Tag Archives: Aberbargoed Grasslands

NFY: 2 Small butterflies

26 Friday Jun 2026

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Ten days ago, on Monday 15 June, I caught a couple of early morning trains heading up one of the south Wales valleys to meet a friend for a walk and catch up. My concern that we were probably a little late for the butterflies we might have hoped to see proved to be well founded – we would have looked earlier but I had avoided all-day walks during the heatwave and the previous week had seen a lot of rain, which is not the weather for butterfly hunting.

However, we got lucky! Just as we approached the kissing gate in to the fenced area of Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve, a small butterfly flitted up from the path ahead of us. This was my first Small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) of the year, a relatively common butterfly and not one most people would get excited about, but it’s a species that is no longer found in the coastal location where I live so I was very happy to see it. We carried on.

As we walked along the rather lumpy-bumpy, soggy-boggy tracks across the main field, my heart skipped a beat each time a little orange butterfly appeared near us. They all proved to be Large skippers, always nice to see but not what we were hoping for. Then, finally, towards the middle of the field, something bigger fluttered up and around the vegetation. Though the brief season for Marsh fritillaries had obviously already finished, we had found the last remaining Small pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria selene) of the year at this site (a fact confirmed later during a conversation with a local ecologist who told us both of the fritillary species had already finished and was surprised we had spotted anything).

Grassland pearls

07 Saturday Jun 2025

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Wednesday’s weather wasn’t the best for trying to find butterflies – a constant westerly wind was keeping the temperatures low even when the sun did manage to peak out from behind the constant parade of big clouds rolling through, but my friend Shar’s optimism proved well founded.

Though even her sharp eyes didn’t manage to spot any Marsh fritillaries (as they seem to have emerged early everywhere this year, we were probably too late for them at this site), we did find a few gorgeous Small pearl-bordered fritillaries (Boloria selene), the species I was really hoping to see that day. Initially, we thought we had two but on checking my photos at home later, I realised from the wing markings that we’d actually seen three.

As usual, we were conducting our butterfly hunt in the habitat most favoured by these fritillaries, the damp grasslands of the Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve, where the butterflies particularly enjoy flowers like common violets and bluebells, Marsh thistles and Ragged robin. The reserve is also home to a large population of orchids, both Common and Heath spotted-orchids, as well as Cross-leaved heath, Tormentil, Devil’s-bit scabious and Knapweed, amongst other wildflower species, making a wander around its fields a pleasure even when you don’t see very many butterflies.

Third time’s the charm

02 Tuesday Jul 2024

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It took three train trips up a Welsh valley and a lot of stomping around cow-pat filled fields to see my first Small pearl-bordered fritillary of the year. On the first two visits, the ‘conservation’ cattle had been in the two fields at Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve where I usually find these locally scarce butterflies, which did rather restrict my explorations – the cattle were large, had calves with them, blocked several of the paths across the fields, and there was constant loud bellowing between the herds in the two fields, which wasn’t exactly reassuring as to the safety of the situation. (One of my Twitter followers suggested I just loudly shout ‘Boo’ at them and was certain they’d then move away but every year there are news stories of walkers being trampled by cows so, as an elderly woman walking alone, I was not prepared to risk it.)

240702 small pearl bordered fritillary (1)

Fortunately, during my third visit the cattle were in adjoining fields, which meant I could more easily wander all the pathways. Unfortunately, butterfly numbers were still very low compared to previous years so, although I saw perhaps six Small pearl-bordered fritillaries in total, I was only able to get close enough to photograph one of them. And, as you can see, the photos are not my best. Still, I was pleased to see at least a few of these magical butterflies flitting about the paddocks, and can only hope their numbers will bounce back next year.

240702 small pearl bordered fritillary (2)

Western bee-fly

19 Monday Jun 2023

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I was bending down to return my camera to my backpack as I was leaving Aberbargoed Grasslands NNR last week when I noticed something small and fuzzy flying over the earth below. Not a bee, not a hoverfly, too small for the one bee-fly (Dark-bordered) I recognise but its actions were typical of that bee-fly – hovering very low to the ground, taking particular interest in a small hole in the dirt and, as I continued to watch, seeming to flick its rear end towards that hole, the usual action of a bee-fly flicking its eggs into the hole of an unfortunate mining bee. Once home, I checked online and found an excellent resource from the Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme (‘Identifying bee-flies in genus Bombylius‘, compiled by Martin C. Harvey, version 3, May 2019), which pointed me towards Western bee-fly (Bombylius canescens). My identification was later confirmed by a representative of the Scheme, and an entomologist pal, when I posted photos on Twitter. A first for me!

