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/ 

The babies have arrived! Day 1 #30DaysWild

So today is the start of the Wildlife Trust's 30 Days Wild - This will be my 4th year to do it and with my career change (I am now a self-employed freelance designer) I wasn't going to do it.

Then I heard that familiar noise I hear each year - 30+ starlings in the garden! I closed my laptop and ran to get my camera. It was hard to count them all, but the parents had brought the babies and they were rowdy!

The suet pellets and coconut shell was gone within a few hours and they were going nuts for the mealworm. It got so wild and loud at one point I had to just shut the door and try and get back to work.

I am so happy they are back and mad me realise that work should NOT stand in the way of nature, and I will once again carry on with the annual tradition of #30DaysWild

An evening walk at Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea Bay

Sanderling on Swansea Bay

Date:  24 July 2017

Location:  Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea

The weather has been really weird the last few days, so when the sun decided to shine at 6 o'clock we made our way to one of our favourite nature havens: Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea Bay.

I have written a few blogs on this special place and every time I visit I always discover something new. Now owned by Swansea University, this  SSSI designated area has an array of different habitats: salt marsh, woodland and sand dunes. We were only there for a hour and this is what we discovered...

Dragonfly - needs IDing

Evening Primrose flowers

The sandy dunes to the beach

When we got to the beach we noticed lots of jellyfish were being washed up on the beach (we counted over 20 ranging from small to gigantic ones). I think they are barrel jellyfish, but not 100% sure - be great if someone could confirm that they are.

Apart from the jellyfish there was a lovely group of sanderlings near the shoreline. I love the way the run away when the waves come in, then follow it back out...lovely little birds and a new spotting for #My200BirdYear (I am now on 124).

Sanderling

Sanderlings near the waves

Sanderlings with Mumbles in the background

On the way back to the car we spotted more interesting things such as a flock of linnets, a 11 spotted ladybird and a pellet. Crymlyn Burrows is one of my favourite places in the world, a great place to explore...

A flock of linnets

=

A ladybird

Some sort of bird pellet

Dragonflies galore at Crymlyn Bog, Swansea

Keeled Skimmer

Date:  18 June 2017

Location:  Crymlyn Bog, Swansea

Not far from where I live is an awesome little nature reserve called Crymlyn Bog; a designated SSSI with an array of flora and fauna.

The weather was brilliant (about 25 degrees) so we planned to go to the reserve looking for lizards that usually basked on the boardwalks.  Unfortunately, it looked like the lizards were hiding, perhaps the weather was to hot? On the other hand dragonflies were out in good numbers.

Here are some of my pics from the walk...

Crymlyn Bog information sign

Keeled Skimmer Dragonfly

Keeled Skimmers mating

Damselfly

4 Spotted Chaser

Black Tailed Skimmer

The fantastic boardwalks of Crymlyn Bog (usually lots of lizards on the sides)

Apart from the wonderful dragonflies there were quite a few birds around including Sedge Warbler, juvenile robin and a fabulous buzzard that was perched on a nearby lamppost.

Sedge Warbler

Juvenile Robin

Buzzard

Buzzard in flight right over our head

Horses in a nearby field