Heads down, Ynys Dawela Nature Park Wednesday 15th August 2018

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Today the Wednesday gang headed to Ynys Dawela Nature Park near Brynamman in the north east of the county.

The weather was less than conducive for the task in hand, searching for the larval food webs of the rare Marsh Fritillary butterfly.
This stunning butterfly needs "scabious" plants on which to lay its eggs and then for the caterpillars to feed.

 Areas of the site have been managed by the cutting and collecting of vegetation from four meadow areas, Marsh Fritillary does live in the area but is a fickle creature.

 The search involves delving into the bases of the scabious plants looking for the tell tale signs of the caterpillar, disappointedly none were found today.
larval food web ( Wikipedia )

I did however find several stunningly coloured Four-spot Orb wed spiders, quite fearsome looking beasts in shades of orange and yellow.
Four-spot Orb web spider

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