159/365 On the wings of the storm

08 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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#365DaysWild, British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly migration, Cathays Cemetery, Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui

There are two good things about the drenching and battering we’ve just suffered at the hands of the Spanish Storm Miguel: the first is that we really did need the rain, as the ground is already dry and cracked in places, and the second is that the strong winds may well be responsible for this glorious little lady I discovered at Cathays Cemetery today.

190608 painted lady (1)

She (or, in fact, it may be a he) is a Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), a butterfly which, according to the Butterfly Conservation website, ‘Each year … spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, recolonising mainland Europe and reaching Britain and Ireland.’ And s/he’s still looking quite pristine, despite that long journey.

190608 painted lady (2)

154/365 Frits again

03 Monday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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#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.

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

151/365 Leptastic

31 Friday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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#365DaysWild, British butterflies, British moths, Brown argus, butterflies, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Grangemoor Park, Large skipper, Latticed heath, Mother Shipton, moths

I’ve had a lucky week with my Lepidoptera sightings – that’s moths and butterflies, for those who didn’t know – and the week’s not over yet. As well as the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth on Monday and the Burnet Companions on Tuesday, yesterday I found my first (three) Large Skipper butterflies for the year at Cosmeston.

190531 large skipper (1) 190531 large skipper (2)

And, today, my wander around Grangemoor Park was something of a Lep-fest, with the first (five) Mother Shipton moths I’ve seen in 2019.

190531 mother shipton (1) 190531 mother shipton (2)

And I spotted a nice Latticed Heath moth trying to hide in the grass.

190531 latticed heath

And, then, just as I was about to head for home, I noticed something small flitting about along a side path, went to investigate and found two Brown Argus butterflies, which I have seen already this year but not in Wales. You can see why I named this blog ‘leptastic’!

190531 brown argus (1) 190531 brown argus (2)

141/365 Marsh madness

21 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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#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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140/365 The battle of the Brimstones

20 Monday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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#365DaysWild, Brimstone, Brimstone butterfly, British butterflies, butterfly, butterfly courtship, male butterflies contesting a female

This female Brimstone butterfly is minding her own business, having a drink, and has no idea she is about to be tackled from behind by two male Brimstones.

190520 brimstones (1)

After some mid-air tussling, she lands on a leaf and seems receptive to mating but which male will get to do the honours?

190520 brimstones (2)

The males engage in an aerial battle, while she waits with closed wings.

190520 brimstones (3)

The dominant male lands next to the female and seems to try to force her wings apart.

190520 brimstones (4)

She opens her wings and you can almost see the glint in his eye!

190520 brimstones (5)

But, before he has time to mount the female, the second male returns to try his luck once more. The female closes her wings and the male tries again to force them open.

190520 brimstones (6)

Now both males are holding her wings down but they continue to battle over who is dominant.

190520 brimstones (7)

More male tussling follows, at which point the female gets fed up with waiting and flies off, the two males in hot pursuit.

190520 brimstones (8)

139/365 Common and blue

19 Sunday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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#365DaysWild, British butterflies, British damselflies, Common blue, Common blue butterfly, Common blue damselfly, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park

The colour of the day at Cosmeston today was blue: not only did I find numerous Common blue butterflies (I stopped counting at 25) but I also spotted several Common blue damselflies. And here they are …

190519 common blue male

A pristine male Common blue butterfly

190519 common blue female

A no-less-pristine but not as blue Common blue female

190519 damsel common blue male

A male Common blue damselfly

190519 damsel common blue female2

Don’t be fooled by the colour differences here – mature female Common blue damselflies can take three different colour forms: blue, brown (a yellowy orange) and the typical form, which is greenish.

190519 damsel common blue newly emerged male

And, just to confuse things, the males are usually a pinkish-purple when they first emerge and take a few days to acquire their true blue colouring. You can, however, tell they’re males by the solid blue colour of their two bottom abdominal segments.

