Gaer Fort 11th July

I went for a walk over the "Gollas" between 11.15am and 12.15pm to see if there were any Marbled Whites about. It was a bit windy up the top, but I soon started to see one or two. Once I got to the bottom south west corner, where there is the best grassland habitat, I started to see dozens at a time. In total I saw 57 marbled whites, but failed to photograph any as they were constantly in flight, making the most of the hot sun-shine. I also saw over 100 ringlets, 30 Essex Skippers, 10 small Skippers, 11 Meadow Browns, 5 Gate Keepers, 5 Six-spot Burnets, 2 Commas,, 1 Large White, 1 Peacock, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Speckled Wood and a Vapourer.

Comma Butterfly

I also saw 3 Emperor Dragonflies, despite there being no standing water on the hill-fort, but obviously plenty of insects for them to hunt. Also 6 Slow Worms under tin-sheets and one Common Lizard on a dead tree-trunk. Not bad for an hours walk right next to where I live.

After getting home, I went in the garden and found a Grey Dagger caterpillar.

Grey Dagger caterpillar

This morning (Sunday 12th July), I looked out of the kitchen door at 8.30am and was surprised to see a Hummingbird Hawkmoth investigating the flowers on the decking area. It wasn't impressed and flew off after a few seconds. I've seen them here before, but that was in bright sunshine - this was in drizzly rain!