A few years ago the company that was landscaping the old Coegnant colliery area put in some Dragonfly ponds half way up My. Bach. As the weather is too hot for anything but dragonflies and butterflies, I thought I'd take a stroll up there today. There are three small pools and the dragonflies have taken well to them. Just up from the ponds is a small mountain stream that also held a number of dragonflies. They are set at 242mts above sea level.
Pool 1 [most southerly] - held 1 Emperor, 3 Keeled Skimmer, 1 Southern Hawker, 4 Common Blue Damselfly.
Pool 2 [middle one] - held 1 Emperor, 3 Keeled Skimmer, 2 Southern Hawker, 2 Common Blue Damselfly.
Pool 3 [most northerly] - held 1 Emperor, 5 Keeled Skimmer, Southern Hawker,
2 Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, 2 Common Blue Damselfly.
Small mountain stream [just above ponds] - held 1 Emperor, 6 Keeled Skimmer, 2 Common Hawker, 2 Southern Hawker, 10 Common Blue Damselfly, 3 Large Red Damselfly.
female Emperor egg depositing in the mountain stream.
Also of note were the large amount of butterflies in the area, the best being 2 Dark Green Fritillary around the stream as well as two more on the side of "Tyson's Road" on the way up. The latter site was a well known area for Dark Green Fritillary before landscaping with 20+ individuals present. It was thought the site was lost, but they now seem to be making a comeback. Other butterflies in the area included 4 Green-veined White, 4 Small White, 5 Large White, 50 Small Skipper, 20 Large Skipper, 1 Common Blue, 4 Speckled Wood, 1 Gatekeeper, 60 Meadow Brown, 20 Ringlet and 1 Small Heath.
Most of the ponds also had a healthy population of Common Frog, but didn't record any newt species though. New blooms for the year included Marsh Woundwort, Eyebright, Himalayan Balsam, Agrimony, Charlock, Meadowsweet, Greater Plantain and Green Figwort.
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