230619 Bombylius canescens

Grasslands wildflowers

18 Sunday Jun 2023

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Presumably as a result of our lingering hot dry weather, the wildflowers at Aberbargoed Grasslands NNR were neither as prolific nor as exuberant as I’ve seen in previous years. The Bluebells had already gone over, the Heath spotted-orchids were looking as frazzled as I was soon feeling but there were some floral highlights I enjoyed seeing.

230618 devil's-bit scabious

  • Devil’s-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis)

230618 marsh lousewort

  • Marsh lousewort (Pedicularis palustris)

230618 milkwort

  • Common Milkwort (Polygala vulgaris)

230618 ragged robin

  • Ragged-robin (Silene flos-cuculi) and butterfly friend (Small pearl-bordered fritillary)

SPBFs

17 Saturday Jun 2023

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On a very hot Thursday I made my annual pilgrimage to the Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve to pay homage to these magnificent butterflies, the Small pearl-bordered fritillaries (SPBFs).

At first I thought I was going to be disappointed, as I headed to the field where I’d found them in 2022 and saw none. In fact, numbers of all butterflies were low – not as many Small heaths as in previous years, a couple of tatty Dingy skippers, a few Large skippers, a fly-past of a Red admiral, a single Speckled wood, and one very worn Marsh fritillary.

As I was retracing my steps to check the adjacent, much larger field, I bumped into two Rangers and we chatted butterflies. One said he’d only seen low numbers this year, and assumed our very wet Spring followed by the current very hot dry period was the cause of the decline in numbers. But they had just seen one SPBF in the big field so I was a little more hopeful.

And, as you can see, I was lucky! I’m not sure why numbers rise and fall in different areas of the reserve from one year to the next (particularly as the large field suffered a serious fire in 2022) but, turns out, this year the SPBFs were mostly concentrated in the centre of that large field, where I was fortunate to see at least six, possibly more, of these gliding orange beauties!

Small heath

20 Monday Jun 2022

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As well as the Heath spotted-orchids pictured in yesterday’s blog and the Small pearl-bordered fritillaries featured last Thursday, another of the stars of the Aberbargoed Grasslands NNR is the Small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus). Fortunately, this lovely little butterfly has adapted to life in a wide variety of habitats, not just damp grasslands, so, although it is still classed as vulnerable in the most recent conservation status report released last month by Butterfly Conservation, it is in a much better position to cope with environmental changes that those butterflies that require more specialised habitats.

220620 small heath

Pearls in the grass

16 Thursday Jun 2022

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I can’t think of a nicer way to spend a day than to enjoy a lovely catch up with my friend Shar while wandering around a grasslands reserve looking for butterflies. Having a second pair of sharp eyes was also a bonus as the weather was quite dull, the butterflies few and mostly inactive. Still, we managed some good close sightings of Small pearl-bordered fritillaries (Boloria selene), a butterfly that thrives in the damp grassland habitat of Aberbargoed Grasslands NNR and, though one of the reserve’s largest fields was burnt recently, there are promising signs that both the violets required for this butterfly’s larvae and the thistles, bramble and bugle that provide food for the adults have survived the fire. Let’s hope both the plants and the butterflies bounce back from what could so easily have been a truly tragic event.

220616 small pearl-bordered fritillary

M is for Marsh fritillary

18 Saturday Dec 2021

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I was so very pleased when the Covid regulations were relaxed enough during the summer to allow me to visit Aberbargoed National Nature Reserve to see my beloved Marsh fritillaries, particularly as I hadn’t managed to see any in 2020. These are just such magical butterflies that I actually braved the train journey four times. Though I was too early on my first visit and only a few faded, jaded individuals remained when I visited for the final time in late June, I remember my mask hiding a beaming smile all the way home on those other train journeys.

211218 marsh fritillary