Third Time Lucky

After dipping on the Caspian Tern on Sunday at Kenfig, again on Monday at Llanelli and not having the confidence to go on Tuesday Mr Bevan and myself decided to have another go at it this morning.

Arriving as the WWT Llanelli was opening we quickly made our way to the British Steel Hide to hear that it had been there but had flown away. Within a couple of seconds of that being said someone shouted it's still here. Relief all round. Soon we were treated to great scope views and it finally flew a little closer, had a snooze, flew closer again and then flew off over the trees. No tunnocks available but custard doughnuts were a good substitute.

Also really good numbers of breeding plumage Med. Gulls around.

We wandered over to the Welsh Water Hide and then the Peter Scott Hide where we were treated to the Caspian coming in and trying to fish but getting mobbed and then chased off by the Black Headed Gulls.

Marbled Whites

In July 2013 I found a small colony of Marbled Whites on the ridge between Abercynon and the Merthyr Valley near the "Giant's Tooth". In 2014 and 2015 I saw small numbers but in 2016 I did not manage to get there at all although Martin Bell had had a look with no luck.

After dinner today I decided to go up and have a quick look. Although it was earlier than I had seen them before we had managed to see some Marbled Whites in Gloucester the previous week so I thought it was worth the risk. I first walked up the road on the Merthyr side and was soon delighted to see a Marbled White flying around, soon followed by another. By the time I took the turning to walk up to the ridge I had seen four. On top however things just got better, walking on the edge of the grass I kept flushing more Marbled Whites getting 13 in total, much more than I had expected.

There were also good numbers of Dark Green Fritillaries, Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Cinnabar Moths.

Dark Green Fritillary

Dark Green Fritillary

Marbled White

Night Heron

A couple of shots of the Night Heron from yesterday's trip to Shrewsbury (see Martin's post below). The light was not good at all (shooting into the sun) so the photo's could have been better.

One year on.....

On the 19th June 2016, myself, Phil, Mike and Mr Bevan had a day out at Whixall Fen in Shropshire, looking for White-faced Darter and Large Heath butterfly. Unfortunately it was a dull, damp and chilly day and whilst we ticked the Large Heath, there was no sign of the Darter.

Roll on 1 year and an unexpected break in our diaries saw Phil and the two Martins have another shot at the Darter. A not too early start of 4am saw the three set off, with Mr Beven taking the back seat to sleep of the effects of a drinking session the day before.

First port of call was central Shrewsbury to tick the American Black-Crowned Night Heron that has taken up residence around a small ornamental pond in the main park. The plan was simple, park up, wander over to the pond, watch/photograph the heron for a while and then depart for Wixhall Moss. We duly arrived, without incident, around 06:40 grabbed a coffee and wandered over to the gardens, to find the gates locked! Bu*&%$! We amused ourselves wandering the banks of the Severn looking  (unsuccessfully) for Club-tailed Dragonflies. Both Martin's crossed the river and were rewarded with their first Meadow Brown and Ringlet butterflies, before Phil phoned to say he had located the heron. By the time the Martin's made it back to the garden, the gates had been unlocked and the heron was enjoyed for a while - unfortunately, in toggers speak, the light was c$%p, so no decent photo's were taken.

As such it was 8:30 before we departed, just as the council were closing the roads for a carnival, meaning a lengthy detour to get onto the correct road to our next destination. As we headed out onto Whixall Moss, Large Skippers, Meadow Browns and Ringlets kept us company before we found our first Dragon - a Southern Hawker. next up was a Large Red Damselfly - surprising, Mr Bell's first for the year. Soon we were at the main pools for the White-faced Darter and almost immediately a teneral darter was spotted. A few photo's later and a check in the field guide and White-faced Darter was ticked. Now the hunt for an adult male. This took about another 5 minutes, before we were enjoying a couple of the dapper black and scarlet dragonflies.

The pressure off, we wandered around, picking up, Black-tailed Skimmer, Black Darter, Broad-bodied and Four-spot Chasers. Plenty of Large Heath butterflies were on the wing, but none would co-operate for the cameras. Mr Bell found a new moth for his list - a Four-dotted Footman Cybosia mesomella, but it too avoided the paperattzi.

From Whixall Moss, as we did last year, we made the short journey to Prees Heath to tick Silver-studded Blue.

As we still had plenty of time on our side we decided to head back south and to a new site for all of us, the Gloucester Wildlife Trust reserve at Daneway Banks, to look for Large Blue butterflies. Arriving at the site around 15:40, we were pleased to hear that a couple of Large Blues had been seen today. We quickly picked up Small Heath, Common Blue and Dingy Skipper, before our first Large Blue was spotted - a bit distant, but recognisable. In all we saw at least 5 Large Blues. We also added 3 Marbled Whites and a couple of Small Blue's to the days, and years lists.

                                          Large Blue (honest)

                                          Night Heron (told you the light was a tad unhelpful)

                                          Silver-studded Blue

                                          White-faced Darter (teneral)

Cefnpennar NJ

I took my brother up above Cefnpennar, last night, to show him Nightjars. Still only the one pair, but they showed well, the Male churring from the top of a small tree fairly close, giving good scope views, while the female flew round and round us, catching insects and sussing us out. The Cefn Cuckoo was calling from its usual late evening place, which is probably where it roosts. The midges were a bugger, but otherwise a greet evening: brother chuffed at seeing his first Nightjars.

Cwm Cadlan Tonight

I went up to Cwm Cadlan late afternoon with my friend Gareth Parfitt after Martin Bevan had told me that Marsh Fritillary's had been seen there in a hay meadow. This is on the new part of the reserve and on arriving there we very quickly found some frits seeing definitely six but probably 10.

Some Kind of Spill at Bryn Du

I found all this stuff in the stream below the Pyramidal Orchid site yesterday. It ran into the wheel wash and the two lower feeder ponds. It's  worrying to think what affect it's having on the ponds and local wildlife and it looks like been going on for some time.

Wheel wash looks like a lake at the moment .