Category Archives: autumn

Dyer’s mazegill

19 Saturday Sep 2026

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Until last week, I had only seen this fungus once before, ten years ago in September 2016, in Cardiff’s Roath Park, but I’ve seen enough photos in the meantime to recognise the shape of its brackets, and the velvety surface and vibrant yellow edges of those brackets.

This is Dyer’s mazegill (Phaeolus schweinitzii), a fungus that’s a parasite on the roots of various conifer species, including pines, firs, spruces and larches. It’s usually found close to the roots of those trees but can occasionally be found on the trunks, and, as this specimen was, on the bottom of a dead, sawn-off pine stump. The fungus is present year round but is only seen when its fruiting bodies appear, between early summer and late autumn.

As to its name, I think you see from my macro photo below where the ‘mazegill’ comes from; the underside of the bracket is covered with an elaborate pattern of spore-bearing pores that resembles a labyrinth or a maze.

And ‘Dyer’s’? In his publication Fascinated by Fungi, Pat O’Reilly writes

There are records going back many centuries showing that certain [fungal] species have been used for dyeing wool and other fabrics. One of these is Phaeolus schweinitzii, whose young fruitbodies provide a bright yellow dye … Because of this use and its variable and misshapen pores, this attractive polypore is commonly known as Dyer’s mazegill.

First Turnstones of the autumn

17 Thursday Sep 2026

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A shorter post today after the verbal diarrhoea of the last few days …

Just to say I’ve finally seen my first two Turnstones of the autumn, tootling along the Ely embankment on the edge of Cardiff Bay, a location we usually see these waders throughout the colder months. Winter is coming!

An unexpectedly super day’s birding

15 Tuesday Sep 2026

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Last Wednesday, the day after the excitement of the White-winged black tern, I caught the train to north Cardiff, intending to do my usual walk down to Roath Park Lake, maybe have a mooch around the trees at Cathays Cemetery and Heath Park before catching the train home, but all that changed when I got to the reservoirs.

First, as I walked a circuit of Lisvane Reservoir, I noticed our county bird recorder Phil and another man staring intently at the vegetation along the perimeter fence. Local birder Simon had spotted a Redstart and they were hoping it would reappear. Though it was obviously being put off by the almost constant parade of walkers along the footpath, our patience was eventually rewarded during a lull in pedestrians, and the little beauty sat obligingly on the perimeter fence for a few photos, before disappearing once again. This was my first Redstart of the year so I was well pleased.

Then, Phil spotted a Wheatear flying out to one of the artificial islands and back again to the bank of the reservoir so, after thanking Simon and finishing our chat, I went to try to re-find that and, hopefully, get a closer look. It was very active but I managed to catch up with it on one of the steeper sides of the reservoir.

Next, I tried for some photos of the single late Swift that was flying around over the water with the Sand and House martins, but failed. So, then, I spent a little time watching the still-present Grey phalarope, hoping it would swim or fly a little closer – it didn’t.

At that point, I decided it was time to leave the reservoir enclosure but, ever the optimist, I thought I would have a look along the outside path in case the Redstart was showing out there – it wasn’t. By that time though, it was gone noon so, rather than continue with my initial plan, I figured that, as I was here, I might as well have a walk around the meadows north of the reservoirs, something I used to do often when I lived in the Roath Park area when I first moved to Cardiff but hadn’t much lately. And I’m so very glad I did, as I had only reached the end of the first meadow when I spotted a (the same?) Redstart in the trees ahead.

I’d only seen Redstarts flying from bushes to the ground and back again before but this bird was flying out from the trees well above my head height, putting on a spectacular display of fly catching, its red-coloured underparts flashing vibrantly each time it flew. It was incredible to watch, particularly as it was often accompanied by one or more Chiff/Willows (what birders say when they’re not sure whether they’re seeing Chiffchaffs or Willow warblers) also feeding on the abundance of flying insects.

I watched the Redstart and its smaller companions for quite some time, spellbound, thinking what an amazing day this had turned into, but it wasn’t over yet. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed yet another bird fly catching from the tree tops to my left, a distant Spotted flycatcher to polish off what had been an unexpectedly super day’s birding.

A skulking Sedge warbler

07 Monday Sep 2026

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The first of September, which shall forever more be known by me as ‘The Day of the 10 Spotted flycatchers‘, also produced another lovely bird sighting, this one completely unexpected and almost missed. I was buzzing from just having seen the first two Spot flies of the day when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement in the trees edging a local brook. I was tempted to ignore it but some instinct told me to look more closely, so I stood still, watching and waiting for leaves to move, a shape to appear.

I was on the point of giving up and moving on, when it happened again, only this time I caught a glimpse of something brown and a bit stripey. Be patient, I told myself. In the space of perhaps 15 minutes, as the bird moved along the tree line, I caught several more tantalizing glimpses, before it finally emerged a little further. And then I knew it, a Sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus), a bird that breeds in Britain but spends our winter in sub-Saharan Africa. It took another 10 minutes before this handsome warbler emerged far enough for a reasonable photo and then flew further along the field. I wished it well on its long journey (yes, I do often talk to the wildlife I see), and carried on, smiling even more broadly than before.

