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Tuesday 22nd March – All the adult hibernators….

Over 50 individual butterflies seen at Cwm Ivy today in 14c temperatures, lightish winds and clear blue skies.

The majority were Brimstones, with my official count reaching a staggering 39!! This site is excellent for them as there are damp, lightly wooded areas all over the place where the males constantly patrol.

There were 5 Commas and 5 Peacocks. This Peacock greeted me as I stepped out of my car:
This second one proved too tempting whilst posing on a bramble leaf:
Two Red Admirals were about; this one was basking in the woodland glade:
There was even a Small Tortoiseshell flying through this wooded area, which is quite unusual. I usually only find the odd one out on the dunes.

That's an amazing Brimstone count for one day, David, we're only seeing a couple per day so far.

Thanks, Mike. It's a perfect spot for them - elsewhere I generally see fewer than a dozen.

Wednesday 23rd March – Holly Blue and cuckoo flower….

Another beautiful morning and having arrived at Lower Kilvey Hill it didn’t take long for me to see my first Holly Blue of the season. Unfortunately, it flew into a large evergreen and I couldn’t get an image, so I went into the adjacent cemetery where I was surprised to see a fair amount of cuckoo flower in bloom amongst the graves:
Plenty of Brimstones flying around (18 in total) as well as half a dozen Small Tortoiseshells. There were 4 Small Whites and a Peacock too.
After an hour and a quarter, I moved on to Crymlyn Burrows on the coast. The open dunes aren’t the best place to look for butterflies in the month of March, but the sheltered, wooded areas were quite productive, with 14 Brimstones, 8 Small Tortoiseshells, 6 Commas, 3 Peacocks and 2 Small Whites recorded.

Thursday 24th March – Strange how things go….

Finally, the wind speed dropped to a mere 7mph and I felt certain that butterfly numbers would be huge at Cwm Ivy today.

Bizarrely however, they were well down on the 50+ seen at the same site two days previously, with only Brimstones making it to double figures (15).

Perhaps the benign conditions encouraged a little more dispersal away from the sheltered glade. Commas, Red Admirals, Peacocks and Speckled Woods could only muster 9 between them, with the fresh Specklie being the only butterfly to encourage me to get my camera out:
I was surprised not to see any Holly Blues given the appearance of my first at Kilvey Hill the previous day. They must surely be imminent here.

Does anywhere down your way look likely to be good tomorrow, it’s my last proper day off in a while but the temperatures look v cold

Given the strong winds and suppressed temperatures, Owen, I think the safe bet is to wait a little while.

Friday 25th March – Fine weather continues….

T-shirt weather again today, with temperatures reaching 15c by the afternoon. Once again, my first destination was Lower Kilvey Hill and Dan-y-Graig cemetery, where Small Whites (7) pushed Brimstone (8) for commonest butterfly.

The most pleasing sighting, however, was this male Holly Blue, spotted happily nectaring away on a dandelion:
I noticed too that a different kind of blue was beginning to reveal itself:
I moved on to Crymlyn Burrows after an hour and a quarter, where I managed to photograph a female Brimstone for the first time this year:
Other species seen were Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma & Speckled Wood.

Saturday 26th March – Yellow and Blue….

Today, it was the Brimstone & Holly Blue show at Cwm Ivy on the NW Gower coast. In a little over 2 hours, 37 Brimstones and 18 Holly Blues were recorded, although the latter were extremely hyperactive and were barely settling at all:
3 Commas were seen, including this one resting on a tree trunk:
Singletons of Peacock, Red Admiral and Small White were recorded, whilst 2 Speckled Woods were flying in the wooded glade, with this one allowing an opportunity for an underside image:

Lovely shots David, I've to catch up to you your shots of the Peacock and the Speckie are great , I've seen the Speckie when I was taking shots of the Brimstone but it never landed near me, early days Goldie

If you've seen Orange Tip, then it is I who have to catch you, Goldie.

Sunday 27th March – Small Coppers on the wing….

With conditions remaining mild, sunny and calm, I set off for Lower Kilvey Hill and Dan-y-Graig cemetery this morning. There were a couple of Small Tortoiseshells and a Brimstone to greet me, but it was here, at the eastern corner of the cemetery, that I got an unexpected surprise:
A Small Copper was fluttering round the cuckoo flower, and it then quickly settled on an ornament on one of the graves:
This is the earliest, by 8 days, that I’ve ever seen this species:
Walking back to the other side of the site, I came across another one:
I had hoped to perhaps see an Orange Tip on the swathes of cuckoo flower. I certainly didn’t expect for them to be absent and Small Coppers to be present!

