On Saturday the 28th of June, myself and fellow
UK Butterflies member David M devoted an entire day at
Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire to 'survey' this beautiful World Heritage Site for southern Wales only colony of
Silver-studded Blue. The information we had to go on was rather scant, David had been here just once before and then he had only an old 1998 report and map to work to
on that occasion he saw just 8 butterflies!!! With this basic information we decided time was right to find out what the current status of this beautiful 'under recorded' butterfly actually is in Pembrokeshire (Dyfed).
Within minutes of leaving the car we had discovered our first male butterfly at the head of a gulley that meandered down to the shore, this positive start insigated further search alongside both sides of the gulley and our efforts were well rewarded with at least a dozen or so insects found including our first female
- David inspecting the Trevellans gulley
- Female Silver-studded Blue
Our search above the gulley included bracken and gorse 'heathland' which appeared quite typical of the type of habitat that
S-s B enjoys at this location, here we also counted many
Dark Green Fritillary and had to repress our natural urges to try for photographs of this splendid species and concentrate our minds solely on our target species (hard ask
). Our count continued to produce a male to female ratio of approximately 8 to 1 - many of the specimens seen were in fresh condition and suggested a recent main emergence, by mid-day our count had exceeded the forty mark and we were both encouraged and pleased
- Superbly conditioned male Silver-studded Blue
Of particular interest was a small female that we originally thought was a
Small Blue but closer inspection seemed to indicate it was probably a
Silver-studded Blue I suggested trying to get a record photograph to indicate a better sense of scale and below you can see David holding a one pence piece coin (20mm diameter) within an inch or so of the obliging insect
and note that blueish sheen!
- The smallest female S-s B either of us has seen!!!
- Another of the female S-s B counted
- Beautiful male Silver-studded Blue in closed wing pose
- Just one of the 80+ males added to our 'core area' count on Trevallens Down
After a brief respite for lunch we both remarked how kind the weather had turned out (in spite of a negative forecast
) and decided to spend some time on the coastal path above the spectacular cliffs, here we were rewarded with close up views of a young Chough (my favourite crow
) taking a bath in a puddle, the same bird was seen a little later preening and drying out on the safety of the cliff head and allowed close-up photography to commence, I've studied these lovely corvids on their coastal strongholds in Wales and inland in Snowdonia but I've not had any better views than the one this young (unringed
) bird allowed...a wonderful privilege
- Just out of the puddle...
- I'm chuffed to bits with this image...aagh!!!
Our interlude complete we decided to move a about a mile further westward along the headland and investigate a likely looking 'banked' habitat, here we moved past our hundred mark for the day and it was grins all round
I cannot remember doing any 'survey' in a more beautiful location, there was so much to take in and enjoy as well as the target species of butterfly
- The stunningly beautiful Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Around teatime we moved onto some other wonderful locations Bosherton Lily Ponds and Broad Haven where we 'discovered' a discrete colony of about 9/10
Silver-studded Blue this discovery is at least 2 or 3 miles away from the Trevallens Downs and perhaps 2 miles from Stackpole where we understand another colony has historically been recorded from (again no further info available as yet - but I will investigate
)
- Bosherton Lily Ponds
In conclusion a very successful days 'survey' with at least 110
Silver-studded Blue recorded, the bonus was the superb scenery and an unexpectedly good days weather, we headed home very contented butterfly enthusiasts
Bill
"When in doubt...venture out"
One good thing about the lack of LBs at Collard is that next year everyone will hopefully head to Daneways and then I can have Collard to myself 
