Sunday 14th August 2011 – Kenfig Dunes (Nature Reserve) Porthcawl
Following suggestions by David M and Willrow, we headed for Kenfig Dunes at Porthcawl (South Wales) hoping to see both second brood Small Blue and Wall Brown. We started slightly later than normal and arrived at the reserve at 11am: we were lucky with the weather and there was mostly bright sunshine all over the reserve and this corner of Wales (there was cloud over Port Talbot just down the road so the good weather was quite localised). The Kenfig reserve is a site by the coast with a number of inter-weaving paths through dunes and large grassy knolls, with plenty of sand tracks and many wildflowers. Within a couple of minutes on the reserve we saw our first butterflies consisting of some Small Heaths and the usual Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns (I noticed that a lot of the Gatekeepers here were quite small). We headed on one of the main paths out towards the dunes: after only about 5 minutes Karen spotted the first Wall Brown, but it soon flew off without waiting for a photo.
The sun got (surprisingly) warmer as we walked towards the beach: soon we came across a few Common Blues and some second-brood Small Blues – a bit further on and I found a more sheltered spot with about 4 or 5 Small Blues in residence. I’d forgotten though, just how small these butterflies are. I found them very difficult to follow – stopping briefly to nectar at a few Birds-Foot Trefoil flowers before seeming to disappear suddenly. I would watch these butterflies for about an hour and as the sunny weather continued they seemed to spend their time ‘spiralling up’ in the air fighting each other, and then dropping down to find the best perch on the grass stems. Sometimes after a mid-air fight they would even ‘nick’ each others spot.
Later on we moved out to the beach where I saw my first Grayling of the day. There was more Sea-Holly by the coast and this added to the many lovely flowers amongst the dunes – Vipers Bugloss, Marjoram, Wild Thyme, Water-Mint, Honey-suckle and Ladies Bedstraw amongst others. As we headed back to the reserve centre we would pass more Graylings and a few more Wall Browns, though these were all being carried very quickly by the wind that had picked up. By accident we ended up on the edge of the golf course that borders the reserve, and here I managed to photograph a Wall Brown briefly as it took nectar from a line of Ragwort flowers just by the golf course. All in all, a great little trip and David and Bill (Willrow) were absolutely right about the species I would see!
Michael
Kenfig Dunes at Porthcawl - a range of sandy routes amongst the grass and various shrubs.
Small Heaths were amongst the first butterflies I would see, except they don't stay for photos for long..
My first view of the second-brood Small Blues - this one darting into Birds-foot Trefoil flowers.
The Small Blues would nick each others perching places on the grass stems.
Plenty of lovely flowers amongst the dunes - some wonderful Water-Mint and Sea Holly.
Some pink flowers (forgotten the name) and Honeysuckle amongst the smaller bushes.
Some young Horseriders along the side of the coastal path.
The Graylings would shelter out of the breeze in the afternoon. Great camouflage..
A final view of one of the Small Blues just before we leave.
A Wall Brown sits on the path right by the edge of the golf course.
The Wall Brown ventures on to the Ragwort flowers by the edge of the reserve right at the end of our visit.
) of the roosting butterflies to see whether there were any unusual or even aberrant individuals. I wasn't disappointed - there are selection of Chalkhills below. Despite seeing quite a few male Adonis as well, I didn't any that appeared at all unusual. Apart from these two species, there were also Small Heath, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Small Copper, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and a single Silver-spotted Skipper at the bottom of Steers Field, not a place on the hillside I've seen one before.
. I only saw a few Chalkhill Blues while I was there. I still have to see Adonis Blues myself this year, so next week I may venture there again next week 
. I'm hoping that the weather will yet pick up a bit more?! I'm going to my sisters during the last weekend of August so next week might be an option, or maybe bank Holiday monday if we can get back from Kent the night before 
