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Author Archives: sconzani

346/365 Sea shells

12 Thursday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in coastal fauna, molluscs, nature, seaside

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at the seaside, seashell, shells, shells on beach

When the rain finally abated mid afternoon, I went to vote and then headed down to the seaside, to clear my head with some fresh air. The tide was out so I couldn’t resist having a brief fossick along the beach. It’s a stony shore and there are never many shells to be found but I did find a few nestled amongst the stones.

191212 sea shells (9)
191212 sea shells (3)
191212 sea shells (1)
191212 sea shells (6)
191212 sea shells (7)
191212 sea shells (5)
191212 sea shells (4)
191212 sea shells (8)

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345/365 Yew berries

11 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in nature, trees, winter

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berries for winter thrushes, winter berries, Yew, Yew arils, Yew berries, Yew fruit, Yew taxanes, yew tree

If the two large Yew trees I passed on my way to the library this morning were not growing on a main road, I’m sure their copious quantities of red berries would all have been scoffed by now by hungry winter thrushes.

191211 yew berries (1)

And if the berries last a while longer and the weather gets colder, they still might be, the birds forced to brave the passing traffic and pedestrians in search of nourishing food.

191211 yew berries (2)

The stones inside those juicy red berries (which are more correctly named arils) are poisonous to most creatures but they pass right through a bird’s digestive system so the bird remains unharmed.

191211 yew berries (3)

In fact, birds are essential to the growth and spread of Yew trees – their digestive system helps to weaken the seed’s tough coating, which enables it to sprout, and birds are the main dispersal agents for Yew seeds.

191211 yew berries (4)

We humans should never eat the seeds, however, as our stomach acids are strong enough to break down the seed coating, thereby releasing the taxanes (the poisonous alkaloids) into our bodies.

191211 yew berries (5)

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344/365 Another day, another Robin

10 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, robin, Robin Redbreast

This photo was taken yesterday, when it wasn’t windy and raining and cold, and I had seeds for the birds, sun on my face, and this Robin smiled upon me. Joy!

191210 robin

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343/365 The nut warbler

09 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Nut warbler, nuthatch, Telor y cnau

The Nuthatch is such an entertaining bird, with its propensity to run, quite quickly, headlong down tree trunks.

191209 nuthatch (1)

Over the centuries, and throughout Britain, this very handsome bird has acquired a wealth of vernacular names. My Fauna Botannica lists the following: mud dabber and mud stopper (I’ve never seen one near mud but this, apparently, refers to its plastering of mud around the entrance to its nest); nutcracker, nutback, nut jobber and nut topper (it is rather partial to nuts); woodcracker, woodbacker and woodjar (it likes to wedge the nuts it collects in cracks in tree bark, to hold them firm while it attacks them with its beak); and jar bird and jobbin (‘to job’ meaning ‘to jab’, at the nuts).

191209 nuthatch (2)

In Welsh the Nuthatch is Telor y Cnau, which translates as Nut warbler. I’m not sure I would label its rather strident call a warble – to me it’s more of a trill, but that’s just my interpretation.

191209 nuthatch (3)

This particular bird was stocking up on the sunflower hearts I had put out for the small birds to snack on at Cosmeston today.

191209 nuthatch (4)

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342/365 Winter 10, again

08 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, plants, wildflowers, winter

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

#WildflowerHour, #winter10, British flora, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter wildflowers

Though my title is ‘Winter 10’, I’ve actually found 18 wildflowers in bloom during this week’s meanderings. They are: Bittercress species, Black nightshade, Bristly oxtongue, Daisy, a Gorse species, Groundsel, one of the Hawkbits, Herb Robert, the invasive Himalayan balsam, still one flower of Meadow crane’s-bill, Petty spurge, Common ragwort, Red clover, Red valerian, one of the umbellifer species, Winter heliotrope (this bud is not quite open but I couldn’t reach the one that was), and Yarrow.

191208 bittercress sp
191208 black nightshade
191208 bristly oxtongue
191208 daisy
191208 gorse sp
191208 groundsel
191208 hawkbit sp
191208 herb robert
191208 himalayan balsam
191208 meadow cranes-bill
191208 petty spurge
191208 ragwort
191208 red clover
191208 red valerian
191208 umbellifer sp
191208 white deadnettle
191208 winter heliotrope
191208 yarrow

My apologies for the sometimes blurry images and my fingers appearing in some shots – it’s been a week of frequent gusty winds and rain, not conducive to macro photography.

