Aberbargoed Grasslands revisited

06 Friday Jul 2018

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Aberbargoed Grasslands, British butterflies, British moths, Burnet companion, butterflies, Common purple & gold, Large skipper, moths, Riband wave, Ringlet, Silver Y, Small heath, Small skipper

On Wednesday I made my second visit to Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve with my friend Sharon. Last time we dipped on seeing the Marsh fritillaries because it was too overcast; this time, we dipped again because the recent spell of hot dry weather has meant their season has finished for the year. Still, we have now walked most of the paths around the reserve so we’ll know exactly where to look next year. And, though we missed out the fritillaries, there were still plenty of other butterflies and moths to charm and delight us.

Small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)

Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)

Small skipper (Lycaena phlaeas)

Large skipper (Lycaena dispar)

Burnet companion (Euclidia glyphica)

Common purple & gold (Pyraustra purpuralis)

Riband wave (Idaea aversata)

Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

In a Pengam garden

05 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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Tags

birding, birdwatching, blackbird, British birds, bullfinch, Carrion crow, Collared dove, garden birds, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Woodpigeon

My friend Sharon has a lovely garden: an area of lawn bordered by flowers, shrubs and hedge; a separate area for growing vegies, the glasshouse and the beehives; and a lovely little bit of wild woodland at the end. It’s a paradise for birds, particularly because Sharon also has lots of feeders that she keeps stocked up with seeds of various kinds and suet blocks. As a person who lives in a first-floor flat with no garden, I just love visiting Sharon’s garden. I could sit watching the birds all day long.

180705 1 Pengam garden birds

My photos show just a few of the birds that entertained us yesterday – and these 14 species are not the only birds that visit: House sparrow, Blue tit, Great tit, Collared dove, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Carrion crow, Great spotted woodpecker, Magpie, Robin, Dunnock, and Blackbird.

The Great spotted woodpeckers have been bringing their offspring to the garden this year

The Woodpigeon doesn’t look too happy about the Carrion crow being so close

A Blackbird with an odd beak

‘This is ours’, squawked the Goldfinch to the Bullfinch, but …

… the Bullfinch won out on the day!

A beautiful Collared dove

A Common footman

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

British moths, Common footman, Eilema lurideola, moth, moths

Moths have some wonderful names. I mean, you’ve got to wonder why one little group is named after a domestic servant. As well as this one, the Common footman, there are also Buff, Orange, Scarce, Dingy, Northern, Pigmy, and Hoary footmen, all members of the Eilema group of moths.

180703 common footman (1)

I spotted this little chap, Eilema lurideola, floundering around in the grass at Cosmeston recently. It might well be an elegant flier but it was having a great deal of trouble climbing up stalks of grass.

The Gatekeeper

03 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus

I saw my first Gatekeeper of the year on Saturday and was curious about its name. The consensus seems to be that the common name comes from this butterfly’s tendency to frequent those areas of rough grassland adjacent to hedgerows and field edges, like, for example, the areas around farm gates. Makes sense.

180702 gatekeeper (1)

Its scientific name, Pyronia tithonus, is a little less obvious. Pyronia is derived from the Greek πυρ (pyr) meaning fire, presumably a reference to the bright blazing orange on the butterfly’s wings, but the epithet is odd. Tithonus was a figure in Greek mythology, a member of the Trojan royal family who was kidnapped and loved by Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Wanting to keep her lover with her always, Eos asked Zeus to grant him immortality but forgot to ask for eternal youth, so Tithonus was doomed to grow old and remain old forever. Perhaps this tale held some special meaning for Hubner, the man who classified this genus, but I haven’t been able to discover what that was.

180702 gatekeeper (2)

Birding at Rhossili and Mewslade

02 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, insects, nature, walks

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Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Glamorgan Bird Club, Grayling, Great black-backed gull, Kestrel, Linnet, Rhossili, Small tortoiseshell, The Worm

Yesterday was my second visit to Rhossili with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club, though I still haven’t walked along this magnificent beach.

180702 1 Rhossili beach

Our group of 15 met in the National Trust car park at Rhossili, then slowly meandered along the cliff tops towards the point, birding as we walked.

180702 2 Heading towards the worm

I saw my first Choughs, Fulmars were spotted gliding majestically below us, and a Great black-backed gull flew in and landed on a headland.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, here I also saw my first Grayling butterflies. The first, pictured here on a discarded Coke bottle, was spotted by eagle-eyed Tate, and the second by another birder, Rob.

At the point, we enjoyed superb views, and the last of the bright sunny weather, while eating our lunch. Then, despite the rain starting, 11 of our intrepid team headed across the causeway to The Worm, where their scrambling and climbing and drenching were rewarded with views of Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins and Manx shearwaters.

180702 7 Crossing to The Worm

Three of us chose, instead, to do the circular walk around the headland, seeing lots of Linnets and Meadow pipits in the fields, a Kestrel hovering in search of prey, and two lovely fresh-looking Small tortoiseshell butterflies.

