Graylings are go

08 Friday Jul 2022

Tags

Aberbargoed spoil tip, British butterflies, butterfly, Grayling, Grayling butterfly

I think I picked the hottest day of the year so far to head to the top of the Aberbargoed coal spoil tip to look for Graylings but it was worth every drop of perspiration to spend time with these gorgeous butterflies.

220708 grayling (1)

I hadn’t realised before yesterday how territorial Graylings are. They are so well disguised that it’s almost impossible to see them so, as I wandered carefully across the slope of coal spoil, they would fly up almost from under my feet. Then they would land, I’d try to get close for a photo, and they would immediately flit up and around, buzzing me, even landing on me (my shoes twice, see the image below), as if saying ‘this is my place, you’re not welcome’. It wasn’t just the intrusive human they were bombarding – they were defending their territories against each other too. Fascinating to watch.

220708 grayling (2)

G is for Grayling

12 Sunday Dec 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, butterflies on coal tips, butterfly, Grayling

Though I was delighted and encouraged by the number of Grayling butterflies I saw on a coal tip up the Welsh valleys back in July, my experience does not reflect the reality of the present situation for the Grayling in Britain. Butterfly Conservation has recently released its ‘New Red List of British butterflies’ and, unfortunately, the status of the Grayling has moved from vulnerable to endangered. What my sighting tells me, though, is how truly important the former coal spoil tips are. They are often dismissed as useless brownfield sites but, in fact, former industrial sites like these are often rich in biodiversity and need to be preserved.

211212 grayling

Graylings galore

16 Friday Jul 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aberbargoed coal tip, Aberbargoed spoil tip, British butterflies, Grayling, Grayling butterfly

Yesterday I almost melted with the searing heat but I have only myself to blame for choosing one of the hottest days of the year to go looking for butterflies on top of a colliery spoil tip. And it was worth every drop of perspiration as I saw more Graylings than I’ve ever seen before – at least 20, probably more.

210715 grayling (1)

The wing markings of these butterflies is so cryptic that they almost disappear into the landscape. Even when I watched closely where they landed, I sometimes couldn’t find them again until they moved. They’re magicians!

210715 grayling (2)

Oh, and just a heads up for those of you in Britain – today marks the start of Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count 2021, a three-week period when we are all urged to record our sightings to help with the conservation of our butterfly species. You can read all about it on Butterfly Conservation’s website.

210715 grayling (3)

212/366 A tip top butterfly

30 Thursday Jul 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Aberbargoed coal tip, British butterflies, butterflying, coal spoil biodiversity, Grayling

I had big plans to see more of Britain’s butterfly species this year but, in the immortal words of Robbie Burns, plans and schemes ‘gang aft agley’. The Covid 19 lockdown put a stop to all the butterflying plans I was hatching and I’ve missed seeing an awful lot of species this year. But, yesterday, I did manage one more species for 2020, that master of camouflage, the Grayling.

200730 grayling (1)

I have a friend who lives not far from Aberbargoed, with its Grasslands National Nature Reserve and the neighbouring coal spoil tip, so I was able to combine a delightful socially distanced walk with some butterflying. It was a little late in the month – last year I visited the tip in mid July – but we got lucky, with wonderful close sightings of just one individual.

200730 grayling (2)

In his Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies, Peter Eeles notes that the Grayling was once known as the Rock Underwing, a testament to its ability to blend in perfectly with the surrounding earth and pebbles when it lowers its forewings. Fortunately, when the Grayling is feeding, it raises its forewings and we were able to see more clearly its two eye spots.

200730 grayling (3)

194/365 On the top of the tip

13 Saturday Jul 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, Aberbargoed spoil tip, British butterflies, butterfly, colliery spoil tip, Grayling

The coal-mining spoil tip in Aberbargeod was once 400 feet high, a disaster waiting to happen, until the tragedy at Aberfan in 1966 (when 144 people, mostly children in the town’s primary school, were killed by the local spoil tip sliding down the valley) caused an urgent re-evaluation of the dangers of these tips. Aberbargoed’s was reduced in size, walkways and culverts were built around it, trees have been planted on it, and it’s now a wondrous place for biodiversity.

190713 grayling (1)

It is, however, still a steep huffing-puffing walk to the top on a hot summer’s day, particularly when, as I did yesterday, you walk straight up, instead of using one of the longer zigzagging paths. But it was worth every drop of sweat I exuded as, not only are the panoramic views superb, but Aberbargoed tip is also home to a colony of Grayling butterflies.

190713 grayling (2)

Graylings prefer dry, well-drained locations with sparse vegetation, so a spoil tip is the perfect spot for them. And, as they like to hunker down with the bright eye spots on their forewings well hidden, the mottled colouring on their hind wings means they’re incredibly well camouflaged on the stone chippings.

190713 grayling (3)

I was lucky, though, that a couple of the Graylings I spotted yesterday seemed curious about this stranger who had invaded their territories. So, I plonked myself down on a slope next to a path and waited. And sure enough, first one, then a second butterfly came to investigate. If it hadn’t been as hot as hell, I could’ve stayed there for hours.

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You can read more about the environmental importance of preserving the spoil tip sites on Liam Old’s excellent website, Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative.

Birding at Rhossili and Mewslade

02 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, insects, nature, walks

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Glamorgan Bird Club, Grayling, Great black-backed gull, Kestrel, Linnet, Rhossili, Small tortoiseshell, The Worm

Yesterday was my second visit to Rhossili with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club, though I still haven’t walked along this magnificent beach.

180702 1 Rhossili beach

Our group of 15 met in the National Trust car park at Rhossili, then slowly meandered along the cliff tops towards the point, birding as we walked.

180702 2 Heading towards the worm

I saw my first Choughs, Fulmars were spotted gliding majestically below us, and a Great black-backed gull flew in and landed on a headland.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, here I also saw my first Grayling butterflies. The first, pictured here on a discarded Coke bottle, was spotted by eagle-eyed Tate, and the second by another birder, Rob.

At the point, we enjoyed superb views, and the last of the bright sunny weather, while eating our lunch. Then, despite the rain starting, 11 of our intrepid team headed across the causeway to The Worm, where their scrambling and climbing and drenching were rewarded with views of Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins and Manx shearwaters.

180702 7 Crossing to The Worm

Three of us chose, instead, to do the circular walk around the headland, seeing lots of Linnets and Meadow pipits in the fields, a Kestrel hovering in search of prey, and two lovely fresh-looking Small tortoiseshell butterflies.

180702 8 Linnet

After some of the team returned from The Worm, four of us went for a brief visit to nearby Mewslade, a beautiful little valley that runs down to a sheltered cove. Here we had incredibly close views of a Lesser whitethroat feeding young, spotted two very yellow-faced Great tit fledglings in an area of burnt gorse, and watched more Choughs and another Kestrel flying through. It was yet another superb field trip with my bird club friends.

180702 11 Kestrel

My first Graylings

01 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

British butterflies, Grayling, Hipparchia semele, Rhossili

It’s called multi-tasking, when you go out for a day’s birding with the bird club but the best photo you come home with is of a butterfly!

180701 Grayling

Today, at Rhossili, with the help of 15-year-old Tate, one of my fellow birders, I saw my first ever Grayling (Hipparchia semele). And then one of the other birders, Rob, spotted another, so I actually saw two. I’m really glad I had the help of my birding friends, as these little butterflies are so well camouflaged I could easily have missed them.