Category Archives: spring

Grandmother’s nightcap

20 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

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180420 wood anemone (4)

I’m not sure my grandmother ever wore a nightcap quite like this but Grandmother’s nightcap is just one of the vernacular names for the luminous Wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa). Others include Windflower, and, in parts of Deryshire, where a moggie is a mouse not a cat, Moggie nightgown, as well as Smell foxes, due to the musky smell a large colony of Wood anemones will sometimes emit.

180420 wood anemone (1)180420 wood anemone (2)180420 wood anemone (3)

Birding at Craig Cerrig Gleisiad and Garwnant

19 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by in birds, nature, spring, walks

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Derek the weatherman got the forecast absolutely right for our Glamorgan Bird Club trip yesterday: foggy and a bit mizzly until 10am, then the cloud lifted to leave clear blue skies and t-shirt weather – it almost felt like summer!

180419 Brecon in the distance

We twenty-two birding enthusiasts had headed north of Cardiff to the Brecon Beacons National Park – when the cloud lifted, we could see Pen-y-fan, at 2,907 feet (886m), Wales’s 10th highest mountain. The plan was to walk the lower slopes of Craig Cerrig Gleisiad National Nature Reserve, in the hope of seeing Ring Ouzels, Whinchats, Redstarts, Wheatears and possibly Pied Flycatcher, amongst other birds.

180419 Pen-y-Fan

Because of the damp weather and low cloud, we began the day by exploring the woodland around the Youth Hostel across the road from the reserve and immediately had superb views of Pied flycatchers, and not only male birds but also a female who was making a start on nest building. A Tree pipit sitting high on bushes in the neighbouring fields was also a year tick for me.

After a spot of early lunch back at the cars, we climbed the slopes into the dramatic landscape of Craig Cerrig Gleisiad, the southernmost glacial boulder field in Britain. Here we had Willow warblers singing all along the stream, and frequent views of Stonechats and Meadow pipits.

Some of the party went further up the track and were rewarded with views of distant Ring ouzels – I wasn’t one of the lucky ones, but it was great that others got on to them. Then, after regrouping back at the cars, some of us took a small detour on the way home for a quick visit to the Garwnant Forestry Centre, where we saw Grey wagtails and Dippers on the river and a Red kite and Sparrowhawk overhead. And we were very lucky that the resident Willow tit showed well for us near the Centre’s car parking area. It was another splendid day’s birding!

My species list for the day was: Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Peregrine, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Woodpigeon, Crow, Raven, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Willow Tit, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Wren, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Dipper, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart, Stonechat, Dunnock, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Tree Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, and Siskin. And other birds seen (but not by me) were: Kestrel, Marsh Tit, Wheatear, Skylark, Swallow, Goldcrest, Ring Ouzel, and Linnet.

180419 Willow tit

Wild words: bud burst

18 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by in nature, leaves, trees, spring

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I love this little miracle that happens every spring, and I couldn’t resist having ‘bud burst’ as this week’s words after seeing many beautiful examples when I was out walking on Monday.

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During winter, deciduous trees look so bare and barren, yet, safely enclosed within the protective cases of their ‘bud scales’, tiny leaves are beginning to grow. Then, once temperatures start to warm up, the trees’ roots absorb more water and the sap begins to rise. The leaf buds grow and swell to the point when their scales just can’t contain them any more and then, one day …

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Shazam! The buds burst out and begin to expand and soak up the spring sunshine!

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Getting the flutters

16 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in insects, nature, spring

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Spring came to south Wales on Saturday at approximately 3.30pm and lasted about 4 hours. (It’s supposed to return again next week and stay a few days but, in the constantly changing contemporary climate, it pays not to count your chickens – or, maybe that should be, your rays of sunshine!) Amazingly, as soon as the sun appeared, so too did the butterflies. It was like a door had been opened – where had they been hiding, I wonder? In the space of about 30 minutes, I saw Peacocks and Commas, several never-settling Brimstones, a distant large-or-small White, and my first Speckled wood of the year. Oh, and a couple of Bee-flies – not butterflies, obviously, but the cutest wee flying things you ever did see so I’ve included one here. It was delightful!

180416 1 Peacock180416 2 Comma180416 3 Peacock180416 4 Comma180416 5 Speckled wood180416 6 Bee fly

On the verge

15 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in flowers, nature, plants, spring, wildflowers

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Are you up for a challenge? Do you like wildflowers? Well, then get following Wildflowerhour on Twitter and / or Facebook, and join in the weekly wildflower challenge fun. Not only will your newsfeed be filled with glorious colour every Sunday night from 8 to 9pm (and throughout the week, as well) but I guarantee you will also learn something new each week.