180702 8 Linnet

After some of the team returned from The Worm, four of us went for a brief visit to nearby Mewslade, a beautiful little valley that runs down to a sheltered cove. Here we had incredibly close views of a Lesser whitethroat feeding young, spotted two very yellow-faced Great tit fledglings in an area of burnt gorse, and watched more Choughs and another Kestrel flying through. It was yet another superb field trip with my bird club friends.

180702 11 Kestrel

My first Graylings

01 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

British butterflies, Grayling, Hipparchia semele, Rhossili

It’s called multi-tasking, when you go out for a day’s birding with the bird club but the best photo you come home with is of a butterfly!

180701 Grayling

Today, at Rhossili, with the help of 15-year-old Tate, one of my fellow birders, I saw my first ever Grayling (Hipparchia semele). And then one of the other birders, Rob, spotted another, so I actually saw two. I’m really glad I had the help of my birding friends, as these little butterflies are so well camouflaged I could easily have missed them.

Cuckoo!

30 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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Tags

#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Cuckoo

My #30DaysWild has ended with a cracking day at Cosmeston. Not only did I spot my first Gatekeeper butterfly for 2018, I also spent time watching one of the local Water voles for the first time this year. And then, to top it all off, I happened to be talking to the wife of one of my birding friends when he phoned her from the other end of the park to say he’d just spotted a Cuckoo.

IMG_1113 sml

Very obligingly, the Cuckoo hung around while I hightailed it to where it had last been seen … and, in fact, it was still there several hours later.

I’ve heard Cuckoos several times now and had a brief glimpse of one flying but, as Cuckoos don’t breed in my part of south Wales, this was the first time I was able to have a good look at one. (This bird was probably just making a brief stopover at Cosmeston on its way south to Africa.)

And what a beautiful bird it is, with stunning markings, and much bigger than I had thought.

IMG_1170 sml

What a magical end to my June wildness this was! But, of course, being ‘wild’ doesn’t just happen in June. Spending time exploring the natural world and its wildlife is what keeps me sane and brings joy to my life, and sharing that joy is why I write this blog.

IMG_1188 sml

Master builders, amazing aviators

29 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, House martin, mud nest, nest made of mud

Not only are House martins amazingly acrobatic fliers, they also have incredible construction skills.

180629 house martins (1) 180629 house martins (2)

Imagine building a mud house, seemingly with no support at all, at the very top of a four-storey building, out of tiny balls of mud you carry in your mouth from a nearby beach or river bank.

Imagine, too, the skill it takes to successfully fly in and land on the edge of the tiny gap in that mud house so as to feed your ever-hungry chicks. On day 29 of #30DaysWild, and every other day, House martins have my respect and admiration!

The day of the Demoiselles

28 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Beautiful Demoiselle, British damselflies, Calopteryx Virgo, damselfly, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Glamorgan Canal

I chose Forest Farm Nature Reserve for my wander on day 28 of #30DaysWild, to take advantage of the large shady trees, and I’m very glad I did because it was another scorcher. As well as the thrill of seeing my very first White-letter hairstreak butterfly (along with many other butterfly species), I was particularly delighted by the Beautiful demoiselle damselflies (Calopteryx virgo). Their iridescent colours sparkled in the dappled sunlight as they flitted back and forth along the old Glamorgan Canal. Fairies!

Beautiful Demoiselle female, showing dark brown wings and white wing spot

Beautiful Demoiselle male, showing dark blue wings and no white wing spot

The heronsew, the ducklings & the chicks

27 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, parks

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, birding, birdwatching, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, ducklings, Grey heron, gull chicks, gull nesting on urban rooftop, heronsew, Lesser black-backed gull, Mallard, young heron

The blue-sky heat was relieved ever so slightly on day 27 of #30DaysWild by a nice breeze, so I strolled along to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park for a mooch around. I had a lovely time, though after a couple of hours chasing butterflies in the glaring heat, I felt rather envious of the water birds enjoying the cooling water of the lakes.

180627 grey heron (3)

This young Grey heron – apparently called a heronsew, from the French heronceau – has not yet learnt to fear humans and was very close to the boardwalk by the cafe.

180627 mallard ducklings (1) 180627 mallard ducklings (2)

As I was watching it, Mum Mallard brought her brood of five well-grown ducklings out for a swim. They looked a bit like gawky teenagers and have already been taught to approach humans in the hope of some food.

Then, on the walk home, I spotted a bundle of fluff moving around on a rooftop. By the time I got the camera out, it had sat back down with its sibling and, though I was on the other side of the street, mother (or father) Lesser black-backed gull flew past screeching at me, before landing on the chimney to keep an eye on its chicks. I’ve heard of these gulls nesting on factories and taller buildings but not on a house in an urban area.