Out and About

First post for some time due to a combination of bad weather, visitors, trips back to Yorkshire and the sad death of my Springer Spaniel Maya.

Sue and I have had some cracking cycle rides this week in much better weather than was forecast at the start of the week. We have been mainly on the route we take via Tudweiliog, Sarn, Rhiw, back along the coast and then up to Mynytho, across the Peninsular and back to Edern. the small sheltered lanes with "clouths" which in the main are like mini hay-meadows. Most common butterfly at the moment is Gatekeeper which is around in huge numbers despite some of the poor weather we have experienced this year. Its not uncommon to see 5 or 6 Gatekeepers feeding on one flower and counts of 30 to 40 in well flowered and sheltered spots is not unusual. This abundance is a real eye-opener for someone who has spent is life in an area when its unusual to see 30-40 butterflies in a week sometimes !

Species seen in the last week

Common Blue,Small Copper,Painted Lady,

Small Tortoiseshell,Peacock,Red Admiral,

Gatekeeper,The Wall ,Meadow Brown,

Large White,Small White Green Veined White,Small Heath

Lots of individuals of a Dor Beetle seen in the last week on just about any part of the Llyn we have cycled or walked. Not sure of the species but its a beautiful colour. There are also large numbers of Grasshoppers around at the moment, again not too sure of species but boy are they around in some numbers ! One species which is also now probably extinct in my home town of Halifax is Garden Tiger. Its reasonably frequent to light on the campsite and we have found the larvae (and removed to safety) crossing many of the lanes we have cycled in the last week.