17 Sunday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, animals, mammal, nature
Today has been another fabulous day out with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club, enjoying the magnificent Welsh countryside and marvelling at all its amazing birds – and I’ll report on that in tomorrow’s blog post – but, for me, the most exciting thing today was these prints in the mud under a bridge near Dryslwyn. I think these are the closest I’ve yet been to a live Otter!
16 Saturday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, spring, trees
Today was a chores day so I just had a little tootle around my local haunts. But my photo was taken right outside my house. As a first-floor-flat dweller, I don’t have a garden but the tiny stone-filled front yard of my building has a magnificent Cherry tree, which fills half the view from my living room window and brings me great joy throughout the year. I have been watching its buds swell fatter and fatter until, finally, today the first several of its blossoms have opened.
15 Friday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, animals, nature, spring
Under blue skies and glorious sunshine, I returned to Barry for another long exploratory meander today so I expected this blog post to contain one of the many photos I took of water lapping on sand, aerobatic gulls soaring overhead, seaweed floating in and out on the waves, birds feeding amongst the reeds and rivulets in the Old Harbour …. But then I happened to glance over a railing into someone’s allotment and saw this gorgeous creature basking in the warm afternoon sun. And all thoughts of a marine theme vanished in a blink of a sleepy fox’s eye.
14 Thursday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature
To be honest, I’m not one to get excited about days like today – too much commercial hype and money wasted on needless rubbish. But, when I spotted this almost-heart-shaped Scarlet elfcup, I thought I would at least share a little love for Nature from Nature.
13 Wednesday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, spring, wildflowers
Today has been incredibly mild and Spring-like, and the warmer temperatures encouraged the birds to sit singing on tree tops, flowers to open (the flowers in this photo are Alexanders Smyrnium olusatrum – the first I’ve seen open this year), and lapping up the pollen from those flowers was my first bee of 2019.
12 Tuesday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, spring
Tags
birding, birds mating', birdwatching, British birds, Great Crested Grebe, Great crested grebes mating
The scent of Spring was strong in the air today or, at least, all the birds I saw thought so. The Great crested grebes were being particularly amorous. First, though, this female fancied some lunch – just a little snack to keep her energy levels up.
Then she climbed on to the minimal nest that she and her mate had created and got herself ready. The male seemed unsure – perhaps he was shy because I was watching.
After a couple of minutes when nothing had happened, the female stood up, gave herself a little shake and directed some stern squeaks at the male.
He had obviously got the message!
The end made me laugh out loud as he slid unceremoniously over the female’s head in to the water. Let’s hope their efforts were not in vain. I’ll be keeping an eye on them, from a suitable distance.
11 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, geology, nature, walks
Tags
Lavernock Point, south Wales coast, south Wales coastal path, St Mary's Well Bay, St Mary's Well Bay geology
I know nothing at all about geology so I’m not even going to attempt an explanation of what these rocks are, what the formations are called, which periods they date from. I just think they look damn cool! This photo was taken on today’s walk from Sully back to Pernarth, looking east across St Mary’s Well Bay, with Lavernock Point in the background.
10 Sunday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, nature, trees
I’ve been trying to find out how old these Oak trees are but haven’t managed it … yet. They grow on one side of the green that surrounds All Saints Church in Penarth’s Victoria Square. I did discover that the church itself dates originally from 1891, though it had to be rebuilt after being reduced to a burnt-out shell when 100 high explosives and 5000 incendiaries were dropped on Penarth during a bombing raid by the German Luftwaffe on 4 March 1941. I don’t know if the trees were also damaged in that bombing or whether they date from the 1890s … or even earlier. Whatever their age, they are magnificent.
09 Saturday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, lichen, nature
Tags
#365DaysWild, British lichens, Caloplaca decipiens, Caloplaca species, lichen on gravestone, Penarth graveyard, St Augustine's Church
In this case, though, my rose is not a rose but a lichen that I thought looked a lot like the outline of a rose – my warped imagination perhaps, but pretty nonetheless. I spotted this on a gravestone during a wander around the graveyard that surrounds St Augustine’s Church here in Penarth. I presume it’s one of the Caloplaca species of lichen, possibly Caloplaca decipiens, but many of this species seem to look alike and I am not at all skilled in identifying lichens.
08 Friday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter
I took advantage of a two-hour break in Storm Erik’s passage early afternoon to do a quick circuit of the Ely embankment, just in case the storm had driven in any unusual birds. Apart from a lot of Black-headed gulls and Coots taking advantage of the shelter afforded by Penarth’s cliffs and three Redshanks enjoying a companionable snooze, it was fairly quiet. But I did find this gorgeous Cormorant perched on a pontoon in the marina, drying its wings. They’re so often thought of as black-and-white birds but just look at how colourful its facial markings are.
earthstar 
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