15 Sunday Feb 2026
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers
Though we did have a blue-sky day yesterday, it’s been a long, grey, wet winter; earlier this week one Scottish city, Aberdeen, was celebrating seeing the sun after 21 days of its absence! The weather’s not been that dismal here in south Wales but it’s been dreary enough to make the sight of spring flowers even more heartwarming than usual. So, today here’s some multi-coloured flower-power Crocuses to brighten your day!
01 Sunday Feb 2026
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers, winter
Tags
early flowering Lesser celandine, early spring wildflowers, Lesser Celandine, spring wildflowers
Times have changed since Gilbert White noted 200 years ago that ‘the average first flowering [of Lesser celandines] around his Hampshire village of Selbourne was 21 February’ and even since Richard Mabey wrote Flora Britannica, published in 1996, as he has written that late February ‘is still the time celandines begin to bloom across much of southern England in a typical year’. Now, just 30 years later, the Lesser celandine plants growing here in south-east Wales have begun flowering in the past week, more than three weeks earlier than that previous average, and this despite the distinct lack of sunshine in recent weeks. Of course, I’m not complaining – these tiny bursts of yellow are the very best messengers of the Spring to come.
18 Sunday Jan 2026
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!
If you want to read the beginning of this delightful ode ‘To a Snowdrop’ by the great English poet William Wordsworth, check out the Great British Gardens website.
15 Thursday May 2025
I feel a bit like these beautiful Brimstones, needing to refuel to restore my energy after yesterday’s house move. My surroundings are still chaotic but I made sure to get out for a short time today because walking in Nature is how I heal, how I find peace amongst the madness, how I refuel my mind and my spirit.
The image above shows a female Brimstone, which is paler than the more yellowy male in the photo below. Red campion was their flower of choice this day.
11 Sunday May 2025
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers
Over the past few weeks I’ve been gathering photographs of white wildflowers during my walks. These are what I’ve found: Bramble, Chickweed, Cleavers, Daisy, Garlic mustard, Hairy tare, Hedge parsley, Meadowsweet, Oxeye daisy, Three-cornered leek, Wavy bittercress, White clover, Wild strawberry, Wood anemone, and Woodruff.
08 Thursday May 2025
Spring bird migration passed rather quietly this year, presumably because most incoming birds chose to fly straight through to their breeding locations rather than stop off here on the south Wales coast for a breather. And the breeding process is in full swing with the local birds – they’re either shouting from the bush tops about what a great mate they would be, or rushing around trying to find insects to feed hungry chicks.
In view of the breeding madness going on all around it, I was very impressed with how calm and serene this Dunnock was looking. Perhaps it’s too young to breed, or maybe its first attempt at nesting failed and it hasn’t yet tried again.
Sadly, I’m fairly sure this year’s nesting attempt has failed for my Crow family. For a couple of weeks, the male was desperate for food and quite obviously taking it back to one specific location in the woods, either to feed his mate and/or their offspring. But today both the male and female appeared for food and they had reverted to their usual practice of flying off short distances to stash food amongst low vegetation, then coming back for more. That’s the second year their breeding attempts have failed, which is concerning.
When the stress of life and breeding and chicks all gets too much, what’s a bird to do but find a nice puddle and have a good splash! These Goldfinches really looked like they were having fun.
04 Sunday May 2025
Posted in plants, spring, wildflowers
Tags
British wildflowers, Cwm George, Herb Paris, Herb-Paris, Paris quadrifolia, wildflower, woodland wildflowers
I’ve written about Herb-Paris (Paris quadrifolia) a couple of times before (Herb-Paris, May 2017 and Devil-in-a-bush, April 2021) but it’s such a lovely and unusual plant that I feel it deserves another post, this time primarily of images that I captured when I went on my annual Herb-Paris pilgrimage to Cwm George woodland, in Dinas Powys, earlier this week.
02 Friday May 2025
Tags
British butterflies, butterfly, Common blue, Common blue butterfly, Dingy Skipper, Large white, Small copper, Spring colour
Just as it’s always magical to see my first butterfly of the year, so is it just as special each time I see the first of each new species. These are the four most recent beauties that have made me smile.
On 25 April my first Large white of 2025 flitted along the footpath next to me, sipped on a Dandelion, then settled on a Bramble leaf long enough for me to photograph.
The next butterfly species to appear for me locally, on 27 April, was this lovely Dingy skipper at an unexpected location – a bonus!
The last few days of hotter than usual temperatures have presumably triggered the early emergence of some species. This stunning male Common blue popped up on 28 April, five days earlier than my previous earliest date.
And, this very morning, eight days earlier than I’ve ever seen one before, I caught a flash of brilliant orange and there sat this gorgeous Small copper, always a treat to see.
01 Thursday May 2025
The Moorhens that make their home in the dipping pond at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park are prolific breeders, producing on average three broods of between 5 and 7 chicks each year. The little cutie pictured here is one of this year’s first brood and, though one parent was keeping an eye on this one and its siblings, the other adult was already preparing their next nest. According to the BTO, though the record for Moorhen survival currently stands at over 11 years, their average lifespan is just 3 years, and they begin breeding at age one. With statistics like that, you’d think our waterways would be overrun by Moorhens but their predation rate is high, with both wild and domestic mammals taking their toll, as well as birds like Grey herons and the large gull species feasting on the smaller chicks. This Moorhen chick may be a little sweetie but its life will almost certainly be a tough one.
27 Sunday Apr 2025
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers
I had hoped to get to my local slice of ancient woodland for a walk amongst the native Bluebells this week but it didn’t happen so here are some beautiful non-native but naturalised Bluebells that I’ve encountered in this week’s urban meanders. I hope you all have woodlands near you with Bluebells to enjoy.
earthstar 
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