Llangynwyd Lanes

Walked along the lanes of point to point, there was plenty of hogweed and the first of the Angelica blooming. But a stiff wind kept insect numbers down, temperature was 19c. 24 species of hoverfly seen but nothing special. Other insect highlights included the valleys second Bilberry Bumblebee, also the valleys second Golden Horsefly. Plenty of Palmate Newts in the pools and I potted a small soldier beetle, the ones with the small elytra with yellow tips that can't be done from photos. Under magnification when I got home it was quite straight forward to identify with the ID key and turned out to be Malthodes marginatus which is new for the valley. There were a lot of butterflies on the wing today with highlights being Comma and both common Skippers. I looked for Essex Skipper as this was the site I had them last year but no luck this time.

 Large Skipper

 Small Skipper

Eupeodes luniger