Saturday 21st April 2018 - Butterfly superhighway.....
Abergavenny was glorious again when I got up at 8am, and I was looking forward to spending more time at Castle Meadows in the afternoon before returning to Swansea.
However, it started to rain unexpectedly at midday, even though the BBC had the chance of precipitation at that time in Abergavenny as 0%!!!
The whole sky had gone grey, so I decided to head straight back instead in the hope that sunny skies would still be on offer back home. For most of the journey that didn't look likely, and I had to change my plan of visiting Kilvey Hill at the last moment in favour of Cwm Ivy on the north Gower coast as a layer of cloud seemed to have descended east of Llanelli.
Luckily, after driving through Gorseinon, I emerged back into the sunshine and I'm pleased to say I remained in it for the entirety of my three and a half hour stay at this lovely location.
There were butterflies galore in the specially cleared woodland section, which acted as a superhighway for all kinds of species as they zoomed through looking for nectar, warmth and mates - Speckled Woods were probably commonest with several dozen flying about, but Holly Blues were everywhere, perhaps defying expectations that they suffer population crashes immediately after a particularly good year (which 2017 undoubtedly was).
It's hard to put an accurate figure on the numbers I saw as I largely stayed in the one area but even conservatively there would have been 30+. Several came down to nectar from the blackthorn blossom, such as this male:
Numerous Brimstones and Orange Tips flew by, although unlike last year the male OTs seemed reluctant to settle on the blackthorn, with only this individual alighting for any length of time:
Female OTs, on the other hand, were much more obliging:
Green Veined Whites were almost constant companions:
I also saw my first Large White of 2018, but could only 'capture' him in flight:
Both Red Admiral and Painted Lady turned up too. Sadly, the latter flew strongly by and was not seen again, but the Admiral, after I had initially disturbed it some while earlier, was tempted back and posed for a short while on young nettle growth:
I don't make a habit of remaining on any site till gone 5.30pm but I was mindful to ponder when I would next be able to bask in 22c heat in this part of the world, and in truth that might not happen all summer!! So, a very pleasant afternoon and easily the best 'stats' of the year thus far:
Speckled Wood 30-50
Holly Blue 25-35
Orange Tip 20-30
Brimstone 10-20
Green Veined White 4
Small White 2
Peacock 2
Large White 1
Red Admiral 1
Painted Lady 1
Goldie 
