Author Archives: sconzani

The Blackberry man

10 Sunday Nov 2024

Posted by in autumn, plants, wildflowers

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This post was prompted by my bumping in to ‘The Blackberry man’ during yesterday’s walk. I don’t know his name; he’s just a random stranger I got talking to two winters ago during a walk around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park. I was picking a few Blackberries to eat, he was filling a small container to take home for his family. He’s an older man, originally from a Middle Eastern country, and doesn’t have great English, but we got by. And now, whenever we see each other at the park, we stop and chat for a few minutes.

Seeing him led me to look more closely at the Brambles. The majority of plants had already flowered, produced berries and the fruit that hadn’t been eaten had gone to seed but, scattered here and there amongst the plants, there were still a few flowers, and a few immature and ripe berries.

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I also couldn’t help but admire the exceptional colour variations and intensity of colour displayed by the Bramble leaves as autumn progresses. So, thank you Blackberry man, for reminding me to look more closely at these often-overlooked plants.

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More grassland gems

08 Friday Nov 2024

Posted by in autumn, fungi

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After a week when our skies have been grey and damp and low-cloudy due to something the weather forecasters have labelled ‘anti-cyclonic gloom’, and when voters’ choices have darkened the world around us even more, I feel the need for some colour for fungi Friday. So, here are more lovely waxcaps, photographed during another recent cemetery visit and at my local country park.

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68!

07 Thursday Nov 2024

Posted by in autumn, insects

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68! That’s the number of hoverfly larvae I found when turning over Sycamore leaves in a damp shady spot in one of my local parks last week. And they were all plump and well grown so had obviously been feasting well on aphids. (I have noticed during my leaf fossicking this year that, while insect numbers overall have been well down on previous years, the numbers of aphid seem about usual, which means that those creatures feeding on aphids seem also to have been thriving.)

241107 Epistrophe grossulariae

The hoverfly larvae were of only two types, the Epistrophe grossulariae shown above (these larvae are usually green but turn an orange-brown colour in the autumn, an effective camouflage tactic – hence the two colour variations shown here), and those from the various Syrphus species shown below (it’s not possible to be more specific as to the exact identification of these larvae).

241107 syrphus sp

Leafhopper: Tremulicerus vitreus

06 Wednesday Nov 2024

Posted by in insects, trees

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The hours I’ve spent fossicking around trees and turning over leaves have really paid off this year. As well as finding lots of new leaf-mining moth species, I’ve also been lucky with my search for new leafhopper species. Here’s the latest: Tremulicerus vitreus (previously known as Idiocerus vitreus). Looking at Aderyn, the Welsh biodiversity database and the NBN Atlas, there’s only been one previous Welsh record, back in 1989, and that’s showing on NBN as unconfirmed, so mine appears to be the first confirmed Welsh record. And I’ve now found around a dozen specimens, in two locations. I get the impression that I’m the only person checking for these creatures!

241106 tremulicerus vitreus (1)

The British Bugs website stresses that leafhoppers in this group are often difficult to identify but, luckily,

there is usually a pale midline on the pronotum and top of the face. Pale marks on the forewings are mostly restricted to the inner margin and the inner parts of some of the long veins….

241106 tremulicerus vitreus (2)

Though the best time to find these stunning little leafhoppers is between June and October on Poplar species, the adults do overwinter, and the females can sometimes be found on conifers during the winter months. Oh, and can you see why a photo of this leafhopper was posted on social media on Halloween, labelled the ‘Dracula bug’?

Mipits in the Bay

05 Tuesday Nov 2024

Posted by in autumn, birds

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This time of year can be fairly quiet in Cardiff Bay bird-wise. Any migrating birds have mostly passed through, and the weather has been quite calm, which means that none of the rarities we are lucky enough to see during the winter months have yet appeared. The one bright light in my birding day when I walk around the Bay is the return of those birds that left to breed elsewhere but have now returned to overwinter in the Bay’s calmer conditions.

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One of those birds is the Meadow pipit. Though there are Rock pipits in the Bay all year round, they look very grey compared to the rich spicy brown of the Meadow pipits newly moulted plumage so they’re easy to identify, even when they perch on the Barrage rocks.

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Most of the time, the Meadow pipits can be found poking about in grassy areas, looking for tasty insects but, when disturbed, they frequently pop up on to higher spots, like fences, until they feel it’s safe to fly down to the ground again.

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Leafmines: Phyllonorycter comparella

04 Monday Nov 2024

Posted by in insects, leaves, trees

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This was a wonderful surprise! I was checking Poplar leaves, not searching for anything in particular, when I turned over a leaf and found this tiny moth, presumably only just emerged from the pupa within its silken mine as its wings had not fully expanded.

241104 Phyllonorycter comparella (1)

I didn’t know what it was until I got home and checked my photos, and then was fairly sure I must have got my identification wrong as the Welsh biodiversity database was showing just four Welsh records, all closer to England, in the county of Gwent. The name I’d come up with was Phyllonorycter comparella (common name Poplar leaf-miner).

241104 Phyllonorycter comparella (2)

The mine certainly looked right, though it was difficult to be certain of the moth from what I had been able to see of its markings. But when I posted photos on social media, one of the moth experts I know almost immediately popped up with a comment ‘Blimey …’ and ‘I can’t think of any plausible alternatives’, and then another expert commented ‘Very good find’. And now my county moth recorder has confirmed my record. You can read more about this Poplar-leaf-mining moth on the British Leafminers website and see better photos of the adult moth on the UK Moths website.

Rowan, the thinker

03 Sunday Nov 2024

Posted by in autumn, trees

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Did you know there is an ancient Celtic zodiac, with trees as the symbols for each of the thirteen (moon-cycle-based, hence thirteen not twelve) signs? I didn’t, until I saw a post on Instagram by the extremely talented artist Luke Adam Hawker, who has just released a series of etchings, one for each of the signs (I wish I could afford to buy the etching for my sign!).

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Along with the tree images he’s been posting, he’s also listed information about the qualities attributed to people born under each sign. The Rowan tree is the symbol for a person born between 21 January and 17 February, summarised as The Thinker, and the qualities they are said to possess are as follows:

Philosophical visionaries with original and creative minds, often misunderstood due to their passionate ideals. Despite a cool exterior, they burn with inner passion, transforming situations and inspiring others with their unique perspectives.

Are you a Thinker? Do you recognise yourself in this description?

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The Rowans in my images, taken at Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery during a recent wander, are lush with berries at the moment, providing welcome fodder for both local birds and the winter thrushes currently arriving from Europe and Scandinavia.

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Like a miniature Mexican wave

02 Saturday Nov 2024

Posted by in insects

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It was quite mesmerising watching each of this centipede’s tiny legs moving, rhythmically, one small step after another, like a miniature Mexican wave along each side of its body.

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So, I thought I’d share a short video. I presume it is searching for food, a passing aphid, a stationary hoverfly larva, a slow slug perhaps.