31 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, flowers, nature, weather, wildflowers, winter
It was frosty white this morning but, as I write this at 4pm, the forecast snow hasn’t arrived. If I sound disappointed, it’s because I am – as an Antipodean who’s not seen much snow, I love it when it does happen. Still, I enjoyed crunching around the fields at Cosmeston this morning and made sure I took plenty of bird seed for all my hungry feathered friends.
30 Wednesday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, walks, winter
Tags
#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Moorhen, moorhen preening
Today was the calm before the storm – or, at least, it might have been – snow and strong winds are forecast for tomorrow afternoon but we’ll have to wait and see if that forecast is correct. Today, though, was bright blue skies, heavy white frost, a cracking walk around Forest Farm, lots of lovely birds (including my first Siskins of the year), nice catch-ups with birding friends and birding-chat with strangers – just perfect! Oh, and here’s one of the many Moorhens I saw, this one preening vigorously in the warm morning sunshine.
29 Tuesday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, nature, wildflowers, winter
Tags
#365DaysWild, clematis vitalba, feathery seeds, Old Man's Beard, plant seeds, seeds, Traveller's joy
This is Clematis vitalba, commonly known as Traveller’s joy though, at this time of year, when its feathery seeds festoon hedgerows, clamber over fences, and bedeck stone walls, I think its other common name of Old man’s beard is more apt. Today, the Old men’s beards were looking a little damp and they’ll now be completely sodden – I managed a walk early this morning before the heavy rain came in.
28 Monday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, winter
The sun may have been shining but it was frosty and very chilly when I spotted this Red admiral on the Penarth to Lavernock coastal path this morning. This is actually my second Red admiral for the year – I also saw one at Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff last week, but only managed a photo of a blurry red splotch high in a tree. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for this morning’s little butterfly, partly because of the cold – and it’s forecast to get much colder in the coming week – but also because there were no flowers to be seen anywhere today. If it doesn’t freeze to death, this little Red admiral might well die of hunger.
27 Sunday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, wildflowers, winter
Tags
#365DaysWild, #WildflowerHour, Blackthorn blossom, Crocuses, first flowers of spring, Lesser Celandine, Primroses, Snowdrops
Though we are currently shivering our way through a day of wintery gales and low temps, our January weather here in south Wales has generally been much milder than usual and, so, the flowers of springtime are already beginning to appear. As well as the Blackthorn I spotted on the boundary hedges at Cosmeston today, I’ve also this week seen my first Crocuses and Snowdrops and, yesterday, my first Primroses and Lesser Celandine in bloom. Although I love winter, even I will admit it’s cheering to see these first signs of spring appearing.
26 Saturday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature, winter
These honey-coloured mushrooms, Velvet shanks (Flammulina velutipes), can most often be found growing in the cold days of winter in groups on hardwood trees, which is where I found these beauties this morning, sprouting out of what remained of a large roadside tree that had been chopped off at a height of about four feet. Fungi expert Pat O’Reilly explains the origin of the scientific name on his First Nature website: ‘… Flammulina is a reference to the orange caps, which shine like “little flames” in the winter sunshine … [and] velutipes means “with velvet legs’’, and that’s exactly what the stems of these winter fungi look and feel like.’
25 Friday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature
This was such fun that I have not one but six photos for you today. As part of my walk from Roath Park via Bute Park to central Cardiff, I was wandering around Cathays Cemetery when I spotted this male Blackbird. He was using a water-filled urn on a grave, and his enjoyment of his bath was so wonderful to see that I was actually laughing out loud watching him. I hope these images make you smile as much as I was.
24 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Green woodpecker, yaffle, Yaffling woodpecker
It was a woodpecker-kind of day at Cosmeston today. No sooner had I arrived and cast my eye (and bins) up towards the chirping-finch-filled trees above my head than I spotted a Great spotted woodpecker. It wasn’t drumming but was studiously pounding away at the tree trunk it was on – preliminary hole excavation work perhaps.
Then, as I headed on along the path, I heard this Green woodpecker yaffling in the neighbouring field. A reasonably tall hedge separated us so I was able to get quite close for photos and to watch it prospecting for ants and other insects in the damp ground. I wonder if the winter dampness means its prey is further down in the soil – it was certainly probing quite deeply.
23 Wednesday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, plants
Tags
birding, birdwatching, blackbird, blackbird eating berries, British birds, Penarth marina, Pyracantha berries
Four Blackbirds, three males and a female, are currently sharing the colourful and obviously delicious (to Blackbirds) bounty of these Pyracantha bushes in Penarth Marina. Nom, nom, nom!
22 Tuesday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter
Today I went looking for the Siskin that were seen at Cosmeston on Sunday (and had been heard by another birder earlier in the month). They’re not birds I’m familiar with as they’re not common locally and I’ve only seen them a couple of times when I’ve been on bird club trips (oh, and once very high in the trees at Forest Farm). My heart skipped a beat when I heard a flock of Goldfinches in the trees ahead of me (the Siskin were associating with Goldfinches on Sunday) and saw a few flashes of yellow and green in the birds with them. Unfortunately, they weren’t Siskin but Greenfinches – I’m not complaining though, as Greenfinches are also birds I don’t see very often.
earthstar 
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