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341/365 Marsh tit

07 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cogan Wood, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Marsh tit

Having stocked up on bird seed yesterday (the littlies are rather partial to sunflower hearts, I’ve found), I was delighted today to tempt out one of the resident Marsh tits in Cosmeston’s Cogan Wood.

191207 Marsh tit (1)

Actually, it wasn’t all that difficult. I was mobbed by Great and Blue tits as soon as I began sprinkling the seeds on an old tree stump, with one particularly cheeky Great tit grabbing a seed from my container before I’d even started tipping them out.

191207 Marsh tit (2)

I wasn’t sure the Marsh tit would come but it soon appeared and, although initially a little hesitant to compete with the other birds, it didn’t take long to summon its courage and was picking up 2 or 3 seeds at a time before flying off to find somewhere quiet to eat them.

191207 Marsh tit (3)

We’re lucky to have this bird at Cosmeston as it’s now an ‘uncommon and thinly distributed resident breeder’, according to the Glamorgan Bird Club’s Eastern Glamorgan Bird Report No.56, and these tits were only recorded in 8 locations in our county in 2017.

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340/365 Plums and custard

06 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature, trees, winter

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British fungi, fungi on conifers, Plums and custard, Tricholomopsis rutilans, winter fungi

In this case, Plums and custard does not refer to a tasty Friday night dessert, sadly, but rather to a deliciously named fungus with the scientific name Tricholomopsis rutilans, which certainly does not roll off the tongue.

191206 plums and custard (1)

The Plums and custard name (and the alternate, Strawberry fungus) don’t refer to taste or edibility, however – at its most vibrant, this fungus displays rich shades of a plum-like colour on its cap and its gills are a lovely custard yellow.

191206 plums and custard (2)
191206 plums and custard (3)
191206 plums and custard (4)
191206 plums and custard (5)

These wood-rotting fungi are usually found growing on decaying conifers, and you can read more about them, their habitats, and their identification features on the First Nature website.

191206 plums and custard (6)

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339/365 Hungry squirrels

05 Thursday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in mammal, nature, trees, winter

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

grey squirrel, red berries, squirrel eating berries, winter berries

191205 grey squirrel (2)

It’s not just the birds that are consuming winter berries at the moment.

When I’m out walking, I often hear scurrying noises in the tree branches above my head and look up to see Grey squirrels, their cheeks stuffed with berries, their paws reaching out for the next delicious morsels.

And it’s not just a berry dessert they crave, of course, as they’re also well known for their liking for nuts. In the photo, right, the squirrel is holding Alder cones, which it has just been munching on.

191205 grey squirrel (1)

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338/365 Slime time

04 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in nature, fungi, winter

≈ 4 Comments

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Comatricha nigra, Comatricha slime mould, slime, slime mould, slime mould on umbellifer stem

At this time of year, I am often caught out by curious passers-by, pulling dead umbellifer stems carefully out of the ground and, as I don’t wear my reading glasses when out walking, pushing up my other specs and pulling the stems very near to my face for close examination.

191204 comatricha nigra (2)

Most people walk quickly past with a hurried but cautious hello to the ‘mad woman’ but some, the braver or more curious, will dare to ask what I’m looking at. And after I show them the gorgeous little things I’ve found, I like to think they might actually, at some future date, pull up the odd stem themselves for a look.

191204 comatricha nigra (1)191204 comatricha nigra (3)

I think these tiny lollipops are from the Comatricha family of slime moulds, possibly Comatricha nigra. They start off very light in colour, gradually darken to a very dark brown, almost black, before drying and crumbling to release their spores.

191204 comatricha nigra (4)

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337/365 Condensation

03 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in nature, winter

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

condensation, reflections in water, water, water droplets

Condensation: noun; Water which collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it (Oxford Dictionary).

191201 condensation (1)

As I live in an old, Grade-II-listed building that only has single glazing and I don’t like to have my heating on so high that I can wear t-shirts all year round, I sometimes get condensation on the inside of my windows. It can be a bit tedious to deal with but it’s also rather lovely, especially when you look closely and see the outside world reflected upside down in the water droplets.

191201 condensation (2)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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Recent blog posts

  • 346/365 Sea shells December 12, 2019
  • 345/365 Yew berries December 11, 2019
  • 344/365 Another day, another Robin December 10, 2019
  • 343/365 The nut warbler December 9, 2019
  • 342/365 Winter 10, again December 8, 2019

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Unless otherwise acknowledged, the text and photographs on this blog are my own and are subject to international copyright. Nothing may be downloaded or copied without my permission.

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