Category Archives: nature

The Witches’ Hats

16 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by in autumn, fungi, nature

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I make no apology for the fact that you will be seeing increasing numbers of fungi on this blog in the coming months. For me, they provide the cheery colours and intriguing shapes in the landscape after the glory of the wildflowers has faded and, even if you don’t particularly like fungi, there will be pretty pictures to peruse.

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The Blackening waxcaps (scientific name Hygrocybe conica) have been some of the first to appear in my local waxcap hotspot, Cathays Cemetery. The fact that its 110-acre grounds have remained largely undisturbed since the cemetery closed to new burials about 35 years ago means its grassy spaces are ideal for waxcaps, as the hygrocybe species are sensitive both to pollution and to agricultural chemicals.

Blackening waxcaps start life in a variety of colours, from yellow and orange through to red – sometimes all those shades in just one little mushroom – then, as they age, they blacken, eventually turning jet black. As you might guess from the ‘conica’ in their scientific name, they have a conical shape, so I think you can see why they are often called the Witch’s Hat waxcap. Meetings of their covens are happening all over Europe right now!

Conversations with robins: 5

15 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by in birds, nature

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Me: ‘Robin, you’re back!’

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Robin: ‘Back? I haven’t been away.’
Me: ‘But I haven’t seen or heard from you in months.’

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Robin: ‘Well, no, lady, I’ve been too busy to just sit around and chat, y’know.’
Me: ‘What’ve you been up to, little robin?’

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Robin: ‘I had a mate to find and a territory to defend and a nest to build and kids to feed and rear. Summer’s a busy time for us robins!’
Me: ‘Phew, I feel tired just listening to you. And here was me thinking you were just hiding in the leafy trees or that you’d gone on your summer holidays.’

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Robin: ‘Holidays? Fat chance! It’s been hard work for the last few months.’
Me: ‘You do look as if you’ve lost weight.’

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Robin: ‘I have, and now winter’s coming so I need to fatten up to keep warm. So, lady, got any food for me today?’

Mellow yellow

14 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by in flowers, nature

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It’s a rather grey and gloomy Friday evening here in Cardiff so I think we need some brightening up. There aren’t a lot of flowers around now that autumn is well and truly here but the dandelions and their lookalikes continue to provide little bursts of sunshine on grassy swards, the rudbeckias (at least, I think that’s what they were) have just finished a magnificent show at my local park and, at the cemetery, the Fox and cubs blooms are adding wonderful spots of orange to the autumnal landscape. Happy weekend, everyone!

¡Hola, Hoatzin!

12 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by in birds, nature, parks

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This is one of the world’s weirdest birds. In fact, it’s unique. In taxonomic terms, it has its own family, the Opisthocomidae, its own suborder, the Opisthocomi, and its own genus, Opisthocomus. This is Opisthocomus hoazin, common name Hoatzin, also known as the stinkbird. In 2015, examination of its DNA proved that the Hoatzin is the last surviving bird of a line that branched off from the avian family tree around the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago.

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My encounter with these incredible birds happened during the eighteen months I lived in Peru. In August 2011, I took advantage of an extra-long holiday weekend to take a trip to the Peruvian Amazon in the Manu National Park. As our guide Abraham poled us slowly around Machu Wasi Lake on a wooden raft, these primitive creatures made evil hissing noises when we approached their perches in the trees surrounding the lake. Abraham explained that the Hoatzin have prehistoric-looking claws on their wings to help them scramble amongst the branches, and they’re called stinkbirds because they have a digestive system unique among birds: they ruminate like cows and use the bad smell that this process creates to scare away their enemies. I’m glad we didn’t get too close but it was certainly an incredible encounter with one of Nature’s little miracles.

The curious conehead

11 Tuesday Oct 2016

Posted by in insects, nature

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CC: ‘I didn’t much like being imprisoned in that white tub, you know.’
Me: ‘ Sorry! We just wanted to look at you more closely.’

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CC: ‘Well, I don’t blame you. I am rather cute, aren’t I?’
Me: ‘You certainly are but that’s not why we wanted to look at you.’

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CC: ‘Oh. What were you looking at me for then?’
Me: ‘We wanted to check what you were.’

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CC: ‘And what am I?’
Me: ‘You’re a type of bush cricket called a Long-winged conehead.’

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CC: ‘How can you tell that?’
Me: ‘Well, you have a green body and long, brown wings, a brown stripe down your back and a pointed head.’

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CC: ‘I’m not sure I like the name conehead. Couldn’t you find me a better name than that?’
Me: ‘Well, your scientific name is Conocephalus discolor. Is that better?’

