57/366 WWW : Colombian butterflies

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

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#WorldWildlifeWednesday, Colombian butterflies, Monarch butterfly, Owl butterfly, Rusty-tipped page, South American butterflies

These gorgeous butterflies were in the botanical gardens, the Jardín Botánico, in the Colombian city of Medellin, a treasure trove of beautiful flowers, lush plantings, and exotic creatures.

Owl (Caligo illioneus) : this is such a lovely butterfly and it’s easy to see how it got its common name, with those enormous eye-like markings on its lower wings. Presumably, those eyes are meant to scare away any potential predators.

200226 Monarch

Monarch (Danaus plexippus) : I’m sure everyone will recognise this beautiful creature – it’s probably the world’s most recognisable butterfly, and most people know of its mass migrations in North America. I know of the Monarch, as it’s also found in New Zealand, where it’s considered a native because it self-established, a remarkable feat when you consider how far New Zealand is from the Americas.

200226 Rusty-tipped page

Rusty-tipped page (Siproeta epaphus) : It took a while to find (through googling) the name of this butterfly. It’s a pretty little thing – if you click on the link, you can see photos that are rather better than mine.

56/366 Spots and splashes

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in fungi, lichen, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British fungi, British lichens, Common jellyspot, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Illosporiopsis christiansenii, lichenicolous fungus

Amidst all the greys and browns and dull greens of the wintertime natural world, there are still wonderful wee spots and splashes of colour to be found. These are some I found during today’s stomp around Cosmeston, a rather rapid stomp trying, unsuccessfully, to avoid the rain showers.

200225 lichen and fungi (1)

I’m not good at identifying lichens but I do love their fresh, bright yellow-greens, especially on the twigs and small branches that have recently blown down from the tree tops.

200225 lichen and fungi (4) 200225 lichen and fungi (5)

The tiny bursts of lollipop pink are Illosporiopsis christiansenii, a lichenicolous fungus (that’s a fungus which is parasitic on lichens, usually on Physcia tenella and sometimes on Xanthoria parietina).

And the pretty pops of orange, found on several fence posts, are Common Jellyspot fungus, Dacrymyces stillatus.

200225 lichen and fungi (8)

55/366 Three mini-beasties

24 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 4 Comments

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British insects, Episyrphus balteatus, Marmalade hoverfly, Scathophaga stercoraria, Yellow dung fly

During yesterday’s brief interlude of sunshine, when I was out searching for wildflowers, I happened across these three little mini-beasts – I’m sure there’d be a lot more out and about if we just had a little more of that precious sunshine.

200224 Marmelade hoverfly

The tiny critter above is a Marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), and the two below are, I think, Yellow dung flies (Scathophaga stercoraria). I think I can safely say there will soon be more Yellow dung flies flitting around.

200224 Yellow dung flies

54/366 Winter 29!

23 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British flora, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter wildflowers

Despite the appalling weather we’ve been having, the natural world obviously feels the coming of Spring as this week I’ve found 29 wildflowers in bloom, including firsts of Coltsfoot, Common corn salad, Spotted medick and Wood anemone.

The full list is: Alexanders, Coltsfoot, Common comfrey, Common cornsalad, Common field speedwell, Cow parsley, Creeping buttercup, Daisy, Dandelion, Forget-me-not, Gorse, Groundsel, Hairy bitter-cress, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Lesser celandine, Nipplewort, Oxeye daisy, Primrose, Red dead nettle, Red valerian, Shepherd’s-purse, Smooth sow-thistle, Snowdrop, Spotted medick, Sun spurge, Winter heliotrope and Wood anemone.

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53/366 A new leafmine

22 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 2 Comments

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British moths, Ectoedemia heringella, Evergreen oak, leafminer, leafmines on Evergreen oak, moth leafmines

I was a woman on a mission today, and these are what I was looking for. They are the leafmines of the larvae of the moth Ectoedemia heringella, found on Evergreen Oak.

200222 ectoedemia heringella leafmines (1)

You’ve probably never heard of this moth and neither had I, until yesterday, when I read a tweet by George Tordoff, Senior Moth Ecologist with Butterfly Conservation here in Wales, that he had found its leafmines on an oak at Barry Island. His find was only the third record for the county of Glamorgan – the first two were found by County Moth Recorder Dave Slade, in Cardiff’s Bute Park. It made sense that the mines might also be found in locations between Cardiff and Barry, so today I went looking and found them on every Evergreen oak in Penarth’s Windsor Gardens. And my fellow Penarthian, Gareth, also went looking today and found several mines on the trees at nearby St Mary’s Well Bay. Success!

