Sea Stock at Kenfig rivermouth

Kenfig Rivermouth 21st May 2012

The embryo dunes around the Kenfig Rivermouth currently support a strong population of Sea Stock (Matthiola sinuata), with over 300 plants counted recently. Outside of Glamorgan the species is known only from North Devon, so it's good to report that it is doing well at a number of our sites. Plants are now starting to come into flower (below right) and can bee seen just behind the strand-line on most West Glamorgan beaches.

The yellow-flowered sub-species of Wild Pansy (Viola tricolor subsp. curtisii) also occurs here along with a wide range of other fore dune species.

A Soldier Beetle

A Soldier Beetle (Cantharis rustica)

Martyn Hnatiuk has informed me that the Beetle shown in these photos is a Soldier Beetle (Cantharis rustica) and not the Tanbark Borer (Phymatodes testaceus) as I had initially claimed. I've decided to re-write this post since quite apart from being misleading the original post now makes no sense whatsoever.

A Soldier Beetle (Cantharis rustica)

I wasn't quite expecting a beetle of this size with 'long horns' to be anything other than a longhorn. No wonder I couldn't find a photo match of it online! This species is quite abundant and could possibly have been a feature of one of Martyn's posts on this blog last year and maybe one of mine (identified correctly).
Thanks for letting me know Martyn. We live and learn...and sometimes forget again!

Red-eyed Damselfly at Neath Canal

male Red-eyed Damselfly

A total of 17 Red-eyed Damselfly were at the Neath Canal yesterday afternoon. They were showing along a stretch of canal located in the Penrhitwyn area. Some other notables included Variable Damselfly(12), Azure Damselfly(38), Blue-tailed Damselfly(20), Large Red Damselfly(3), Hairy Dragonfly(50+) and Four-spotted Chaser(1)

More photos and location details can be found on the link below

VC41 dragonfly blog

Green-winged Orchids at Lewes Castle

West Glamorgan can boast plenty good displays of interesting plants, but Green-winged Orchid (Anacamptis morio) is not one of them. Compared to adjacent areas, where the species can flower abundantly, it is a very scarce plant in our area and this BSBI monitoring site shows one of the reasons why.

sheep-grazed cliff-top turf above Fall Bay

The cliff-top grasslands at the few sites in Gower where this species occurs are grazed exceptionally close by sheep and rabbits, with any thing juicy or succulent like an orchid flower or seed pod also being targeted at night by slugs and snails. Thankfully orchids can be long-lived and will survive in a vegetative state for many years. Successful reproduction must be an extremely rare occurrence where these conditions persist and you can't help wondering about the viability of small isolated populations such as this one.

the best example of a Green-winged Orchid I could find at this site

Whilst the Green-winged Orchid appears to have a rather tenuous hold on the heavily-grazed cliff tops, there are plenty of other species that appear to thrive in these conditions. Western Clover (Trifolium occidentale) is a rather unimposing species, but has a very restricted UK distribution. It flowers earlier than the similar, but much commoner White Clover (Trifolium repens) and smaller, thicker leaves and a notched standard are two good characters to look for.

Western Clover above Fall Bay

Downies out and about

Mute Swan family at Oxwich (c) P. Tyrrell

Following on from the eight cygnets first noted from the hide at Oxwich Marsh by Nick Edwards on the 9th May, then photographed by Paul Tyrrell on the 21st, Gower's only other pair of Mute Swans at Llanrhidian took seven cygnets to water for the first time on the 21st.

Llanrhidian cygnets on 26th (c) B. Stewart

In addition to photographing the Mute Swans at Oxwich on the 19th-20th, Paul Tyrrell also provided conclusive evidence that Gadwall have bred successfully there this year.

female Gadwall with her brood (c) P. Tyrrell

Criorhina berberina

 I found this hoverfly buzzing around the kitchen window today. I've keyed it out a Criorhina berberina. Stubbs mentions that all the Criorhina are scarce but this species is the most common of them. A few records on the NBN gateway database show it to be infrequent in Glamorgan, records coming mainly from the Gower. Ian Morgan's Notes on the Status of Hoverflies in Carmarthenshire (available online here) show it to be in five 10km squares from that area. It can be a feature of ancient broadleaved woodlands, which in the case of this record is provide by the Gnoll CP.

Median Wasp in Gorseinon

A beautiful queen Median Wasp (Dolichovespula media) was on the flowers of Cotoneaster horizontalis outside the kitchen window along with a couple of Tree Bumble-bees (Bombus hypnorum), a few Early Bumble-bees (B. pratorum) and a gang of Honey Bees (Apis mellifera). My only other observation of Median Wasp in the county was also in the garden, but back in 2006 when was was watched feeding on Globe Thistle. Hope to grab an image if she returns...