06 Thursday Jun 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature
I spotted my first Banded demoiselle of the season today. Though they’re usually found near water – around ponds and lakes, alongside slow-flowing streams and languid rivers, this female was perched on some garden shrubs in front of a tower block of flats at Cardiff Bay. The wind was blowing the greenery around so my shots are not very sharp but it was a real delight to see one of these little treasures again.
05 Wednesday Jun 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature
Tags
#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, chicks on rooftop, gull chicks, Lesser black-backed gull, urban gull chicks
Hearty congratulations to Mr and Mrs Lesser black-backed gull, who are now the proud parents of two chicks – at least, I can only see two – there may be more. You might remember that I posted about them nest-building back on 26 April and then again, on 10 May, to say I’d noticed they were now sitting full-time on the nest. Fingers crossed that the chicks flourish and don’t fall out from amongst the chimney pots. I will post another update in a week or so.
04 Tuesday Jun 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, trees
But you wouldn’t want to eat them! These are oak apples, the incredible creations of the larvae of the wasp Biorhiza pallida. By a magical process of chemical interaction, the larvae force the buds of the Pedunculate Oak to change and produce these galls, which the larvae call home until they’re ready to develop into their next stage of life.
A couple of the young oak trees in some fields near where I live are proving particularly attractive to these wasps so they have a bounty of apples growing on them this year. Yet another of Nature’s miracles!
03 Monday Jun 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature
Tags
#365DaysWild, Aberbargoed Grasslands, British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, Marsh fritillary, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary
The weather wasn’t ideal for my visit to Aberbargoed grasslands today, with little sun and a fresh breeze, but I thought I’d give it a try as the rest of the week is looking little better – in fact, it’s looking downright miserable, with rain forecast most days. To see butterflies, you really need sunshine and warmth.
Moaning aside, as you can tell from my photos, I did manage to find some Marsh fritillaries – I counted at least 25, some of which were already looking a little worn from their flying about, bumping into plants, and their interactions with others of their kind.
What I was really hoping to find were Small pearl-bordered fritillaries, as they’ve been seen at this site in the past week and they would have been a new sighting for me for the year. And I did see some – two, perhaps three – but they were either distant or flying rapidly past. They did, however, look much more orange in flight than the Marsh frits and their flight pattern was different. Luckily, I managed to grab one photo, with both a Small pearl-bordered fritillary and a Marsh fritillary on the same flower. It’s a heavy crop but I still like it.
02 Sunday Jun 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers
This photo was actually taken yesterday because, being the occasional numpty that I am, I didn’t take my camera with me when I went out for a stroll and some groceries this afternoon, after the rain had cleared. The bee is a Common carder (Bombus pascuorum) but I’m not sure about the geranium. Although it’s growing beneath a hedgerow in a rural lane, I think it’s a garden escape, as its description doesn’t fit with the native geraniums in my plant book. Whatever it is, it’s obviously tasty … if you’re a bee.
01 Saturday Jun 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature
Tags
#365DaysWild, British hoverflies, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Episyrphus balteatus, Helophilus pendulus, hoverfly, Volucella bombylans, Volucella bombylans subsp. plumata, Xanthogramma pedissequum
I found a new path today, which led me through swathes of long grass bordered by brambles and low shrubby bushes. I emerged with wet shoes and trousers from the dew still coating the grass but with lots of photos of hoverflies, so I will definitely be going back to explore further. Here are the hovers …
Volucella bombylans and Volucella bombylans subsp. plumata
At first glance you might think these two hoverflies were bumblebees, and that’s exactly what they want you to think – or, rather, what they want bumblebees to think, because they don’t want to be caught out when sneaking in to lay their eggs in the nests of the bumblebees they mimic (which are the Red-tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius and the White-tailed bumblebee Bombus lucorum respectively).
Helophilus pendulus and Chrysotoxum bicinctum
Do you see why the hoverfly on the left is known as The Footballer? I’m not sure which football team his colourful markings are meant to represent – perhaps Helophilus pendulus has its own team. Its distinctive bands of bright yellow make Chrysotoxum bicinctum one of the easier hoverflies to identify.
Xanthogramma pedissequum and Episyrphus balteatus
Xanthogramma pedissequum is another hoverfly with reasonably easy to identify markings – believe me, not all hoverflies are so easy! And with its rich orange colouring, Episyrphus balteatus looks almost edible, which is probably why it’s called the Marmalade hoverfly.
31 Friday May 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature
Tags
#365DaysWild, British butterflies, British moths, Brown argus, butterflies, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Grangemoor Park, Large skipper, Latticed heath, Mother Shipton, moths
I’ve had a lucky week with my Lepidoptera sightings – that’s moths and butterflies, for those who didn’t know – and the week’s not over yet. As well as the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth on Monday and the Burnet Companions on Tuesday, yesterday I found my first (three) Large Skipper butterflies for the year at Cosmeston.
And, today, my wander around Grangemoor Park was something of a Lep-fest, with the first (five) Mother Shipton moths I’ve seen in 2019.
And I spotted a nice Latticed Heath moth trying to hide in the grass.
And, then, just as I was about to head for home, I noticed something small flitting about along a side path, went to investigate and found two Brown Argus butterflies, which I have seen already this year but not in Wales. You can see why I named this blog ‘leptastic’!
30 Thursday May 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature
Tags
#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, blackbird, blackbird on church spire, British birds, singing blackbird, Turdus merula
I know Blackbirds like to find a nice high location from which to sing their lovely warbling melody but this local Blackbird has shunned the chimney pots and tree tops to seek out the highest possible spot he can find, the top of the only church spire in town. Several times a day he’s up there, announcing his presence, advertising his territory, spreading joy to all who hear him … except, perhaps, other male Blackbirds.
29 Wednesday May 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature
It’s been cold, wet and windy all day but the family’s got to be fed. So, along with all the other birds with hungry chicks to feed, Mr and Mrs Goldfinch have been working hard despite the inclement weather.
I’ve heard them several times in the ornamental cherry at the front of my house and found them twice foraging in the gutters out back.
I’m not sure what they’re finding – wind-blown seeds of some kind perhaps. It doesn’t look enough to satisfy a nest full of rumbling tums but I guess, for today, it will have to do.
28 Tuesday May 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature
Tags
#365DaysWild, Bird’s-foot trefoil, British moths, Burnet companion, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, moth, moths
I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the amazing Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth that I had actually been trying to re-find a Burnet Companion moth when I spotted the Hawk-moth. Well, today I got the one that got away yesterday – not the actual moth, as today I was at Cosmeston not Lavernock, and not just one but three Burnet Companions appeared for my camera today.
I felt a bit sad for the first one I saw (below left). Either it hadn’t developed properly in its pupa or something had happened to it since hatching, as its wings appeared damaged and it didn’t seem able to fly.
But the other two were flitting merrily from flower to flower, drinking in as much Bird’s-foot trefoil nectar as their tiny tongues could manage. And not only do they have lovely markings on the top side of their wings but they’re a wonderful buttery yellow underneath as well (above right).
earthstar 
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