All the yellows

19 Sunday Apr 2026

Posted by sconzani in flowers, plants, spring, wildflowers

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Alexanders, British wildflowers, Broom, Cowslip, Creeping buttercup, dandelion, gorse, Lesser Celandine, marsh marigold, Meadow buttercup, primrose, Sea radish, Spring colour, yellow wildflowers

The splendid sight of road verges gleaming with the brilliant yellow of blooming Dandelions is fast becoming just a wonderful memory as the council tractors and strimmers once again destroy any wildflowers they see in the name of ‘neat’ and ‘tidy’, and this despite the loss of some devastating percentage (50%?) of our insect populations in the last couple of decades. I grabbed some photos before everything started to disappear …

Alexanders: in places like the coastal path the only plant in flower so currently feeding a lot of small insects.

Broom: this might survive as it was in a park surrounded by Brambles.

Cowslips: in a country park so surviving, and looking very lush.

Creeping buttercup: gone.

Dandelion and Lesser celandine: prime targets for destruction.

Gorse: these tend to survive until the flail gets used.

Marsh marigold: a small survivor from a more numerous population, where a volunteer group decided they would build a dead hedge. Make it make sense!

Meadow buttercup: gone.

Primrose: these tend to survive while they’re flowering, then it’s off with their heads!

Sea radish: on the Barrage so not strimmed but the many dogs like to pee on them.

Spider: Dysdera crocata

18 Saturday Apr 2026

Posted by sconzani in spiders

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arachnids, British spiders, Dysdera crocata, Dysdera species, Woodlouse spider

I was walking to the supermarket for a food shop, passing an old, stone, house boundary wall, when my eye caught movement low down so, of course, I stopped to look, and, upon noticing the movement was a spider, pulled out my camera (never leave home without one!) to take some photos. Being in the middle of town, I got some funny looks from passers-by, I can tell you, and I heard a young child ask its accompanying adult, ‘What’s that lady doing?’, but I’m used to that these days.

And I got my photos of a new-to-me spider species. Even better, the photos were good enough to distinguish which of the two Dysdera species this was. So, let me present Dysdera crocata, the Woodlouse spider, whose favourite prey is, unsurprisingly, Woodlice, and who can usually be found under stones or logs, or living in cracks in brick or stone walls.

When I checked my guide book and initially read about the two species being difficult to tell apart, my heart sank. But then I saw that D. crocata has 1 to 3 dorsal spines and 1 ventral spine on the upper part of its back legs, which I thought I could see in my enlarged image. And this was later confirmed by an expert on social media. So, it was worth the odd looks and muttered comments!

Recent Reed buntings

17 Friday Apr 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birds in reed beds, birdwatching, British birds, Reed bunting

The Reed bunting is a handsome species, beautifully marked in various shades of brown, a bird that I hear more often than I see, except at this time of year, the start of the breeding season, when the males in particular are more evident and more vocal as they search for mates – not that I’ve managed to get any good photos of males lately.

Of course, even when birds do show themselves a little more, they can still be difficult to photograph, obscured by twigs and branches and burgeoning leaves, as happened with the Reed bunting above. I was more lucky with the bird shown below that was feeding on the tiny seeds in the flower heads of a reed species. Now to find a co-operative male!

Tiny but feisty

16 Thursday Apr 2026

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British jumping spiders, British spiders, jumping spider, Salticus scenicus, Zebra spider

It may have been tiny but it was feisty! This Zebra spider (Salticus scenicus) was getting annoyed at me invading its personal space when I was trying to get a macro photo, and it jumped at me a couple of times, presumably trying to protect its little territory and scare me off. But it was always attached to a fine piece of silk so, when I pulled back, the little spider dangled for a few seconds before climbing back up to glare at me from its perch on the park railings. I managed to get a couple of photos before leaving it to go about its business.

NFY: Large and Small whites

15 Wednesday Apr 2026

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British butterflies, butterfly, Large white, Large white butterfly, Pieris brassicae, Pieris rapae, Small white, Small white butterfly

Monday 6 April dawned bright and sunny, the breeze was light, and the temperature quickly warmed to the high teens Celsius. Conditions were perfect for there being butterflies on the wing in my local parks, so I went out to explore. The first two locations didn’t turn up much – too many people and dogs, but my final stop was just perfect. I saw 14 butterflies of 6 species, two of which were new for the year.

