Purple jelly

10 Friday Nov 2023

Tags

Ascocoryne sarcoides, British fungi, purple fungi, Purple Jellydisc

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 sconzani in autumn, insects, leaves

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

autumn leaves, British insects, importance of leaves, insect decline, insects in leaves, over-wintering insects in leaves, snails in leaves

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

A Black redstart returns

08 Wednesday Nov 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Black redstart, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding

I’ve been trekking across Cardiff Bay regularly over recent weeks to check whether the Black redstarts have returned to their regular spot near Cardiff Port. The fields were empty until last Sunday when I finally spotted this stunning little male. He flew in over my head while I was photographing a Mistle thrush, landed first on one of the piles of rocks in the centre of the field, then fluttered across to the other, to survey his domain. Shortly afterwards, he fluttered down to the ground and I lost him amongst the vegetation and was unable to re-find him. Hopefully, he will stay the winter and, as in previous years, be joined by others of his species.

231108 black redstart

Cones, and a few nuts

05 Sunday Nov 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, trees

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cones, conifers, nuts, seeds of trees

Probably because I am guilty of ignoring most conifers, I hadn’t realised how diverse their seed structures, their cones are. I am also not able to identify most of the conifers I see, neither the natives in local woodland nor the exotics in local parks. I must try to remedy that but, in the meantime, here are some of the many cones, and a few nuts, I’ve been noticing.

231105 cones nuts (1) 231105 cones nuts (2) 231105 cones nuts (3) 231105 cones nuts (4)

Cheery yellow

03 Friday Nov 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bisporella citrina, British fungi, cup fungi, Lemon disco, yellow fungi

After the last few grey, wet, windy days of Storm Ciarán, I thought we needed a little sunshine, even if it’s coming from the ground below rather than the sky above. It’s not exactly warming but it certainly made me feel more cheery after days of gloom. These are likely to be Lemon disco fungi (Bisporella citrina), though they really need examination under a microscope to be sure.

231103 lemon disco

Beautiful berries

22 Sunday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, plants, trees

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

autumn berries, autumn colour, autumn fruit, berries, fruits

I hate when this happens: I had a free Microsoft video editor that was easy to use but, for reasons known only to themselves, Microsoft have deleted it and introduced new software which is totally incomprehensible to me. So, I made a video of my berry (and other fruit) images but with no title card and no captions, and no time to spend trying to figure out how easily to add them.
So, from the local fields and hedgerows, here are: Black bryony; Blackthorn; Bramble; Buckthorn; two types of Cotoneaster which, I think, are C. horizontalis and C. luteus; Dewberry; Field rose; Guelder-rose; Hawthorn; Ivy (not yet ripe); Japanese rose; Privet; Snowberry; Spindle (not really a berry/fruit but rather a case for the seeds within, but I love their colour); Stinking iris; Whitebeam; and Yew.

Fungi at Cosmeston

20 Friday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British fungi, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Entoloma incanum, Honey waxcap, Hygrocybe acutoconica, Hygrocybe reidii, Mousepee pinkgill, Persistent waxcap

After a few wet, grey and gusty days being battered by Storm Babet, I thought we could do with some Friday night bright colour so here are some recent fungi finds from Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.

231020 cosmeston fungi (2)

The fungi above are Persistent waxcap (Hygrocybe acutoconica), the yellow beauties at the top above, and Mousepee pinkgill (Entoloma incanum), the lovely little green mushroom with the wonderful name. And, below, these are all Honey waxcaps (Hygrocybe reidii), in various stages of development.

231020 cosmeston fungi (1)

Redwings come rolling in

14 Saturday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

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autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, migrating birds, Redwing, winter thrushes

A week or so earlier than in recent years, the winter thrushes came rolling in, in small flocks and large, across the North Sea from northern Europe, to spend their winter months with us here in the British isles. Have you seen them? Here in south Wales, these first flocks tend to fly on through, south and west, and ‘our’ birds are either later arrivals or those earlier flocks coming back after eating up all the berries where they first alight. I’ve seen small numbers so far but I’m looking forward to getting closer views, of both the beautiful Redwings and the stunning Fieldfares, once they settle locally. (This photo is from a previous year.)

231014 redwing

A Jay and its acorn

12 Thursday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, trees

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Jay, Jay and acorn, Oak

This morning I spent a lovely half hour watching two Jays flying back and forth from Oak trees to their nut-stashing places, secreting away plenty of goodies to tide them over the winter months.

231012 jay (1)

But, apparently, this particular acorn was so good it had to be eaten immediately.

231012 jay (2)

Acorns and galls

01 Sunday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects, trees

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Tags

acorns, Andricus foecundatrix, Andriscus quercuscalicis, artichoke galls, British galls, gall wasps, galls on acorns, galls on oak trees, knoppers, Oak gall wasps, Oak trees

I was taking photos of acorns, thinking I’d perhaps write a blog about the many varied types of nuts, when it occurred to me how many galls I’ve been seeing on acorns this year. The gall-causers are having a good year.

230930 acorns (1)

I’ve covered these before (in Oak galls: knoppers and artichokes, August 2017) so won’t repeat myself here. But if you’re interested in what causes these particular galls, just click on the link to that previous blog. The galls in the first photo are Artichoke galls, caused by the tiny wasp Andricus foecundatrix, and the galls in the second photo, which have almost totally consumed the acorns, have been caused by another wasp Andriscus quercuscalicis.

230930 acorn galls (2)