Other species seen were Small White, Comma, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Holly Blue.

Sunday 27th March cont… – Cwm Ivy extension….

With the clocks having gone forward an hour, I felt there was time to drive to Cwm Ivy to see whether any Orange Tips had emerged there.
Holly Blues were once again numerous, with around three dozen seen. Their levels of hyperactivity, however, were such that getting images was nigh on impossible. This was the best I could do:
Brimstones numbered around 30 or so, whilst Speckled Wood, Comma and Peacock were also present in small numbers.

The highlight though was the sudden appearance of my first Large White of the year in the glade. Amazingly, he stopped and basked for about a minute roughly 10 yards away from where I was standing:
A Red Admiral was seen too, meaning that for the first time ever I had seen 10 different butterfly species on a March day. Sadly, Orange Tip was not amongst them, which is quite a puzzle given that I have seen them in the last week of March three times in the last four years.

Monday 28th March – Getting on top of the Blues….

Slightly cooler today, but still sunny, so I thought I’d revisit Cwm Ivy in an attempt to photograph potentially becalmed Holly Blues. There were certainly plenty of them about – 37 was my count. However, they were seldom settling so I had to be patient:
The far end of the glade was where most of the action was:
This was also where I found this female:
Other species seen were Brimstone, Speckled Wood, Peacock, Comma, Red Admiral and a male Green Veined White, my first of the year.

I must award you a for that female Holly Blue shot, and the male
is not bad either. This is another species I've been looking out for, but nothing yet.

Stay well,
Trevor.

I think I need to get myself to South Wales!

Great shots again

Lovely Holly Blue photos David, especially that female.

None out yet around my patch and it looks like I will have to wait until we get past another cold spell.

Cheers,

Neil.

trevor wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:11 amI must award you a for that female Holly Blue shot, and the male
is not bad either. This is another species I've been looking out for, but nothing yet.

Very lucky to have such a large, reliable colony close to where I live, Trevor. I guess this species is easy when you regularly have several dozen flying around in a small area.

Good morning David. I am extremely envious of both your sightings of Holly Blue and your stunning photographs of them - one in particular. If the weather ever improves here I may well be able to rectify one of those.

SarahM wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 2:59 pmI think I need to get myself to South Wales!

If you ever do, Sarah, I will happily give you the exact location.

Neil Freeman wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 10:12 am Lovely Holly Blue photos David, especially that female.
None out yet around my patch and it looks like I will have to wait until we get past another cold spell.

It’s frustrating when the weather stymies things just as they were about to seriously get going, Neil. There’s nothing we can do about it except to look forward to when conditions improve.

I’m sure you’ll see Holly Blues soon enough.

Thank you David.

I'm definitely feeling a bit of for your Holly Blue patch, David. My own favoured spot is only just stuttering into life, and you're well into double figures! Nice shots too.

Dave

Pauline wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 6:23 amGood morning David. I am extremely envious of both your sightings of Holly Blue and your stunning photographs of them - one in particular. If the weather ever improves here I may well be able to rectify one of those.

Thank you, Pauline. It's never welcome when the weather takes a turn for the worse, especially when it comes at a time when butterfly emergence is about to explode. As ever, we will have to wait for things to change and when they do, you'll get your chance with those Holly Blues.

millerd wrote: ↑Fri Apr 08, 2022 8:57 am I'm definitely feeling a bit of for your Holly Blue patch, David. My own favoured spot is only just stuttering into life, and you're well into double figures! Nice shots too.

Won’t be long before the green tables are turned, Dave. No-one can compete with you for Holly Blues over the course of a season.

Tuesday 29th March – Persistence….

Despite hazy cloud and fairly cool temperatures, I made a last minute decision to revisit Cwm Ivy in the early afternoon to photograph Holly Blues in co-operative mode.

Pleased to say it paid off. I arrived just as a cloudy spell developed and by sheer good fortune there were two female Holly Blues basking low down in the wooded glade within 10m of each other:

Conditions slowly deteriorated shortly after, meaning that only 5 Holly Blues were seen along with 2 Commas and half a dozen Speckled Woods.

Stunning shots of that female Holly Blue David, particularly the third one down.
They really do perform at that site!.

Great stuff,
Trevor.

More stunning images David. Not always an easy butterfly to photograph well but you do it again and again