Category Archives: nature photography

When is a parrot not a bird?

14 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in autumn, fungi, nature, nature photography

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When it’s a waxcap, of course. Still none the wiser? Well, meet Gliophorus psittacinus (the fungus formerly known as Hygrocybe psittacina), the gorgeous little Parrot waxcap or toadstool.

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Latin names are a bit of a mouthful but both gliophorus and hygrocybe (tissue carrying / watery head) refer to the tendency for all waxcaps to look and feel quite slimy. Psittacinus is Latin for parrot, and it’s easy to see where this little fungus gets that name – it’s just as colourful as any parrot you’ll ever see, ranging in colour from green, yellow and orange through to pink, purple and brown. Bright green seems to be its predominant hue when young, then the other colours are more easily seen as the green slime washes off its cap.

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Like all waxcaps it can be found in summer and autumn in grassy areas that have received no artificial fertilisers for 30 years or more, so look for it on roadside verges, in cropped paddocks and in older cemeteries, often in mossy areas. In Britain, it’s more likely to be found in the western counties and in Wales, and it also grows in the cooler parts of mainland Europe and in parts of North America.

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Is it a mouse or is it a bird?

13 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by in birds, nature, nature photography

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With its extremely effective mottled brown colouring, the little Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) can look very like a mouse as it creeps up a tree trunk searching for food, hence one of its common names, tree mouse. That’s if you can see the treecreeper at all. It’s so well camouflaged that it’s almost impossible to see when stationary, and you need to focus really hard on a tree trunk to notice its scuttling creep upwards in search of the tiny beetles, earwigs and woodlice that inhabit the crevices in a tree’s bark.

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The treecreeper has particularly large and sharp arched claws, which help it scale trees with ease, and its tail is stiff, which helps provide support when climbing. You will never see a treecreeper moving down a tree – it spirals its way to the top then flies down to the base of the next tree to start its climb all over again. And this feeding routine is almost constant – in fact, it’s so active that it’s been estimated treecreepers can climb as much as 2500 metres in a single day. That’s quite a feat for a bird that’s only 13cms in length. Its common name should really be mountain climber!

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There’s a cannibal in my kitchen

12 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by in insects, ladybird, nature, nature photography, winter

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For the third time in as many weeks a Harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) has appeared as if from nowhere in my kitchen. They like to find somewhere cosy to hibernate the winter away so I’m sure a warm spot near my gas boiler would suit them very well and normally I wouldn’t mind but this is the most invasive ladybird on earth.
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The voracious little Harlequin originated in Asia but was introduced firstly to North America and later to Europe to control aphids. Though it only arrived in Britain in 2004 – perhaps blown across the Channel, or it may have hitched a ride on a vehicle – it has already spread throughout half these isles. The problem is that the Harlequin doesn’t just eat aphids; not only does it compete with native ladybirds for food but it also devours their eggs and larvae, as well as the eggs and caterpillars of butterflies and moths. It may look cute but it has the devastating potential to wipe out all 26 resident species of ladybird.

This is one time when I really wish this ladybird would fly away home!

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Feeling sluggish

11 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by in fungi, nature, nature photography, slugs

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Once the rain stopped this afternoon, I went out for a wander, looking to see if there were any new fungi after the dampness of recent days. What I found were shell-less terrestrial gastropod molluscs, big fat slippery slimy slugs that had at least partially devoured many of the tasty-to-them, newly sprouted mushrooms.

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Isn’t it interesting that we use a lot of ‘slug’ idioms and expressions in the English language? If we are fighting, we are also slugging it out. If we’re working hard at a task, we’re slugging away at it. If we’re having a shot of alcohol, we’re having a slug of the drink. Well, today I saw many literal illustrations of the word sluggish: all those terrestrial gastropod molluscs, like the Leopard slug (Limax maximus) in my photos, were looking decidedly sluggish as they sleepily digested the hefty portions of fungi they’d consumed for their lunch.

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In case you’re a gardener and think I should have killed this creature, this slug is actually one of the good guys. It won’t damage healthy living plants, preferring fungi, rotting plants and even other slugs, and it recycles nutrients, helping to fertilise the soil.

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Scuffing up leaves

10 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by in autumn, birds, leaves, nature, nature photography

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For me, one of the great pleasures of late autumn / early winter is scuffing up leaves. Feet clad in hiking boots or wellies, I head out to those areas of park or woodland where the deciduous trees are at their most dense, and I look for the deepest drifts of leaves I can find. And I walk and I kick and I scuff those leaves up, producing little showers of orange and red and gold as the crispy leaves rustle and scrunch and flutter back down to the ground.

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I feel sorry for those grumpy adults who frown in my direction, their stern looks chastising me for such undignified behaviour. How sad they are to live such a restricted life, to have forgotten the simple – and free! – pleasure of kicking up a few leaves.

As the winter weather slowly morphs the fallen leaves into a dreary brown sludge, I continue to scuff when I can because those leaves now contain the worms and woodlice and grubs the little birds love to eat. And, if I’m lucky, my scuffing efforts will be rewarded by the sweet serenade of a robin, full-bellied and happy from its snacking.

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Little Jackie Bluecap

09 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by in birds, nature, nature photography

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With its face mask that looks a little like the Lone Ranger’s, isn’t this just the cutest wee bird? It’s a Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), commonly known in some parts of Britain as a Tom Tit or Jackie Bluecap. The name tit struck me as odd until I discovered it dates back to the early 14th century when it used to mean small or a small creature. This makes perfect sense when you consider that these little birds are only 12cm (4.7in) long and weigh in at about 11gms (0.39oz).

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It’s not just their petite size and their cuteness that makes Blue tits popular. They will happily snack at birdfeeders and take advantage of a nest-box in your garden, so are easy to watch and a great way to introduce young children to the joys of birdwatching. And they’re not only popular with the young ones – gardeners love the fact that one of the tit’s favourite foods is the caterpillar. Better in the tit’s belly than munching away on the cabbages in the vege patch!

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The stars that fell to earth

08 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in fungi, nature, nature photography

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I could hardly believe my luck last Friday when I discovered my very first Collared Earthstars (Geastrum triplex) in a Cardiff cemetery!

Nestled cosily amongst the leaf litter and liberally sprinkled with layers of pine needles from the trees above, they were almost hidden from view. It was only the regularity of the little orb, sitting atop the collar, that caught my eye and, at a quick glance, I thought it must be a grave ornament. But no!

Those first two Earthstars were well past their best but, for a relatively new fungi fancier like me, they were still a delight to behold. Imagine my joy then, when I returned the next day for a more thorough investigation, to find a total of fourteen (!) growing in close proximity to the first ones. I’ll certainly be keeping a sharp eye on this area in the future to see if I can spot any more little stars that have fallen to earth.

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Little robin redbreast

07 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in birds, nature, nature photography

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Very cute and more than a little cheeky, a delightful number of little robins entertained me with their antics as I walked through the woodland at Forest Farm Nature Reserve today. With such a bright red breast these dainty charmers are instantly recognisable, and one look from those overly large beady eyes is enough to make me kick up a pile of leaves so the robins can search for a worm or two.

As the autumn leaves get blown away by the first storms of winter, robins seem suddenly to appear in greater numbers – is that just because we can see them more easily in leafless trees or have they returned from a long summer holiday to remind us that Christmas is just around the corner?

Of course, robins are often depicted on Christmas cards, reminding us that, when sending cards first became popular in the 1860s, Victorian postmen wore uniform red waistcoats which earned them the nickname ‘Robin Redbreast’.

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