Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve, 3rd June

I caught a train to Bargoed from Cardiff and then cycled to the reserve (up a very steep hill - 1 in 5). This is the 3rd year in a row I've come here hoping to see marsh fritillaries. 2 years ago my son, Max, and I cycled from Newport, but we were a day or two too late and only saw a couple of small pearl bordered fritillaries. Last year we drove and it started to rain as soon as we arrived. Again we only saw a couple of small pearl bordered. Today I arrived about 9.15am and it was fairly sunny, but not yet warm. I popped in the centre and the ranger told he had seen some yesterday, but it was getting late now. He also told me that the best field for them had had a bad fire in mid April - " a deep burn". He also told me the best places to look for them.

Evidence of the burn from 6 weeks ago

I set off and when I got to the first place he had told me to look I saw a frit straight away. I got my bins on it, but it was a small pearl bordered. "Here we go again" I thought. I was thinking of taking a photo of it when another frit a few feet away caught my eye - "yes, a marsh frit at last!". I saw 3 here, then I went into the big field that had had the burn - another 5 here near the bench at the top,  then 3 in the middle and 3 at the bottom. I also saw 3 dingy skippers here and lots of small heath.

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Marsh Fritillary

Dingy Skipper

Small Heath

I went for a wander around the rest of the reserve. Near the bottom, just above the football pitch, I saw a female brimstone butterfly. It was interesting to see how yellow/green the underwings were when she was at rest. In flight she looked very pale yellow, almost white. I was wondering if the larval foodplant, alder buckthorn, grew here when I was dismayed to see that 3 large alder buckthorn had been coppiced/felled. One had at least 30 years of growth rings. This is a very slow growing and localised shrub and it does not need coppicing. There were a few small alder buckthorns growing near by, but cutting down these 3 mature plants was a shame in my opinion and totally un-necessary.

Female Brimstone Butterfly

Felled, mature alder buckthorn with at least 30 years of growth rings

Alder Buckthorn

I also saw a holly blue here and a small tortoiseshell. East of the burnt field I saw another small pearl bordered frit.

Small Tortoiseshell

I went for another circuit of the large, burnt field and spotted a carpet type moth. I manged to get a photo and it was only when looking at it later that I realised it was a small argent and sable. This is the first time that I have seen this very pretty moth.

Small Argent and Sable

Back near the top bench, there were a lot of marsh frits about, small heaths and then I put up a large, orange, black and white butterfly. For a split second I wondered what type of frit this could be before realising it was a painted lady!

Painted Lady

Back near the centre I saw a burnet companion and another holly blue. At the pond I found 4 emperor dragonfly exuviae on the flag irises and also saw 3 large red damselflies, over 20 azure damselflies, a four-spotted chaser egg laying and a male broad-bodied chaser.

Burnet Companion

Emperor Dragonfly Exuvium

Other species seen were 4 brown-silver lines, a small copper, a common blue and a green-veined white.

Common Blue

Small Copper

In total I saw 11 species of butterfly:  14 marsh fritillaries, 2 small pearl bordered fritillaries, c20 small heaths, 3 dingy skippers, 2 holly blues, 1 common blue, 1 small tortoiseshell, 1 brimstone, 1 green-veined white, 1 small copper and a painted lady.