Old Castle Down is alive with larger fritillaries at the moment, with estimates of 100 to 500 seen in our Members' Day afternoon on Sunday. Most at present are at the southern end of Old Castle Down, just above Coed y Bwl reserve. They are starting to nectar more now, but on Sunday were on constant activity a few inches above the habitat, in and out of the bracken. Both Dark Green & High Brown Fritillary occur together here but the proportion of High Browns is already high and will probably increase as season progresses. First Silver-washed Fritillary of the year was also encountered on Sunday.

After visiting Ben Williams in Tonteg on Monday, he, Gareth Tonks and I had a quick look at Ben's favourite Wych Elm tree by the river at Upper Boat, where you come out of the Industrial Estate to join A470. After just a few minutes viewing the crown of this fairly short & stout tree, a couple of very fresh looking White letter Hairstreaks displayed themselves briefly.

None seen yet in Alun valley, but worth a "stop & stare" for a few minutes at canopy of any elms which appear alive. If there is thistle or bramble in flower nearby, you might get nectaring shots as their flight season continues for probably 4 to 6 weeks yet.

Cocoons and beetles

I saw lots of these little round cocoons today with something moving around inside them. They were on dock in a field of marshy flower-rich grassland near Margam but I've never noticed them before - can anyone enlighten me as to what they are please?

I also saw these 3 beetles having a little quality time in the same field - they were fairly small (about 9mm or so) - garden chafers? Any suggestions gratefully received.

Aberthaw

Mike Powell and myself had a nice stand of Marsh Helleborine at Aberthaw this afternoon. Also Pyramidal, Common Spotted-orchid & Southern Marsh-orchid.

Thistle Tortoise beetle

While I was keying out a leaf beetle a few days ago I stumbled through the section in the key on Tortoise Beetles, and thought 'that's funny, I've never seen one of those before!'.  Last night though as fate would have it this little chap was sitting on the front door.

It's a Thistle Tortoise beetle, quite common and not one of the more attractive Tortoise beetles, granted, but nonetheless showing the key features: oval, flattened body profile, pronotum entirely covering the head, and a flattening or slight upturn on the edges of the elytra.

Thistle Tortoise beetle Cassida rubiginosa

The larvae are armoured with spikes that they liberally plaster with their own faeces (see here: http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk/beetles%20p2.html).  Nice!

Ground Beetle

Ophonus ardosiacus

Just ocassionally on still, warm muggy summer nights, beetles take to the wing in some numbers and are attracted to light.  Saturday was one of those evenings and a number of beetles landed in my moth trap.  One of them was Ophonus ardosiacus, pictured above.  None of the Ophonus ground beetles are common, and O ardosiacus is extremely uncommon in a Wales context.  This is my third record of this species from Rhoose Point which suggests that there may be a self-sustaining population here.

This group of beetles have declined dramatically in recent decades due to the loss of the flower rich habitat they require to provide their food source, seeds. 

Rhoose Pool yesterday

A few pictures from yesterday

Fairy Flax

Marsh Helleborine flower

Red-veined Darter