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Tag Archives: Aberbargoed Grasslands

172/365 Flitillaries

21 Friday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, Aberbargoed Grasslands, British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, fritillaries, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Summer solstice

My mis-spelling of the word fritillaries is deliberate – the darn things never keep still. They’re either constantly flitting from place to place at a great rate of knots or, when they do settle, they either disappear into the long grass so you can’t find them or they perch on a flower to refuel but never stop flapping their wings for a moment.

190621 small pearl-bordered fritillary (1)

Those are my excuses for the Small pearl-bordered fritillaries in today’s photos being out of focus and/or obscured by blades of grass!

190621 small pearl-bordered fritillary (2)

Still, I spent a glorious few hours with them, and their cousins the Marsh fritillaries, at Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve. A little patience was required, as huge menacing clouds kept rolling over but, in the gaps between, when the sun came out, so did the butterflies.

190621 small pearl-bordered fritillary (3)

It was a magical way to spend the summer solstice!

190621 small pearl-bordered fritillary (4)

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154/365 Frits again

03 Monday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, Aberbargoed Grasslands, British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, Marsh fritillary, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

The weather wasn’t ideal for my visit to Aberbargoed grasslands today, with little sun and a fresh breeze, but I thought I’d give it a try as the rest of the week is looking little better – in fact, it’s looking downright miserable, with rain forecast most days. To see butterflies, you really need sunshine and warmth.

190603 marsh fritillary (1)

Moaning aside, as you can tell from my photos, I did manage to find some Marsh fritillaries – I counted at least 25, some of which were already looking a little worn from their flying about, bumping into plants, and their interactions with others of their kind.

190603 marsh fritillary (2)

What I was really hoping to find were Small pearl-bordered fritillaries, as they’ve been seen at this site in the past week and they would have been a new sighting for me for the year. And I did see some – two, perhaps three – but they were either distant or flying rapidly past. They did, however, look much more orange in flight than the Marsh frits and their flight pattern was different. Luckily, I managed to grab one photo, with both a Small pearl-bordered fritillary and a Marsh fritillary on the same flower. It’s a heavy crop but I still like it.

190603 apb and marsh fritillaries

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145/365 An orchid update

25 Saturday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aberbargoed Grasslands, Bee orchid, British orchids, Common spotted orchid, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Early purple orchid, Heath spotted-orchid, Lavernock Nature Reserve, native orchids

As more and more orchids are now appearing, I thought I’d post a few photos of those I’ve seen so far this year. The first were the aptly named Early purples (Orchis macula), though this year they were even earlier than usual I’m told – I spotted these beauties at Lavernock Nature Reserve on 23 April.

190525 early purple orchids

Next up were these pretty little Heath spotted-orchids (Dactylorhiza maculata) found growing at the Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve on 15 and 21 March, when I was visiting for the Marsh fritillaries.

190525 heath spotted-orchid

During Monday’s wander at Lavernock I spotted the first open flower of a Common spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsia) and on Thursday, 23 May, I found the first couple of these at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.

190525 common spotted lavernock190525 common spotted cosmeston

And today’s delightful discovery, also at Cosmeston, was my first Bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) for 2019. I look forward to the warm summer days when the fields at Cosmeston are awash with (mostly Common spotted) orchids – they’re a joy to behold!

190525 bee

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141/365 Marsh madness

21 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, Aberbargoed Grasslands, British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, Euphydryas aurinia, Marsh fritillary

If it is possible to have a favourite butterfly (are they not all gorgeous in their own way?), then my new favourite butterfly is the Marsh fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia). I spotted my first just nine days ago, at Martin Down National Nature Reserve in Hampshire, and then saw nine more last Tuesday at the Aberbargoed Grasslands Nature Reserve here in south Wales. And today I returned to Aberbargoed and spent three wonderful hours wandering the grasslands, feasting my eyes on these magnificent creatures. Pure bliss!

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Aberbargoed Grasslands revisited

06 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Aberbargoed Grasslands, British butterflies, British moths, Burnet companion, butterflies, Common purple & gold, Large skipper, moths, Riband wave, Ringlet, Silver Y, Small heath, Small skipper

On Wednesday I made my second visit to Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve with my friend Sharon. Last time we dipped on seeing the Marsh fritillaries because it was too overcast; this time, we dipped again because the recent spell of hot dry weather has meant their season has finished for the year. Still, we have now walked most of the paths around the reserve so we’ll know exactly where to look next year. And, though we missed out the fritillaries, there were still plenty of other butterflies and moths to charm and delight us.

180705 1 small heath

Small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)

180705 2 Ringlet

Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)

180705 3 Small skipper

Small skipper (Lycaena phlaeas)

180705 4 Large skipper

Large skipper (Lycaena dispar)

180705 5 Burnet companion

Burnet companion (Euclidia glyphica)

180705 6 Pyrausta purpuralis

Common purple & gold (Pyraustra purpuralis)

180705 7 Riband wave

Riband wave (Idaea aversata)

180705 8 Silver Y

Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

 

 

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Aberbargoed Grasslands

08 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, parks

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Aberbargoed Grasslands, British butterflies, British moths, Common blue butterfly, Large white butterfly, Long-horn moth, Nemophora degeerella, Small copper

On day 8 of #30DaysWild I paid my first visit to the Aberbargoed Grasslands, with my friend Sharon. We were hoping to spot some of the Marsh fritillaries this National Nature Reserve is known for but, sadly, we didn’t even see one. Perhaps the overcast weather had sent them into hiding. The good news is that I saw my first Small copper butterfly for the year, we saw a small number of Common blue butterflies and a few whites. We also spotted several moths, the most spectacular of which was a group of five male long-horn moths, Nemophora degeerella. They were dazzling, even on a grey day, and just look at the length of those horns!

180608 1 Small copper

Small copper butterfly

180608 2 Common blue

A Common blue butterfly feeding on meadow thistles

180608 Large white

Large white butterfly

180608 4 Nemophora degeerella

A long-horn moth, Nemophora degeerella

180608 5 Nemophora degeerella

Look at the length of those horns!

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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