The 16th-31st July is the Butterfly Conservation societies "Big Butterfly Count". We've kicked off the survey on the reserve today as the sunshine has returned! We are providing laminated guides to give visitors a helping hand when it comes to identification. It's a fifteen minute species count that be can be conducted anywhere, whether sat still or walking. To find out more about the event and how simple it is to take part, go to www.bigbutterflycount.org.
Of particular note, the reserve is home to the beautiful Silver-studded Blue, a Welsh sub-species of the variety. We have also recently has visits from the spectacular Hummingbird Hawkmoth, which comes all the way from Africa!
Kelvin, one of our residential volunteers, used today's sunshine to get out and about on the reserve and complete a butterfly survey for himself (he will submit his sightings to the above address). He managed to catch up with a red admiral, meadow brown, three burnet moths and even a silver-studded blue! Another of our residential volunteers, Doug Shapley, took the stunning photograph below. He saw his silver-studded blue on a trip across Holyhead mountain on his day off - so thanks Doug! We also have records from Ken, our local expert and new volunteer. He saw six meadow brown, six-spot burnet, silver-studded blue and a beautiful blue-tailed damselfly.
Hopefully we're in for some more sunny days and we'll see many more beautiful butterflies!
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