A Large white (Pieris brassicae) (above) appeared first, followed fairly quickly by a Small white (Pieris rapae) (below). Although a Large white is generally larger than a Small white, the size of both species can vary, and the way to positively identify these species is though the size of the dark markings on their wing tips.

A loveliness of ladybirds

14 Tuesday Apr 2026

Posted by sconzani in insects, ladybird

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10-spot ladybird, 14-spot ladybird, Adalia decempunctata, British ladybirds, Chilocorus renipustulatus, Kidney-spot ladybird, ladybird, Propylea quattuordecimpunctata

I googled to find out what the collective noun is for ladybirds and read that it’s ‘loveliness’, which seems perfectly appropriate. On Easter Saturday, I went for a short mooch around a local park, hoping that the occasional sunny spells might produce butterflies. Unfortunately, the sun was far too occasional and a cool wind blew, but I did find a loveliness of little ladybirds: two 10-spots (Adalia decempunctata)

a 14-spot (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata)

and a Kidney-spot (Chilocorus renipustulatus).

Hairy-footed flower bees

13 Monday Apr 2026

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British bees, Hairy-footed flower bee, Anthophora plumipes, sexual dimorphism, sexual dimorphism in bees

They’re chunky, aggressive, and speedy, and a delight to watch as they zoom around the flower beds, tongues poking out in anticipation of the next slurp from a flower, chasing other flying creatures for no apparent reason, hovering well enough beneath the tubular flowers they prefer to easily be mistaken for a hoverfly.

They’re Hairy-footed flower bees (Anthophora plumipes) and, yes, the males really do have long hairs on the lower parts of their legs – maybe they should be called Hobbit bees! Rather than the long hairs exhibited by the male of the species, the females have orange pollen brushes on their hind legs and, in fact, the males and females are very different from each other in appearance – sexually dimorphic, to give this its scientific name. The males are orange-brown, whereas the females are black.

In flower now

12 Sunday Apr 2026

Posted by sconzani in wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Cardamine pratensis, Common fumitory, Common Stork's-bill, Cornsalad, Cuckoo flower, Erodium cicutarium, Forget-me-not, Fumaria officinalis, Hairy violet, Honesty, Lamium purpureum, Lunnaria annua, Myosotis species, Red dead-nettle, Spring colour, spring wildflowers, Valerianella locusta, Viola hirta

It seems every time I step out the door now I notice new, different wildflowers in bloom. These are some of this week’s finds; for no particular reason, I seem to have focused on the blue / pink colour tones.

The grassy area on Cardiff Bay’s Barrage is full of Common stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium), looking very lush.

Cornsalad (Valerianella locusta) is blooming in many of the local areas of waste ground, proving those areas are not really a waste at all.

Just in time for the emergence of the Orange-tip butterflies that use this wildflower as one of their larval plants: Cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis).

One of the Forget-me-not (Myosotis) species, possibly Common (M. sylvatica), though the plant did seem very small.

A wildflower with a lot of variation in its flower colours, Common fumitory (Fumaria officinalis), also known by the vernacular name Earth smoke.

At this time of year, the east and west paddocks at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park are tinged lilac with the flowers of Hairy violet (Viola hirta).

Escaped from its original garden plantings and now adorning the edges of local lanes, Honesty (Lunnaria annua).

This was the scene alongside the bike / pedestrian path around the edge of Grangemoor Park this week, where swathes of beautiful Red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) are in full bloom.

A surprise Slow-worm

11 Saturday Apr 2026

Posted by sconzani in reptiles

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Anguis fragilis, British lizards, British reptiles, legless lizard, slow-worm

Though I do sneak a peek under any (not many) refugia I see on the ground, even in the dead of winter, when cold-blooded creatures might be expected to be seeking shelter, I usually find only ants and woodlice. So, it was with little in the way of expectations that I lifted the corner of a mat in a local churchyard last week, only to be shocked, in a wonderful way, by the presence of this Slow-worm (Anguis fragilis).

My first Holly blue

10 Friday Apr 2026

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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British butterflies, butterfly, Celastrina argiolus, first blue butterfly, Holly blue

Slowly, slowly, as the number of mild sunny spring days increases more and more butterflies are beginning to emerge. This beauty is a Holly blue (Celastrina argiolus), the first of our blue British butterflies to appear each year.