was how clear the atmosphere was. Normally in summer there is a haze but looking at Swansea from the other side of the bay provided a real sharp vista:

When I was last here on 13th August, I saw over 1,000 butterflies. The passage of time has seen numbers drop off considerably though – I saw less than a fifth of that today.

Small Whites were commonest, with about 60 seen, with Common Blues not far behind. Meadow Browns, however, had dropped from several hundred to just 16, almost all faded females enjoying their last days.

Painted Lady numbers were good, with 25 recorded:

Red Admirals hit a dozen:

There were also 2 Commas, found almost side by side in a small cutting in the woodland:

Two Small Heaths were still about:

The meadows in the dunes were still replete with flowering mint, and quite a bit of scabious was present in one area:

I had hoped I might find a Clouded Yellow or two, but the only other species about were Small Copper, Large White and Green Veined White. Hedge Browns have seemingly now disappeared.

[Pauline]

Well done with that open-winged shot David. Despite the numbers I have to practice on I haven't achieved anything near that standard. I tried with the Helice yesterday and ended up with a blurred mess that resembled a chess board Still, another reason to go back .............

[David M]

Thanks, Pauline. It's not easy - unless you've got top quality equipment you really need to catch them in a glide, which Clouded Yellows rarely do. Standing above them as they come into land is the #1 option

Tuesday 30th August – Back on the Gower…

Cwm Ivy is mainly a site I visit in spring but given the wind had picked up from yesterday I thought I’d take advantage of the greater protection this location provides and see what was about.

On the walk down from the car park, there is a scrubby, damp area where wild mint flourishes. I was amazed to find 6 Small Coppers enjoying this nectar source:

The woodland glade was mainly in shadow, but at the far end where the sun was striking the lower part of the trees, there were serious numbers of Red Admirals on the ivy that was growing up the trunks:

One Comma was amongst them:

A handful of Admirals were coming to rest on the greenery at ground level:

This female Large White also basked here for a few minutes:

There were quite a few Speckled Woods in the glade, including this pale individual:

Out on the dunes, there were 30ish Common Blues, a couple of dozen Meadow Browns, similar numbers of Small Whites and 13 Small Heaths:

I stumbled upon 2 Brown Argus as well:

Other species seen were a couple of Painted Ladies and a Green Veined White.

[David M]

Friday 2nd September – Nectar sources…

Another very pleasant morning saw me drive down to Port Eynon again.

I got an early surprise when a Peacock flew right by me. Sadly, it kept going and I had to make do with the Small Whites (which were numerous), Common Blues, Painted Ladies and three Meadow Browns that were flying in the dunes, although this Small Copper, one of two seen, was worthy of an image:

I was delighted to find two more Clouded Yellows, although both were males which meant getting close to them was quite tricky:

At this time of year, butterflies are more eager than ever to feed from nectar-rich flowers, and I headed up to the churchyard in the village where there are multiple valerian blooms. The main thing of note was the huge numbers of Painted Ladies taking advantage of this bonanza; certainly well over 50 of them in a relatively small area:

There were also a handful of Red Admirals, a few Large Whites and a single Small Tortoiseshell:

Other species seen were two Speckled Woods and a Green Veined White. There were also around half a dozen hummingbird hawk moths.

[trevor]

That's one of the Autumn spectacles David, Red Admirals on ivy blossom.
It's great to watch them competing with hundreds of Ivy Bees.
Good to see your late Small Tortoiseshell.

Trevor.

[essexbuzzard]

Nice set of images there, David. The migrants have largely eluded me, and seem to have headed south and west. Mind you, there are very few nectar sources left in this area.

I’m hoping to see a Clouded Yellow this weekend!

[David M]

Friday 2nd September – Back yard surprises…

After returning from Port Eynon, I settled down to have lunch but noticed a small butterfly fluttering around my patio. I was delighted to find it was the first Small Copper I've ever seen in my garden (and I've been living here nearly 9 years):

Even better, half an hour or so later, was this Clouded Yellow that appeared in my neighbour's garden round the back from me:

[David M]

That's one of the Autumn spectacles David, Red Admirals on ivy blossom. It's great to watch them competing with hundreds of Ivy Bees. Good to see your late Small Tortoiseshell.

Thanks, Trevor. Red Admirals seem obsessed by ivy blossom. There haven't been that many until lately, but I expect in a month's time they'll be practically the only species hanging on.

Nice set of images there, David. The migrants have largely eluded me, and seem to have headed south and west. Mind you, there are very few nectar sources left in this area.

I’m hoping to see a Clouded Yellow this weekend!

Keep at it, Mark. Until temperatures drop there should still be a few around.