Monday 27th March – Cathartic afternoon….
After leaving Kilvey Hill, I tried to break my Comma duck by spending half an hour wandering around the wild area near to my old workplace.
This species is usually reliable here but on this occasion they were absent, with the only butterflies seen being 5 male Brimstones.
So, given that the clear sky seemed to be holding, I drove to Cwm Ivy where I eventually found 6 Commas, although they were abnormally camera shy, with me only being able to get images of two of them:
I’d seen a Red Admiral near the entrance to the site and there were two more in the woodland glade jockeying for prime position:
The one pictured is the same individual I saw here on 19th March, so it’s had eight days in a location replete with hungry, insectivorous birds. What a survivor:
Half a dozen Peacocks were recorded, including this beauty:
Surprise of the afternoon was my first Small White of the year. Luckily, this male was happy to settle a few times:
Easily the commonest species though was Brimstone, with a healthy 35 seen. They seem to never be more numerous than in the latter half of March round here. By late April you are lucky to rack up more than half a dozen:
I briefly saw a Small Tortoiseshell jousting with a Peacock on the sandy pathway leading to the dunes, meaning that 6 species were observed in total, which goes some way to make up for what has been a terrible month of March.
The site itself doesn't seem too far behind in terms of the vegetation. At the end of March, I wouldn't expect too much in the way of colour, although that will change over the next two or three weeks.
Goldie 