135/365 Green hairstreak et al

15 Wednesday May 2019

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Brimstone butterfly, British butterflies, Green hairstreak, Kent butterflies, Peacock butterfly, Small copper, Wall brown, Wall butterfly

I was hoping to see several different butterfly species during our days in Kent but the weather was mostly against us – we had, at various times, gale-force winds, squally rain showers, and batterings of hail, and it was generally quite cool. I was quite hopeful, though, when we arrived at Cliffe Pools on our last day, as the sun came out to play and the paths were mostly enclosed by sheltering trees and low scrub. It was by sheer chance, though, that I managed to spot my first ever Green hairstreaks – two butterflies were swirling around each other, disputing territory, and I immediately realised they were something different.

190515 green hairstreak (1)

Luckily, I kept an eye on them, as their camouflage is so good that they’re incredibly difficult to spot once they’ve landed on a bush.

190515 green hairstreak (3)

Plus, they often do this thing where they angle their wings to one side, presumably to make themselves look even more like a leaf.

190515 green hairstreak (2)

I also saw my first Wall brown butterfly for the year at Cliffe Pools – this was the species I’d seen reports of and was particularly looking for there.

190515 wall brown

At the RSPB nature reserve at Dungeness I also saw my first Small copper for 2019.

190515 small copper

And during the rest of our trip we also saw Peacock, Brimstone, Holly blue, and some of the White species – not a lot really but, though I didn’t get the quantity I expected, we certainly saw quality butterflies.

133/365 Birding on Salisbury Plain

13 Monday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, insects, nature

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#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, British butterflies, Brown argus, butterflies, Corn bunting, Great bustard, Marsh fritillary, Salisbury Plain, Small blue butterfly, White Horse

Yesterday’s Glamorgan Bird Club trip to Salisbury Plain, RSPB Winterbourne Downs and Martin Down National Nature Reserve was amazing. The weather was stunning, the bird sightings were brilliant, as were the butterflies, and, as always, the company was wonderful.

190513 Salisbury (1)

The views from high on Salisbury Plain were lovely – we even had a distant view of the White Horse, though it was a little disconcerting being so close to the military impact area and to have the serenading of the plentiful skylarks occasionally shattered by the booms of exploding shells. The joy-riding trailbikers and off-roaders weren’t exactly peaceful either.

190513 great bustard

Still, we saw some amazing birds – I managed to spot the only Great bustard of the day (you’ll just have to believe me when I say that the head in the centre of the dip in the vegetation in the photo above is definitely a Great bustard!) and we had splendid ’scope sightings of Stone curlews and chicks at Winterbourne – both bird sightings were lifers for me. My best bird photo of the day was the Corn bunting shown below – captured out of the car window as we drove by.

190513 corn bunting

We also enjoyed some superb butterfly sightings – my first Small blues and Brown Argus for the year, and, finishing on a high, my first ever (two) Marsh fritillaries at Martin Down.

190513 marsh fritillary

120/365 Butterflies like buses

30 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, spring

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#365DaysWild, British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages

I love it when a plan comes together. I’ve been thinking for a couple of days that it must be getting close to the time that the Dingy skipper butterflies (Erynnis tages) start to appear so, as it was quite warm this morning, I specifically went to Cosmeston, to a sheltered spot where I’ve seen them in the past, to look for my first Dingy of the year. It took a bit of searching, standing and watching for movement, and I was starting to think I wouldn’t find any but then, just like the proverbial buses, two came along at once.

190430 dingy skipper 1

A tip if you’re looking for these – if you see one, don’t take your eyes off it. They are so well camouflaged that they just disappear into the foliage and you can be a foot away and not see them.

190430 dingy skipper 2

105/365 Number 10

15 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, spring

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#365DaysWild, British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, Holly blue, Holly blue butterfly, Lavernock Nature Reserve

I walked almost every path, track and trail at Lavernock Nature Reserve today hoping that, in spite of the strong cold southerly wind blowing in off the sea, I might find some butterflies in the more sheltered spots … and I did – four Speckled woods, a fine male Orange-tip, and the one butterfly I had hoped most to see, my first Holly blue and my tenth butterfly species for 2019. And what a beauty it was!

190415 holly blue