White Sweet violet

16 Sunday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Spring colour, spring wildflowers, Sweet violet, Viola odorata, Viola odorata var. dumetorum, violet, white Sweet violet

It’s violet time and, though I’ve blogged about violets several times before, I simply can’t resist sharing once again a photo of what for me are the prettiest of the violets, the white variations. The only white-coloured violets are Sweet violets (Viola odorata) and there are two white subspecies, Viola odorata var. dumetorum and Viola odorata var. imberbis. The violets in my photograph are the former, and I only know of two places locally where these grow. The latter variation doesn’t have a ‘beard’ (the tiny hairs within the flower), and I’ve still not found any of those.

A cheery Robin

15 Saturday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in birds, spring

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, robin

For no particular reason I am feeling the need for some good cheer today, and what better little bird to provide that cheery feeling than a cute wee Robin with its bouncy melody. Happy Saturday, everyone!

The unidentified fly

14 Friday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British flies, fly, unidentified fly

I mentioned in a recent post that one of the ways in which my local biodiversity records office (SEWBReC) supports its volunteer recorders (like me) is through book grants that we recorders can use to buy species guides to help identify our finds. With my grant I have so far obtained one book on spiders and another on craneflies; the third, A Photographic Guide to Flies of Britain & Ireland won’t, unfortunately, be published until October, and I really need it NOW!

It may be that I still won’t be able to identify some species even when I get the book as many flies require examination of genitalia to accurately determine their species but I’m sure it will help me with many of my finds. In the meantime, this handsome little creature that I photographed on my local park railings yesterday will remain nameless, though I will return and edit this post ** at a later date if I do find out which species it is.

** Well, that didn’t take long. It’s the next day and I might have a name for this little fly, Sylvicola fenestralis, thanks to the very kind help of Gary from the UK Safari website. (It really needs more detailed examination to be certain but this identification looks likely.) If you don’t know the UK Safari site, you really should check it out as it contains a huge treasure trove of information on all aspects of UK wildlife.

Toads having a moment

13 Thursday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in amphibian

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British amphibians, Bufo bufo, Common toad, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, mating Toads, toad, toad spawn, Toads mating

Though we seem continually to be plagued by cool nor’easterlies, Tuesday was mostly bright and sunny, and warm when out of those breezes, so perhaps it was that warmth that brought out the Toads, in greater numbers than I’ve ever seen in one place before. I counted more than 50 in the two small dipping ponds at Cosmeston and I’m sure even more were hiding beneath the weeds and amongst the reeds.

These warty beasties all had one thing on their mind: mating! If the smaller males weren’t already latched on to the backs of the large females, then they were searching for whoever might still be available.

Apparently, Toads return to the pond in which they were conceived so these little amphibians may well have been migrating from their hibernation sites back to these ponds in the evenings for the past couple of weeks. Judging by the many long strings of Toad spawn, their trip was well worth the effort, and the development of the next generation has now well and truly begun.

Coot vs Coot

12 Wednesday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in birds, spring

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Coot, coots fighting, fighting Coots

It’s that time of year when birds quarrel frequently, over territories, over females, over nest sites, and Coots are the masters of quarrelling.

First, their heads go down and their wings go up, presumably to make their profile look larger and more threatening to the opposition. And then, if the opposition doesn’t back down – and, in my experience, Coots rarely shy away from a fight, they attack.

Things can get very heated very quickly, and Coots use their large feet as weapons, hitting out at each other, latching on and pushing their opponents under the water, sometimes almost drowning them.

Fortunately, the fights rarely last very long, and I’ve never seen any injuries on the birds. So, perhaps their disputes look more vicious than they actually are.

A ragged beauty

11 Tuesday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British butterflies, butterfly, Comma, Comma butterfly

After a long meander around Cosmeston Lakes Country Park earlier today, I was just leaving the last paddock to head home and, I admit, I was feeling a little disappointed not to have seen my first Sand martin and/or Wheatear of the year, when I spotted this ragged beauty perched on the hedge, my first Comma of the year. That certainly put a smile on my face!

My first Pine ladybird

10 Monday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, ladybird

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British beetles, British ladybirds, Exochomus quadripustulatus, ladybird, Pine ladybird

I don’t know why this has taken me so long but yesterday, by sheer chance, I finally found my first Pine ladybird (Exochomus quadripustulatus), which also happened to be the 1600th species I’ve recorded with my local biodiversity records centre since I first started recording back in February 2016.

At first, I wasn’t entirely sure it was a Pine ladybird but a ladybird sitting on a Pine tree had to be a strong contender so I took some photos and, when I checked later at home, I was able to confirm that the red splodges that look a bit like commas on the front of its black wing-casings (elytra) are diagnostic.

The Pine ladybird is listed as common throughout much of England and Wales, though, in fact, there are only nine records of this little ladybird, dating from 2007-2022, in my local 10km grid square, and that is my excuse for not having found it before now! You can see a map of its distribution on the UK Beetle Recording website here.

Blooming Spurge-laurel

09 Sunday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in flowers, plants, wildflowers

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British flora, Daphne laureola, Lavernock Nature Reserve, native Daphne, Spurge-laurel

The highlight of my first visit of the year to Lavernock Nature Reserve was seeing, and smelling, the Spurge-laurel (Daphne laureola) in bloom.

This beautiful plant is one of only two Daphnes that are native to Britain; the other is Mezereon (Daphne mezereum), a plant I’ve never seen and which has only been recorded once in the wider Cardiff area, and that was 25 years ago.

Though its flowers are lovely and emit a scent like honey, they are quite understated, and it is the glossy evergreen of this shrub’s fleshy leaves that make Spurge-laurel stand out.

Zebra spider

08 Saturday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in spiders

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British spiders, Salticus scenicus, Zebra spider

I almost squashed this cute little Zebra spider (Salticus scenicus) as I leant on the railings of a lookout to scan for birds in Cardiff Bay this morning. There were no unusual birds to be seen so the spider was an even more welcome sight.

My new guide book tells me there are three species of Salticus in the UK and all three have black-and-white stripes that are quite variable so, in theory, ‘microscopic examination of the genitalia is necessary to confirm identification’. However, the maps in the book also show that Salticus scenicus is the only species found in my area so I’m fairly sure this is the correct identification.

Lunch was delicious

07 Friday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cormorant, Cormorant swallowing fish

It always amazes me how flexible birds’ beaks and jaws must be for them to swallow what look like impossibly oversized fish but swallow them they do. This handsome Cormorant, already beginning to acquire the white mane of its breeding plumage, made quick work of consuming this particular fish and one other in the short time I was watching. I’m sure it thought its lunch was delicious.