200222 ectoedemia heringella leafmines (2)

200222 ectoedemia heringella leafmines (3)

According to the UK Moths website, Ectoedemia heringella only arrived in Britain (in Greater London) from Europe in 1996 and has slowly been spreading out from there. The adult moths don’t appear until mid summer, and I may never see one, but at least now our records can help track their spread across the country.

200222 ectoedemia heringella leafmines (4)

52/366 Up close

21 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

adult Cormorant, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cormorant, Grey heron, juvenile Cormorant

During today’s wander around parts of Cardiff that I only occasionally visit, I managed to get very close to, and spend quite a long time watching, several birds. These are three: a Grey heron, and two Cormorants, an adult and a juvenile. It was magic!

200221 grey heron 200221 cormorant adult 200221 cormorant juvenile

51/366 Mystery seedpod

20 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, plants

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

flower seeds, Grangemoor Park, plant seeds, seed pod, seedpod, seeds

This seedpod is a mystery to me.

200220 mystery seedpod (1)

I found it alongside the path through Grangemoor Park in Cardiff, just two dried up stems about 12 inches tall, with seedpods – four in total – at the tips of each branched stem. No leaves remained and I saw no other similar plants anywhere along the path.

200220 mystery seedpod (2)

The structure of the seedpod is glorious, so sculptural. I brought two pods home with me, and one has now split into quarters, with small brown seeds spilling out of it.

200220 mystery seedpod (3)

But what is this plant? I’ve tried looking online but found nothing that matches. Of course, the solution would be to plant the seeds but I do not have a garden. I could try planting a couple of seeds in a pot but I’d rather return the seeds to the wild where I found them. So, if there are any botanists or plant people out there who recognise this seedpod, please do let me know in the comments below. Thanks!

p.s. Thanks to Barbara Brown, of BSBI Wales, I now know this is a species of Datura, possibly Datura stramonium, the Thorn-apple. In this case, the seedpod has lost all its flesh making it look a little different from the images I’ve found online.

50/366 WWW : Flickers

19 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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#WorldWildlifeWednesday, Andean flicker, Campo flicker, Colaptes campestris, Colaptes rupicola, South American birds, South American woodpeckers, woodpeckers

In the past on this blog, I published ‘world wildlife Wednesday’ posts, sharing some of the creatures I have been lucky enough to see in my travels. I thought I had mostly exhausted that topic but, last week, while going through my masses of photos, I found a few more. Which all goes to explain why today’s post includes two South American members of the woodpecker family, two flickers, both of which spend much of their lives on the ground, rather than in trees.

This first is an Andean flicker (Colaptes rupicola), photographed at Chinchero, a little town about 30 kilometres from Cusco, from the days when I lived in Peru.

200219 Campo flicker

And this second woodpecker is a Campo flicker (Colaptes campestris), seen near the small town of La Cumbre in the province of Córdoba, in Argentina.

49/366 Pieces of hedgehog

18 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in mammal, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

British mammals, hedgehog, hedgehog jaw bones, hedgehog quills, hedgehog teeth

I almost didn’t notice these hedgehog quills during a recent woodland walk. It was grey, the path muddy, the portion of well squashed hog sitting among a drift of brown leaves so well camouflaged.

200218 hedgehog (1)

I have no idea what befell the poor hedgehog. This spot was well away from any roads and I think the creature must have been long dead as there was no smell. Perhaps it had died in the woods somewhere, a dog had found the carcass, and brought it to the path to show its master.

200218 hedgehog (2)

As I scanned the surrounding area for clues, I noticed these two pieces of jaw, one upper and one lower, which a quick internet search revealed must also once have belonged to the deceased hedgehog. It was a somewhat gory but quite educational find.

200218 hedgehog (3) 200218 hedgehog (4)

48/366 First Coltsfoot

17 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Coltsfoot, Spring colour, Tussilago farfara, yellow flowers

A new Spring flower has appeared in my local area, this time six bursts of the bright sunshine yellow that is Coltsfoot, the flower that appears before its leaves. I had just been sheltering, rather ineffectively, from a short sharp shower of rain when I spotted the flowers beside the path ahead of me. What a delight!

200217 coltsfoot (1) 200217 coltsfoot (2) 200217 coltsfoot (3)