Ash burst

25 Sunday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, trees

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Ash flowers, Ash tree, British trees, flowers on trees, Fraxinus excelsior, tree flowers

First, the black buds split open to reveal their furry brown inner parts.

210425 ash flowers (1)

Next, those brown furry parts burst open to reveal luscious purple ‘berries’.

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And finally, those purple berries transform – they’re not berries at all, of course, they’re the tips of the anthers of the spiky flowers that grow at the end of the twigs and branches.

210425 ash flowers (3)

This is an Ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior), and they have a very complicated but fascinating reproduction system, which I didn’t know about when I took my photos – you can read all about it on the Tree Guide UK website here.

A Dingy surprise

24 Saturday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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British butterflies, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Dingy Skipper, early emergence of Dingy skipper, skipper butterflies, spring butterflies

Well, this was a surprise! My first Dingy skipper of 2021 flitted up from the ground as I walked a path at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park yesterday, settled briefly nearby, then floated off and promptly disappeared. Luckily, I managed to fire off a couple of quick shots, and I think these show how easily this little butterfly can ‘disappear’ in the landscape – it’s incredibly well camouflaged.

210424 dingy skipper

In my five and a half years in Britain, this is the earliest I’ve seen a Dingy skipper by at least a week, and my average first sighting has been a little later still, around the tenth of May. I presume our recent warm dry weather has led to these butterflies emerging earlier than usual, though the lack of rain could be an issue for them as the ground is very dry and the usual flush of spring wildflower growth delayed.

The Blackthorn is buzzing

23 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring, trees

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blackthorn, Blackthorn blossom, British insects, British trees, insects on Blackthorn blossom, Spring colour

210420 8 bee sp

Flies and hoverflies, bumbles, bees and butterflies – all love feasting on Blackthorn blossom as much as I love watching them enjoying its bounty. And the blossom itself is so blindingly white it’s like a springtime snowfall when the petals fall to the ground.

Shieldbugs on gorse

22 Thursday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, plants

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British insects, British shieldbugs, Dolycoris baccarum, gorse, Gorse shieldbug, Hairy shieldbug, Piezodorus lituratus, shieldbugs on gorse

I had expected to find Gorse shieldbugs on these glowing gorse bushes (the clue’s in the name) but, in fact, the most numerous were the Hairy shieldbugs (of which there must have been at least 20).

The Gorse shieldbug (Piezodorus lituratus) (above left) looks very like a Common green shieldbug but its red antennae are a distinctive identification feature. The Hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum) (above right, and below) is a much more colourful character, a stylish combination of purple-brown and green, and it also has distinctive antennae, this time three white bands on a black base.

210422 hairy shieldbug (2)

The blues are back

21 Wednesday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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blue butterflies, British butterflies, Holly blue, Spring colour

There’s something quite startling about a tiny blue creature flying through your field of vision – it’s certainly eyecatching. I saw my first Holly blue of the year during Sunday’s meander but that one didn’t linger for a photograph. Yesterday, in a location where I didn’t see any last year, they were like buses – I saw four in total, including these two that floated in together.

210421 holly blue

Bonaparte’s gull

20 Tuesday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, Bonaparte's gull, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding

Identifying gulls, especially immature gulls, can be a nightmare so I was very chuffed with myself this morning when I managed to work out which of the many gulls floating and flitting around Cardiff Bay was the 2cy Bonaparte’s gull (2cy is birding shorthand for the bird’s age – this is the second calendar year since the bird’s birth).

210420 bonapartes gull (1)

This sighting was a lifer for me, and it was the 100th bird species I’ve managed to see on my patch this year (my patch being as far as I can walk in any direction from home, an approximate distance of five miles as the bird flies – bearing in mind I then have to walk the same distance home again!).

210420 bonapartes gull (2)

Small but feisty

19 Monday Apr 2021

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birding, birdwatching, Blue tit, British birds

Small but feisty; also cheeky and cheerful, endearing, frequently noisy, wanderer of the woodland, delightful, a colourful character – I’m sure you could all think of a lot more words and phrases to describe the Blue tit, one of the ‘ordinary’ birds we probably all take for granted but probably shouldn’t, because beautiful!

210419 blue tit (1) 210419 blue tit (2)

Wild in the woodland

18 Sunday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in spring, trees, walks, wildflowers

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Bluebells, British wildflowers, Herb-Paris, Lesser Celandine, Moschatel, Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage, Spring colour, spring wildflowers, Wild garlic, Wood anemone, woodland wildflowers

I thought for this week’s Sunday wildflower post, I’d take you on a walk through parts of my local woodlands to show you some of the gorgeous plants a’blooming there at the moment. There are other wildflowers too, of course – Primroses, Violets, Dog’s-mercury, etc – but my video features Wild garlic, Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage, Wood anemone, Herb-paris, Lesser celandine, Moschatel and Bluebells.

An empty cocoon

17 Saturday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British moths, cocoon, Elephant hawk-moth, Elephant hawk-moth pupa, moth pupa, pupa

I must admit that, at first sight, this object, which was lying on a dirt path in a paddock in my local country park, had me completely baffled. I even poked it with the toe of my shoe, thinking it might be poo. But, once I looked closer, I could see the outline of wings and realised it was an empty cocoon. But of what?

210417 cocoon (1)

Once I got home, I checked through the pupa images on Peter Eeles’s excellent UK Butterflies website but nothing seemed to fit. So, I posted photos of my find on Twitter and asked the man himself for help. Peter very quickly identified the cocoon as that of an Elephant hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor), a beautiful creature that I’ve not yet seen (click on the moth’s name to see a picture on the UK Moths website). At least now I know they can be found nearby.

210417 cocoon (2)

Wild and flowering

16 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Bush vetch, Garlic mustard, Herb Robert, Honesty, Red campion, Shining crane's-bill, Spring colour, spring wildflowers

These gorgeous wildflowers are now blooming in the sunnier, more sheltered spots I pass on my daily walks:

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Bush vetch (Vicia sepium), the first of the vetches I’ve seen this year.

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Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), also known as Jack-by-the-hedge

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Honesty (Lunaria annua), originally a garden escapee but now naturalised in the local countryside

210416 red campion

Red campion (Silene dioica)

210416 herb robert

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) and, below, its cousin, Shining crane’s-bill (Geranium lucidum). As you can see, the flowers of these two are very similar but the leaves are quite different.

210416 Shining crane's-bill