The Nature of our Village Report from mid-june 2018 to July 2018

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1 The Nature of our Village Report from mid-june 2018 to July 2018 Big Butterfly Count in action Introduction This report is shorter than usual, covering only 6 weeks work, as the work of May and the first half of June was reported on in the previous report, which included an update on how the project had performed over the last year of funding. We have carried out the Big Butterfly Count, found Rockpool treasures, added new species to our roadside verge survey and seen a Tawny Owl!

2 Butterflies This summer s long-lasting heat wave has had a considerable effect on our wildlife. The long run of consistently high temperatures has also seen a rise in the number of butterflies we have seen on our surveys. On one survey at a local nature reserve we were amazed to count 43 Gatekeeper butterflies, as well as 14 Small Whites and 5 Red Admrials. The previous record for most Gatekeepers seen at one time in the village was 12, so this is a phenomenal increase! White butterflies had a bad year nationally in 2017, but both the results of our regular surveys and volunteer observations in their gardens are suggesting that they are doing much better this year. Other butterfly activity over the summer has been taking part in the national Big Butterfly Count a survey run by Butterfly Conservation where citizen scientists take 15 minutes to count the butterflies where they are, in their gardens, at school or at work. We are pleased to play a part in this UK-wide effort to take the pulse of nature, and see how butterflies are doing not just in our own village, but across Wales and the UK. Common Blue butterflies 2

3 Botanical survey As mentioned above, the heat wave has had a range of effects on the nature of our village, and one of the less positive ones has been that many wild flowers have been scorched off by the high temperatures and lack of rain. We did manage to carry out some wild flower surveys though, and we had a particular focus on the roadside verge that is being managed as a hay meadow, with a single cut (and removing the arisings) late in the summer. We have been monitoring this reserve for 3 years, and it is pleasing to see that under the hay meadow management, the number of species it is host to is increasing. This summer I worked with a keen volunteer who specialises in insect identification, and between us we managed to add 6 new plants species, and 17 new invertebrate species to the list for this small, but very valuable wildlife habitat. One new plant species was Lesser Sea-spurrey, a plant which usually grows within 500m of the sea. We found the plant 1.5km inland, so it looks as though it might be a Vice County record breaker! The new Bee Garden flowering well in its first year, while volunteers carry out an insect survey. 3

4 Further plant-related work has been a collaboration with the Ceredigion County Council, where with 10 volunteers we helped to remove the invasive Himalayan Balsam from the Parc y Llyn nature reserve where we carry out many of our surveys. During this session we were working near the river, and were delighted to see the UK s longest dragonfly, the Golden-ringed, patrolling up and down. There were no records of it in the village last year, so to see it back again is fantastic. The Kingfisher was also flying up the river during our session, and volunteers were delighted to see this beautiful bird. Bumblebees The summer is always the best time to see good numbers of bumblebees, and our June and July Bee Walks produced record numbers. In July we were amazed to record 109 individual bumblebees during one survey, the most we have ever recorded in the village. They were mostly drinking nectar from the bramble flowers, the buddleia and the knapweed and ragwort flowers. Male bumblebees have also begun to emerge, some of them have bright yellow facial hair, the moustache which makes them easier to recognise. A volunteer spotting bees 4

5 In other news Freshwater creatures We keep an eye on both the rivers that run through our area, the Rheidol and the Ystwyth, and part of this work entails dipping them each summer to see how the life of the river is doing. We were pleased to find the tiny fry of Flounder, a beautiful flat fish, less than 1cm wide, in the Rheidol just before it meets the sea. We have also had freshwater shrimps, which is good news for the birds and other animals which rely on them as a key element of their diet. Looking for Ladybirds We were lucky enough to be given a new book on Ladybird identification by the Co-op earlier this year, and this spurred us on to search for more ladybird species, using different search techniques. Beating is a method which simply involves laying a white sheet underneath a tree or large bush, and knocking the branch above it so that the insects living there are dislodged. Using this technique we were successful in finding 3 10-spot ladybirds living in the pine trees next to our Community Centre, and an unusual Pine ladybird, a first for our village, near a Scots Pine on Pen Dinas. Ladybirds are under threat from the non-native Harlequin, which unfortunately eats our native species, so to find that both the Pine and the 10-spot are still present is very encouraging. Ladybird finds! 5

6 Sincere thanks as always to the Nineveh Charitable Trust for making this work possible. Chloe Griffiths - Penparcau Community Forum: The Nature of our Village Project. Thanks to the Oakdale Trust. 6