Local Wildlife Site Gems

Viv Geen has joined our team as an Ecological Surveyor. Viv’s role involves re-surveying all the SINCs (Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation), adopted by local authorities in Gwent, with a view to designating them as Local Wildlife Sites (LWS).
Each month Viv will give an update on her work and what wildlife wonders she's spotted.

As part of my Local Wildlife Site project work I have enjoyed surveying several lovely wildflower meadows in Monmouthshire and Caerphilly recently.

The sunny weather has brought out the butterflies and moths and I have seen Small Heath and Small Skipper butterflies on the wing.

I also managed to capture an image of this lovely Mother Shipton moth. Mother Shipton was a witch associated with the folklore of the 15^th and 16^th centuries, and the moth is so named because it has an image of the face of Mother Shipton (with a long nose!) on each wing.

Swollen-thighed beetles were also recorded; these are small iridescent green beetles with the males having large green bulges on their thighs or femora.