25 Monday Jan 2021
Posted in birds
Like many people who enjoy walking with nature, I pick up the odd thing that attracts my eye: nuts and cones, galls, pebbles and fossils, skulls (small creatures – I only have a couple). And feathers, some of which I thought I’d share over the coming weeks. From the location where I found these two – under tall trees at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, and from the markings, I think these are Buzzard feathers.
24 Sunday Jan 2021
Holly flowers are tiny, tucked away in the crooks of branches, inconspicuous behind the mass of glossy evergreen leaves. And that’s my excuse for not having noticed them until quite recently.
I’ve since read that Holly (Ilex aquifolium) is dioecious, which, if you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might remember from my March 2020 post, Wild word : dioecious, means that Holly’s male and female flowers occur on separate trees. I think the flowers I found are male, as the female flowers have small green spheres in their centres, which, if pollinated, would grow in to the red berries we all associate with the Holly tree.
23 Saturday Jan 2021
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Bramble seeds, British birds, bullfinch, Bullfinch eating Bramble seeds, female Bullfinch
At this time of year, I often see Bullfinches on Bramble bushes, nibbling on the seeds of those desiccated fruits that weren’t consumed by the berry loving birds in the autumn. This female was feasting happily close to one of the paths at Cosmeston last Monday.
22 Friday Jan 2021
This colony of Hairy curtain crust (Stereum hirsutum) was making an impressive display on a fallen tree I passed today.
These fungi often start out hugging the wood they’re growing on (the scientific description is resupinate, with the fertile surface adnate to the substrate), then form wavy edged brackets are they age.
The upper surface is hairy (hence the epithet hirsutum), and the lower surface smooth, with no obvious pores.
21 Thursday Jan 2021
Posted in trees
They call them pussy willows,
But there’s not a cat to see,
Except the little furry toes
That stick out on the tree.
I think that very long ago
When I was just born new,
There must have been whole pussy cats,
Where just the toes stick through.
And every spring it worries me,
I cannot ever find
Those willow cats that ran away
And left their toes behind.
~ ‘The Willow Cats’, Margaret Widdemer (1884-1978), American poet, novelist, and Pulitzer Prize winner
20 Wednesday Jan 2021
Tags
British leaf mines, Cerodontha iridis, leaf-mining fly pupae, leafminer, pupa, pupae of Cerodontha iridis
Pupa: Noun (pl. pupae); An insect in its inactive immature form between larva and adult, e.g. a chrysalis; Origin: late 18th century modern Latin, from Latin pupa ‘girl, doll’ (Oxford Dictionary).
I don’t find pupae very often so I was very pleased to find these – all the black oblong shapes, not just the one outside the leaf – the pupae of the leaf-mining fly Cerodontha iridis. More about that creature in my blog post of 7 December.
19 Tuesday Jan 2021
We’re half way through Storm Christoph – it drenched much of the country last night and is forecast to blast us again later today and all of tomorrow. It’s times like these I am thankful I live in a town that’s mostly built on a clifftop, though even here the heavy rainfall has caused surface flooding on the already sodden ground. I can enjoy the reflections but my thoughts are with those much less fortunate.
18 Monday Jan 2021
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birds, Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve, Meadow pipit, Pied wagtail, Stonechat
Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve is not just about wetlands; there’s also a large swathe of grass where, during spring and summer, Bee orchids thrive (when the council operatives don’t cut them!) and where wildflowers bloom in abundance (ditto!). At the moment many hungry small birds can be seen in this area (when they’re not disturbed by dogs that should be on their leads in a nature reserve), searching for much needed insects and seeds. During my recent walks along the adjacent footpath, I’ve enjoyed seeing a pair of Meadow pipits, a male Stonechat, and several Pied wagtails grazing contentedly together.
17 Sunday Jan 2021
Posted in flowers, wildflowers, winter
Tags
British wildflowers, midwinter wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter colour, winter wildflowers
Nature’s resilience amazes me! It’s the middle of winter, we’ve had some very hard frosts and really chilly days as well as torrential rain, yet I’ve still been able to find 25 species of wildflower in bloom this week.
These heroes are Alexanders, Bramble, a garden-escapee Campanula species, Creeping buttercup, Daisy, Dandelion, Field speedwell, Gorse, Groundsel, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Lesser celandine, Mayweed species, Meadow buttercup, Nipplewort, Oxeye daisy, Primrose, Ragwort, Red valerian, Shepherd’s purse, Smooth sow-thistle, Sweet violet, Wild radish, and Winter heliotrope.
16 Saturday Jan 2021
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds birding, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff Bay birds, Ring-necked duck, Scaup, Tufted duck
For the past couple of months it’s been wonderful to have both a female Scaup and a Ring-necked duck over-wintering in my local area. They spend most of their time amongst flocks of Tufted ducks in Cardiff Bay, either behind the Ice Rink or in the wetlands reserve, though they also venture occasionally to Cosmeston Lakes. Much of the time they can be found together, as if they’re aware that they’re the outsiders in the flock, though they can sometimes be found in separate locations. I was lucky during Thursday’s walk to see them both in a smattering of sunshine and together – in fact, I managed to get all my ducks in a row!
earthstar 
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