Even more Spotted flycatchers

04 Friday Sep 2026

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Not just ‘more’ Spotted flycatchers – the most Spotted flycatchers I’ve seen in one day. Ten, in fact.

A pair at the first location, along a hedgerow at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.

Then four together at the second site, along the woodland edge at Lavernock Nature Reserve.

And another four together at my final location, a hedgerow in the coastal fields.

What an absolutely brilliant day I had watching these stunning little birds feeding up before their long migration flights!

Spotted flycatchers in the garden

02 Wednesday Sep 2026

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It happened in August 2025, and again in May this year so, whenever I’ve been home lately, I’ve been keeping a keen eye on the garden. And last Sunday, 30 August, it happened again, not one but two hungry Spotted flycatchers feeding very actively along the woodland edge. They were entrancing to watch.

I took these photos from my living room and bedroom windows as there’s no real cover in the garden and I didn’t want to disturb their fly-catching – they needed the food for their migration journey more than I needed closer photos. And, after grabbing a few images, I put the camera down and just enjoyed their aerial prowess until the growing dusk made viewing difficult and the birds disappeared to roost a while in the vegetation, before they flew onwards during the dark of the night.

A very pale buzzard

31 Monday Aug 2026

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After my visit to Lavernock Nature Reserve last Wednesday, I walked the coastal path that runs along the cliff tops to the seaside town of Penarth. I was mostly looking down and around at eye level but noisy gulls and corvids encouraged me to look skywards, where five buzzards were gliding northwards along the coast. There followed a brief heart-thumping couple of minutes when I spotted this very pale buzzard among them, until I realised it was just a very pale Common buzzard. In case, that last sentence doesn’t make much sense to you, let me explain; this is the time of year when Honey buzzards, rare birds of prey that I’ve not yet seen, are migrating, so it’s always worth taking a thorough look at pale buzzards, just in case.

The first Whinchat

29 Saturday Aug 2026

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I’d just spent a wonderful 30 minutes wandering slowly around one of the fields at Lavernock Nature Reserve, enjoying the beautiful butterflies and other insects feasting on the lush Devil’s-bit scabious and other wildflowers, and had moved through to the neighbouring field when, out of the corner of my eye, I became aware of a movement. A small bird was flying up from its perch on a tall bare branch, catching flies or tiny insects too small for me to see.

At first, based on its behaviour, I thought it was a Spotted flycatcher but the sun was behind the bird so I couldn’t get a proper look at it and looking at the couple of photos I took didn’t help. So, I walked slowly up the sloping path at the edge of the field, trying not to spook the bird but wanting to get a better view of it. A Whinchat! My first Whinchat of the year. The first Whinchat seen locally as this autumn migration season really gets underway.

Autumn trees: Whitebeam

30 Sunday Nov 2025

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Whitebeam (Sorbus aria) is a tree I’ve overlooked until now, though I did take a few photos earlier in the year, of its smooth grey bark and its berries, before they ripened. (According to the Woodland Trust website, the berries ‘are known as chess apples in north-west England and are edible when nearly rotten’, which doesn’t make them sound very appetizing to me.)

Whitebeam’s leaves are quite distinctive: elliptical in shape with serrated edges, the upper sides a shiny dark green, the under sides light grey and hairy. In the autumn, they aren’t particularly spectacular, simply changing to yellow, orange, and brown as they lose their chlorophyll.

The Woodland Trust site has some interesting facts about this handsome tree:

Whitebeam timber is fine-grained, hard and white. Traditional uses included wood turning and fine joinery, including chairs, beams, cogs and wheels in machinery.

And

Whitebeam is native to southern England, though widely planted in the north of the UK. It is common in parks and gardens, but is quite rare in the wild.

And

The leaves are eaten by caterpillars of a number of moths, including Parornix scoticella, Phyllonorycter corylifoliella and Phyllonorycter sorbi.

All three of those moths have leaf-mining larvae, none of which I’ve yet seen, so I must keep an eye out next year.

Hawthorn flowering in November

26 Wednesday Nov 2025

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The Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) is also known as the May-tree, the only British tree to be named for the month in which it usually blooms. And, though its blossom does frequently appear a month or so earlier in the year, it does not normally flower in late autumn. Yet, this is what I saw on Sunday’s walk around the edge of my town, a Hawthorn in bloom and bearing berries. Mine is not the only sighting of this unusual phenomenon; when I posted a photo on social media, I was alerted to reports of at least three similar sightings across the UK, and I’m sure there must be more. If anyone ever doubts how much our climate is changing and how this will affect our natural environment, our flora and fauna, occurrences like this should be enough to banish those doubts.