Author Archives: sconzani

And then there were two

18 Saturday Nov 2023

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On 8 November I posted about the return of a male Black redstart to a location this species has, in recent years, favoured for over-wintering in Cardiff Bay. I’m pleased to report that a female has now been sighted in the same area – I spotted her hopping around the top of the BBC building last Tuesday. A female was also spotted on waste ground a couple of blocks away later in the day, which may be a third bird or it may be the same female exploring the area. We will have to wait for more sightings and photographs to be sure but it is wonderful to have these little characters back with us again.

231118 black redstart

Lumpy brackets

17 Friday Nov 2023

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How to identify Lumpy brackets (Trametes gibbosa) (courtesy of the First Nature website):
– found on most kinds of hardwood trees but most commonly on Beech (these were on Beech)
– the pale upper surface is often discoloured by green algae, particularly away from the edges
– the pores are slot-like, rather than round or oval as found on other whitish Trametes
I found this impressive array of Lumpy brackets on a huge fallen Beech in Cardiff’s Heath Park.

Dog sick

16 Thursday Nov 2023

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There are two slime moulds that are named for their resemblance to dogs’ vomit. One is called Dog sick (Mucilago crustacea), which starts off yellow but fades to white, then eventually looks much darker due to its mass of black spores. The key thing with this slime mould is that it grows on grass or other vegetation.

231116 Mucilago crustacea

The other is Fuligo septica, commonly known as the Dog vomit or Scrambled egg slime (though, obviously, it’s not something anyone would ever want to eat, regardless of how much its yellow lumpy appearance resembles scrambled egg). Although it can look very similar to Mucilago crustacea, it grows on wood, on dead trees and branches in woodland areas but also on wood chip and bark mulches, according to the Naturespot website.

231116 Fuligo septica

The Dog sick shown here was found in a cemetery last week; the Dog vomit image is from my photo library. (I hope you weren’t having your breakfast when you read this!)

A bird’s verdict

15 Wednesday Nov 2023

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Hate is a strong word but I can honestly say that I hate plastic grass! Not only does it look fake, it’s incredibly bad for the environment. (Rather than me arguing the points for and against plastic grass, there’s a great article on Plymouth University website that answers the question ‘Why are artificial lawns bad for the environment?‘.) I particularly hate the plastic grass in the photo below – it’s literally at the beach, with just the coastal path separating the property from the sand and rocks, so its very presence spoils the natural environment that surrounds it. When I walk that way, I feel angry and sad and also baffled that someone who lives in such a beautiful location has chosen to cover their front yard with a carpet of plastic. When I passed by last week, for the first time I also felt amused, because the Pied wagtail, when it realised it would find no insects in this plastic desert, raised its tail and pooped, before flying off to more productive pastures. The bird’s reaction seemed perfect to me and entirely appropriate!

231115 pied wagtail on plastic

A mess of Hare’s-foot fungi

14 Tuesday Nov 2023

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When I take photos of fungi, I often try to tidy up the scene a little first, plucking away stray twigs or flattening with my shoe the grass that’s obscuring the view of the actual fungi. In this particular situation, that was not possible, partly because I couldn’t get any closer to the fungi (which were on private land) and partly because, even if I could’ve moved closer, there was simply too much vegetation to remove without damaging their fragile forms. So, I decided to present these Hare’s-foot inkcaps (Coprinopsis lagopus) as they really were, small and elegant black-and-white parasols partially obscured amidst a colourful mess of small branches and leaf litter. A very autumnal scene.

Leafmines: Coleophora gryphipennella

13 Monday Nov 2023

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Another leaf-turning session recently resulted in another leafminer, the tiny moth Coleophora gryphipennella whose larvae feed on various species of Rosa. (You can see the adult moth on the UK Moths website here.)

231113 Coleophora gryphipennella on Rosa sp (1)

According to the British Leafminers website, the larvae, which create a tiny case to live in, can initially be found mining leaves from late August to late October. They hibernate in their cases over the colder winter months before emerging to feed again from April to mid May in a newly constructed case. These moths are apparently common, though this is the first I’ve spotted in all my time spent staring at and turning over leaves.

231113 Coleophora gryphipennella on Rosa sp (2)

59!

12 Sunday Nov 2023

Posted by in autumn, flowers, wildflowers

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I was surprised at the start of the week to find wildflowers blooming that should long since have gone to seed and that inspired me to see just how many wild flowers I could find during this week’s walks. The answer, of course, is in the title of this post – 59! That is to say, I have 59 images to share but there were a few more plants in flower that I didn’t manage, for one reason or another, to photograph. Some wildflowers were quite unexpected, like the Carline thistle that had one flower open and 3 more buds still to develop; some were abundant, like the Yellow-wort still standing tall in a field at Cosmeston; others, like the Common stork’s-bill, were the last survivors of the strimmers that have been very active this month. Here they all are …

Purple jelly

10 Friday Nov 2023

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I don’t see Purple jellydisc (Ascocoryne sarcoides) very often in my area – not sure why, so it was a lovely surprise to spot it on some felled trees in Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park last week. As the First Nature website explains, this fungus has two stages: the telemorphic stage where the fungus forms cup-like structures in which ascospores are produced and the anamorphic stage that I found in which asexual (cloned) conidia are produced. There is a very similar fungus, Ascocoryne cylichnium, but it only has cup-shaped fruit bodies.

231110 purple jelly disc

Hide and huddle

09 Thursday Nov 2023

Posted by in autumn, insects, leaves

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When the weather’s cold and wet, it’s time to hide and huddle. I found five 7-spot ladybirds and a Hairy shieldbug in this rolled-up leaf. (And, don’t fret, I rolled it up again so they could get back to their snoozing.)

231109 hide huddle hairy shieldbug 7spots

And they’re not the only ones choosing leaves for home and shelter as the colder weather approaches. All sorts of creatures creep or crawl or slide inside a conveniently place leaf-roll. Like these earwigs and, below, those snails.

231109 hide huddle earwigs

Though these leaves will eventually fall to the ground, they’ll be home to a diverse abundance of creatures during the winter months, which is why it’s always best to let some leaves remain on the ground – please don’t be tempted to rake or blow them all away for the sake of tidiness. Nature is not tidy and, given there’s been a 60% decline in flying insects in the UK in the last 20 years (just one example of Nature’s overall decline), leaving leaves in place is the very least we can do.

231109 hide huddle snails