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CC: ‘Oh, yes. That makes me sound very special. What else do you know about me?’
Me: ‘You mostly eat grass, though you don’t mind the odd small insect to snack on. You’re mostly found in the south of Britain, though some of your more adventurous friends are moving northwards. And you like living in a variety of places, from farm and grassland and wooded areas to coastal reedbeds and even boggy marshes.’

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CC: ‘I can see I have no secrets from you.’
Me: ‘I’m sure there’s a lot I don’t know about you though, like you, I am curious about the world around me. Now I think it’s time you flew off and found a tasty bit of grass for your lunch.’

The fungus that looks like porcelain

10 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by in autumn, fungi, nature, parks, trees

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I saw my very first Oudemansiella mucida, the Porcelain Fungus, last Friday, during a wander around Cardiff’s Heath Park and knew at once what it was. Such immediacy of identification does not happen often in the world of the fungi fanciers so this was a rare and much-valued moment. But this is one fungus that is easy to recognise.

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Firstly, it lives exclusively on beech, and I have been keeping a close watch on a huge old beech tree that came down in a big storm last winter, which, much to their credit, was sawn into huge chunks and left at the woodland edge by Cardiff Council staff. The beech is now providing a home to many small creatures, not just to fungi. Secondly, it is a clean, almost translucent white, like my granny’s tea cups used to be, and its caps are frequently covered in a thin layer of slime (hence the second part of their scientific name: mucida refers to this transparent mucus). That’s not as revolting as it sounds – the shiny surface makes these little beauties shimmer in the sunshine.

Interestingly, this fungus produces chemicals called strobilurins, which have anti-fungal properties. The Porcelain Fungus uses them to inhibit and even attack opposition fungi in order to protect its territory but scientists have refined these same chemicals to produce anti-fungal agents that can protect crops from fungal attacks. Like so many fungi, the Porcelain fungus is beautiful and utile.

UK Fungus Day 2016

09 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by in fungi, nature

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The sun shone and the people came, full of interest and enthusiasm … but where were the fungi? It had been a dry week and, as Parc Slip Nature Reserve sits on top of an old coal spoil tip, the ground doesn’t retain moisture well, so the fungi were nowhere to be found.

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Luckily, Glamorgan Fungus Group president Mike Bright is a man of forethought and ingenuity. When he checked the site of the walk yesterday and found it virtually barren, he spent the rest of the day – six whole hours! – scouring other locations for fungi specimens and, thanks to his super-human efforts, today’s walk was a huge success. Mike led us on a wander in the woods and combined that with a ‘show and tell’ of what he’d found the previous day, and everyone was mightily impressed. I reckon he must take the prize for the best organiser for UK Fungus Day 2016, and for finding the biggest parasol mushroom!

Fun with fungi

08 Saturday Oct 2016

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Here in Britain tomorrow, Sunday 9 October, is UK Fungus Day. I’ll be joining my friends from the Glamorgan Fungus Group at the Wildlife Trust’s Parc Slip Nature Reserve for fungi fun and forays, and I hope you can all get out and enjoy some fungi spotting this Fungus Day. Check out the website for all the events that are happening throughout Britain.

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‘Fungi are tremendously important to human society and the planet we live on. They provide fundamental products including foods, medicines, and enzymes important to industry. They are also the unsung heroes of nearly all terrestrial ecosystems, hidden from view but inseparable from the processes that sustain life on the planet.’ ~ Kew Royal Botanic Gardens website

An under-recorded square kilometre

07 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by in insects, nature

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After our morning’s biodiversity recording session at Porthkerry and a rather scrummy pub lunch, our SEWBReC team took up the challenge of how many species we could discover in a one-kilometre square that borders Cardiff Airport, a square where only 15 species of anything had previously been recorded. Well, even a desert has more life in it than that, and we had fields and country lanes edged with hedgerows to explore so off we set.

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Some of the hedgerows had recently been savagely trimmed and, though sunny, it was blowing a gale so conditions weren’t exactly perfect. But we are a dedicated team! We scanned and we scoured, we probed and we combed, we turned over and peered under, we inspected and we scrutinised. And at the end of two hours we had a preliminary list of 85 species, with some uncertainties to be verified, some ambiguities to be resolved and some experts to be consulted. What a thoroughly enjoyable, eminently satisfying day it was!

Each month SEWBReC provides maps and information about poorly recorded 1km squares in south east Wales, in the hope of filling in the gaps in their maps. If you live in the area, or even if you’re just visiting, you can help fill those gaps. See here for more information.