Monthly Archives: September 2023

The mipits are moving

29 Friday Sep 2023

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Yesterday, and on several other days over the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard the ‘pip pip pip’ call of birds passing overhead, a call I now recognise as that of the Meadow pipit (their name is shortened to mipit by most birders). At this time of year, these pipits move from their breeding grounds down to more southerly parts of Britain to overwinter where the weather is slightly milder. Though most fly straight across my area (yesterday I watched them heading out across the Bristol Channel towards Somerset and Devon), a few plop down in to the local fields to rest and refuel. Though they can be flighty and elusive, I’ve managed to grab photos of a couple before they’ve flitted up and off, on their journey south.

230929 meadow pipit

A new beetle

28 Thursday Sep 2023

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I was searching Hawthorn leaves for a particular leafmine when I spotted this tiny beetle sitting on a Hawthorn berry. It also spotted me so didn’t stay still for long and I only managed three slightly blurry photos.

230928 Cryptocephalus pusillus (1)

I think this is Cryptocephalus pusillus but there are a couple of very similar beetles (Cryptocephalus fulvus is another strong contender but seems to be more of a ground plant dweller). Although I’ve recorded this little critter, my record hasn’t yet been checked – the checking process can sometimes be lengthy / not happen at all, as there aren’t always experts available to check records, and most of those who do are volunteers so have to fit their checking in with the other demands on their time. When/if I get confirmation, or otherwise, I’ll update this post.

230928 Cryptocephalus pusillus (2)

Clouded yellow incoming

27 Wednesday Sep 2023

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A bit of butterfly magic happened yesterday when I was birding on Cardiff Bay’s Barrage. I’d just managed to get quite close to one of three Wheatears feeding on insects in the grass and had headed back to the path that runs along the top of the Barrage when I noticed something small and very yellow-looking flying in from the sea side of the rocks, across the road and the path I was standing on, then down in to the grassy area I’d just left. I followed it down the slope as quickly as I could, watching to see where it landed. And there it was, sitting quietly as if resting, a Clouded yellow butterfly, only my second of the year and the first I’ve been able to get photographs of. Just brilliant!

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Aphid mummies

26 Tuesday Sep 2023

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I feel as if I’m standing at the top of a very slippery slope, at the bottom of which is a chasm filled with aphids and their parasites! I say this because I’m finding that these are creatures that have been little studied, are very tricky to identify, and thus could easily become a bottomless pit of specimens I’m frustratingly unable to put a name to. (I already have two jars on my windowsill with parasitised aphids inside, waiting to see what emerges.) I really really should back away from the edge of that slippery slope right now but, before I do, here are some photos I’ve already taken, of what are known as ‘aphid mummies’. The aphids have had eggs laid in them by parasitic wasps, whose larvae have slowly eaten their host while it was still alive, then pupated and emerged as adult wasps – you can see the tiny holes where they’ve left their mummies.

230926 aphid mummies

An itch, those feet!

25 Monday Sep 2023

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Great crested grebes feature quite often on here but I couldn’t resist yet another grebe photo. I was watching this young bird successfully fishing for small fish when it stopped to scratch an itch. Great crested grebes spend most of their lives in the water, so we don’t get to see their feet very often. Grebe legs and feet are well adapted to their aquatic environment, with legs placed well back on their bodies and, as you can see, the lobes of their feet wide and flat to help propel them quickly through the water.

230925 great crested grebe feet

39

24 Sunday Sep 2023

Posted by in autumn, flowers, wildflowers

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39. That’s the number of wildflowers I photographed as I wandered around Cosmeston Lakes Country Park yesterday. I was also on the look out for American birds (if you’re not local or a birder, you may not know that there’s been an unprecedented number of American birds found in western parts of Britain after the remnants of Hurricane Lee swept through last week), but the sheer numbers and varieties and colours of these wildflowers were very welcome compensation.

230924 cosmeston wildflowers (1)

These beauties are in the order I found them as I walked: Oxeye daisy, Common ragwort, Common knapweed (with unusual contrasting petal colours), Eyebright, Bird’s-foot trefoil, Red clover, Black medick, Agrimony, Wild parsnip, Devil’s-bit scabious, Selfheal, Wild carrot.

230924 cosmeston wildflowers (2)

Goat’s-beard, Yellow-wort, Meadow buttercup, Bramble, Creeping thistle, Large bindweed, Great willowherb, Common mouse-ear, Hogweed, White clover, Meadow vetchling, Daisy

230924 cosmeston wildflowers (3)

Carline thistle, Scarlet pimpernel, Common centaury, Musk mallow, Flax, Rough sow-thistle, Blue fleabane, Creeping cinquefoil, Mouse-ear-hawkweed, Yarrow, Hemp-agrimony, Common fleabane, Tufted vetch, Spear thistle, Red bartsia.

The Ivy is a’buzzing

23 Saturday Sep 2023

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After the remnants of Hurricane Lee swept us with gusty winds and heavy rain for a couple of days, it was lovely to walk along the coast in the sunshine on Thursday. And that warm sunshine also brought out the little flying creatures to enjoy the now-flowering Ivy bushes. Migrating Red admirals sucked at their nectar and an assortment of flies, wasps, hoverflies and bees wallowed in the pollen. My favourites were the Ivy bees that only emerge at this time of year to enjoy this early autumn flowering treat.

230923 ivy bee

A Flatholm gull

22 Friday Sep 2023

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At Cosmeston, during Monday’s walk, I spotted this juvenile Lesser black-backed gull and was able to read the code on its left leg ring, F:D94. With a little searching on the European Colour-Ring Birding website, I found that the bird was probably ringed on the island of Flatholm, just over 3 miles off the south coast of Wales and a well known breeding site for Lesser black-backed gulls. I fired off an email reporting my sighting.

230922 lbb fd94 (1)

Just a short time later I got an email back, saying that the ringing group on Flatholm has now set up a website for the birds they ring. I found the website easy to use and it gives you instant feedback about the gull you’ve seen. F:D94 is one of this year’s breeding successes and was ringed as a chick on Flatholm on 1 July. So, for any birders amongst my followers, if you happen to spot a Flatholm bird (they have a tiny metal ring on their right leg and, on their left, a blue plastic ring with an alpha-numeric code that starts with an F), please do report your sighting on their Flat Holm Gulls website.

230922 lbb fd94 (2)