Butterfly Count at Crymlyn Bog

Date:  22 July 2020

Location:  Crymlyn Bog
Weather:  Sunny and warm :)

Today we decided to do a butterfly count as from 17th July - 9th August it's the Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count

We decided to go to one of our favourite nature reserves Crymlyn Bog as we know it is always quiet and great to get away from people. This is what we saw...

Butterflies

Brimstone Butterfly

Gatekeeper Butterfly

Large Blue Butterfly

Speckled Wood

The butterfly count sheet

The results for our butterfly count was:

5 Speckled Wood

1 Brimstone

4 Common Blue

2 Meadow Brown

4 Gatekeeper

2 Large White

2 Ringlet

Damselflies & Dragonflies

Azure Damselflies

Common Darter Dragonfly

Lizards

Juvenile common lizards

Juvenile Common Lizard

Adult Common Lizard

Adult Common Lizard basking in the sun

This Adult Lizard as lost it's tail :(

Birds

Robin

Chiffchaff (Pic by Dan Turner)

Buzzard (Pic by Dan Turner)

Other critters spotted...

7 spotted ladybird

Common White Wave (Pic by Dan Turner)

We were very happy with our finds today, we have never seen so many lizards (I think we counted well over 30) and we noticed that signs were up to with guidance of social distancing and one way system around the boardwalk. 

My Garden

The butterfly magic didn't stop when we arrived home - in the garden was a Holly Blue, Large White and a red admiral (which I couldn't get a pic).

Holly Blue butterfly in the garden

Large White butterfly in the garden

There is still time to do the Big Butterfly Count, all you need to do is download the butterfly ID chart from the following address, sit in a sunny spot for 15 minutes  then record which species you see. Next add your counts on the website or you can download an app. It's important to give them this info as they can access the health of the environment by counting the amount of butterflies and moths we see. 

https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/ 

A river walk along Cwm Du Glen, Pontardawe

Date:  8 April 2017

Location:  Cwm Du Glen, Pontardawe

It's been so beautiful in South Wales the last few day and today was not an exception. Blue, cloudless skies and finally a temperature that brought out a bit of colour in my cheeks. We didn't really know where to go, being a Saturday we knew most places would be busy.

We decided on a place I had only recently discovered through volunteering called Cwm Du Glen, in Pondardawe. An easily accessible walk from the heart of Pontardawe. Unfortunately, we learnt through a sign on the noticeboard that part of the walk was closed, we decided to go anyway to see what wildlife we could see. 

We were instantly greeting with the song of this pretty Wren before we even started walking.

The start of the walk, with plenty of information on the notice board (including a pic of me with other volunteers)

There were quite a few butterflies out including this Speckled Brown. I also spotted an Orange-tip and Brimstone too,

Lots of nice fungi around like this turkey tail.

The gorge is very beautiful and we spotted something landing in a tree...

...first time I have managed to get a Grey Wagtail still in a tree :) - A new one to add to the bird count

In the same tree a rather large Wood Pigeon

The path up to Glanrhyd Plantation

Unfortunately, this is where our walk had to end. so we sat here for awhile and was once again was treated to...

...another lovely Grey Wagtail

It wasn't long before he was joined by an other familiar bird we see on local rivers - a Dipper

The Dipper collecting nesting materials

The beautiful gorge