Butterfly species 20 for 2024 took some finding. I usually see a few of these little beauties when I visit Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve looking for fritillaries but, perhaps due to our exceedingly wet spring, butterflies everywhere have been thin on the ground this year. So, when my second visit to the grasslands failed to turn up any butterflies at all, I decided to try the adjacent coal spoil tip, thinking that the shingle and scree surface might be both drier and warmer. And so it proved. And there, in a small sheltered area, I found my first three Small heath butterflies of the year.