Dragon hunting

male Sothern Damselfly

A good day for Odonata at Cefn Bryn and Broad Pool yesterday. A total of 12 species seen here including Black-tailed Skimmer, Black Darter and Southern Damselfly.

male Emperor Dragonfly

On the way to Gower I stopped at Pluck Lake and found 10 Species on the wing. The Red-eyed Damselfly were on view and a good showing of Black-tailed Skimmers here too.

For more details on numbers and further images from yesterday afternoon please visit the VC41 Dragonfly Blog  Click here

Bristle Bent on Cefn Bryn

The National Vegetation Classifcation (NVC) community U3 Agrostis curtisii grassland is typically dominated by the dense tussocks of Bristle bent (Agrostis curtisii), as shown below in the photograph taken on Cefn Bryn yesterday. This is an acid grassland species that thrives where there is frequent burning and heavy grazing and Gower represents the northern limit of its European range. The walk to Arthur's Stone (SS491904) is a good spot to see this very distinctive, but easily overlooked community.

Last night's snowfall

A couple of inches of powdery snow fell last night over much of Swansea and parts of Neath, though once again the milder western end of the Gower peninsula and the Burry Inlet were hardly affected as shown below:

View from Cefn Bryn looking towards the snow-free Rhossili Down (193m) and Llanmadoc Hill (186m).

View from Dalton's Point marsh looking up the Loughor valley with Graig Fawr (276m) in the background

View across Oxwich beach towards Cefn Bryn (186m)

Hen Harrier at Frogmoor

There was a male Hen Harrier being mobbed by Jackdaws and flying west from Frogmoor below Cefyn Bryn this afternoon. Also a Little Egret was disturbed from the thawed out mud on the tarmac road leading to Frogmoor. Over 40 Lapwings and 30 plus Snipe were seen flying over the meadow west of Stouthall.
David Painter