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!
15 Friday Jan 2021
Tags
British fungi, Melampsora euphorbiae, Puccinia lagenophorae, Puccinia smyrnii, rust, rust fungi, rust on Alexanders, rust on Groundsel, rust on Petty spurge, rust on plants
It may be the middle of winter – and chilly with it – but rust fungi can still be found, thriving on those plants that survive these cold temperatures. I’ve found these three in the past week, and I’m sure there must be more around. The good thing about rust fungi is that they generally only infect one species of plant so they’re easier than most fungi to identify – and that’s got to be good thing!
Melampsora euphorbiae on Petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus)
Puccinia lagenophorae on Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)
Puccinia smyrnii on Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum)
14 Thursday Jan 2021
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birds, Ely embankment, Turnstone, turnstones in Cardiff
We can’t let January pass without at least one photo of a Turnstone, or two …
13 Wednesday Jan 2021
Posted in insects
Tags
anthropods, Common shiny woodlouse, Common striped woodlouse, crustaceans, life under logs, millipede, Oniscus asellus, Philoscia muscorum, woodlice
It was grey and gloomy, the frost had knocked over the wildflowers I was hoping to find, and the birds were quiet in the trees, so where should I turn for wildlife? A spot of log diving was called for and, sure enough, the under-log dwellers didn’t disappoint. I found millipedes, which are probably one of the Polydesmus species but I can’t be sure …
And several Common shiny woodlice (Oniscus asellus) …
And also a Common striped woodlouse (Philoscia muscorum), not a species I’d noticed before, and this one was a bit shy about being photographed … but it had a very impressive rear end!
12 Tuesday Jan 2021
These two fungi, found on Ash keys, were last week’s record of the week at my local biodiversity records centre, SEWBReC – not my record, that of another local recorder – but seeing this on Twitter last Friday reminded me to check the next Ash trees I saw. That opportunity came on Sunday’s walk and I found the fungi on just the second tree I passed by.
The two fungi are Diaporthe samaricola (the small black dots on the seed part of the key, on the left below) and Neosetophoma samarorum (the much smaller, black speckles on the wing part of the key, on the right in my photo). Both fungi are under-recorded in my area, so I’ll now be checking all the Ash keys I find.
11 Monday Jan 2021
Posted in birds
On my Christmas Day walk I wanted to spread some good cheer to my fellow creatures so, with humans being off limits, I went bearing seed to the small hungry birds in Cosmeston’s Cogan Wood. And I was delighted, and more than a little amazed, when the first bird to appear, before I’d even spread the seed about, was one of the resident Marsh tits, which came and sat in the bramble bush just a foot from my hand, waiting impatiently for me to back off. So, I was able to get probably my best photos yet of this charming little bird.
And, though I missed seeing a Marsh tit on my first visit to Cosmeston for 2021, I did see one on my second, and, once again, it was the first bird I saw when I got to one of their regular feeding spots. In fact, this tit was poking around for seed at the bottom of the tree stump, and then perched up on the bushes until I had sprinkled the stump top with seed. What a little star!
10 Sunday Jan 2021
Tags
I’m not sure I can subscribe to the ancient concept that wearing a wreath of ivy leaves around my head would stop me getting drunk but the leaves are certainly amazing and incredibly diverse in shape, form and colour. Juvenile leaves have between 3 and 5 lobes, while mature leaves have no lobes and can be shaped both like ovals and hearts.
And then there are the flowers, in bloom from September through to November and a source of food for more than 50 insect species, and the subsequent berries, ripe from November to January – or, until the berry-loving winter thrushes, finches, woodpigeons and other hungry birds gobble them all up. What an incredible plant ivy is!
