Tom has obviously had a good day out! : Kenfig National Nature Reserve is a large reserve near Bridgend in south Wales. Known for its sand-dunes and specialist wildlife, the beginning of June it is nearing its best.
The main attraction are the orchids. The dune slacks of the reserve are bursting with orchids - there are so many there will be an upcoming post focused on the wonderful orchid diversity.
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| Some of the orchids of Kenfig: left: the dune form of the fen orchid (Liparis loeselii), middle: early marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. coccinea) and right: a marsh helleborine (Epipactis palustris) in bud. |
Alongside the orchids there were also plenty of broomrapes, especially near the coast where they parasitise sea holly.
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| Common broomrape (Orobanche minor) with left showing the purple two stigma lobes- a key identification feature for broomrapes. |
The dune meadows were full of knapweed and yellow rattle attracted plenty of insects as well.
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| Top left: mother shipton moth, bottom left: wasp beetle, top right: bee chafer and bottom right: the red form of the fleabane tortoise beetle. |
Kenfig is also home to the largest natural lake in south Wales, which was alive with dragonflies and damselflies including: hairy hawkers, four-spot chasers, red eyed damselflies and black-tailed skimmers. The red eyed damselflies were a new species to me, and relatively obliging.
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| Red eyed damselfly (along side some common/azure damselflies). |
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| Kenfig Pool, and one of the numerous great crested grebes. |
And there's even good geology at the site! Along the bay you can find potato stones, these stones form when anhydrite (hydrated gypsum) nodules are replaced with quartz, calcite and haematite. These stones can be classed as an agate due to the banding of the haematite inclusions in the quartz.
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| Kenfig beach and a potato stone. |
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