05 Tuesday Mar 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, spring
Tags
#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Coot, Coot nesting, Coot on nest, rubbish around bird's nest, rubbish in waterways
What can I say? Sometimes I get very angry at the human race!
04 Monday Mar 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, wildflowers
When I see violets, I always think of my nana Johno, my mother’s mother. She always had violets growing in her garden and would often pick a few to bring inside so she could enjoy their sweet scent. I spotted these particular violets on my way to Cosmeston this morning, growing wild on a grassy bank. I wasn’t able to smell them but I’m fairly sure these are Sweet violets (Viola odorata), which, as well as the traditional purple colour, can also be found in this pretty white variation.
03 Sunday Mar 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, nature, weather
With Storm Freya blasting us today, I only managed an hour’s stomp between rain bands but even that was difficult, trying to walk back up the hill from the marina into a 25mph head wind. My head was down, which was probably how I spotted these lovely bands of moss on top of a brick wall. It was interesting how the moss was only growing in strips where the mortar butted up against the terracotta bricks, not on the mortar or the bricks themselves. It sure looked pretty covered in rain drops.
02 Saturday Mar 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, plants, wildflowers
Tags
#365DaysWild, Alexanders, Angle shades caterpillar, Angle shades larvae, Angle shades moth, British moths, British wildflowers, Phlogophora meticulosa
First I noticed the frass (that’s pooh, to most of us). Then I thought ‘Something fairly big must be in these Alexanders’ flower heads somewhere’. And, sure enough, with a little gentle pulling aside of leaves and flowers, I found the frass creator, very well camouflaged by its light green colouring. And then I thought, ‘There might be more’. And, sure enough, I found three caterpillars on three different plants, and frass on several more plants. These are the larvae of the Angle Shades moth (Phlogophora meticulosa). I thought it seemed rather early for them but my local Butterfly Conservation expert George tells me you can find them pretty much any time of year.
01 Friday Mar 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature
These are Chinese geese, I think, a breed of domestic goose, but they have escaped from whoever owned them and have taken to hanging out with a large flock of Mute swans that live on the banks of the River Taff in central Cardiff. People regularly feed the birds in this area, so the geese and swans are joined by Mallards, big groups of Feral pigeons and scavenging gulls.
Apparently, Chinese geese have been domesticated for their eggs and their meat, and the knob above their beaks is larger in ganders, so the white goose must be a male and the three brown birds females.
earthstar 
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