180415 The verge

The verge

This week’s challenge was titled ‘On the verge’, and we were challenged to see what wildflowers we could discover on roadside verges. Rather than a busy highway, I chose a quiet local side road at Penarth Marina – I already get lots of odd looks for taking a close look at flowers and insects, so tried to avoid too much attention. The Marina area is a relatively new environment, my verge an area that had previously been a dock, where ocean-going ships brought goods from near and far to Cardiff, but this particular dock was filled with household rubbish and turned into a park back in the 1980s. So, I didn’t find anything particularly exciting on my verge but it was interesting to see what plants had become established.

180415 Common cornsalad Valerianella locusta

Common cornsalad (Valerianella locusta)

180415 Creeping buttercup Ranunculus repens

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

180415 Daisy Bellis perennis

The ever reliable Daisy (Bellis perennis)

180415 Dandelion Taraxacum sp and slug friend

Partly devoured Dandelion (Taraxacum sp.) and slug friend

180415 Field Wood-rush Luzula campestris

Field Wood-rush (Luzula campestris)

180415 Groundsel Senecio vulgaris

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)

180415 Ribwort plantain Plantago lanceolata

Not quite open yet, but close – Ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

180415 Wavy Bitter-cress Cardamine flexuosa

Wavy Bitter-cress (Cardamine flexuosa)

My week in wildflowers

13 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

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Though the weather has been pretty miserable most of this week, I have been seeing more and more wildflowers when I’m out on my wanders.

Barren strawberry

There will be no big fat juicy red berries from this little strawberry as this is a Barren strawberry (Potentilla sterilis) (it has fruit but they don’t become ‘fleshy and red’). I can tell which species it is from the top of the leaf that’s showing – the ‘terminal tooth’ is shorter than those on either side of it.

Bluebell

Last Sunday I saw my first Bluebells (Hyacinthoides sp.) of the year, almost certainly Spanish or hybrids rather than native Bluebells, but still beautiful to my eye.

Common stork's-bill

I think this is Common stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium), a nice surprise growing amongst the grass at Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve.

Cornsalad

Cornsalad is such a dainty little plant, with very delicate, pale blue flowers. I almost missed these growing by the path at Grangemoor Park and have since seen them in a couple of places. This is probably Common cornsalad (Valerianella locusta), but the only way to be sure it’s not one of the other four varieties is to check the fruit, which won’t be possible till later in the season.

Danish scurvygrass

This is Danish scurvygrass (Cochlearia danica), originally a seaside plant that has now become widespread by following the road-salting trucks along the roads of Britain.

Gorse

Gorse (Ulex sp.) never seems to stop flowering, though the truth is that there are two Gorse species and, when one stops flowering, the other takes over.

Grape hyacinth

These Grape hyacinth (Muscari sp.) have become naturalised in my local cemetery, probably spreading from one or two deliberate grave-top plantings, or from nearby home gardens. I love their blue.

Petty spurge

Petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus) is a very common little wildflower that’s often overlooked.

Common ragwort

Spotting this flowering Ragwort by the roadside near Cardiff Bay was a bright surprise. It’s probably Common ragwort (Senecio jacobaea).

Red dead-nettle

Red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum). I’m a big fan of all the dead-nettles – the ‘dead’ in their name refers to the fact that they aren’t covered in stinging hairs!

Three-cornered leek

Allium triquetrum, the Three-cornered leek, is a pretty, if somewhat smelly flower but considered an alien invasive plant species here in Britain.

Cherry plum or Blackthorn?

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in flowers, nature, spring, trees

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Being a relative newbie to Britain, I’m still very much a learner when it comes to identifying plants (and everything else, to be honest), so I was pleased recently to learn how to tell Cherry plum blossom from Blackthorn.

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It’s partly in the timing – Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) usually flowers first, apparently – and also in the growth pattern, but a sure-fire way to tell whether the gorgeous blossom you’re puzzling over is this or Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), which flowers soon afterwards, is to look at the back of the flower.

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In the Blackthorn the sepals (those leaf-like bits that originally enclose the flower but split apart when the flower opens) lay flat along the backs of the flower petals, or between them when fully open (photos above), whereas in the Cherry plum, the sepals are folded back (photos below).

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Nests

09 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in birds, nature, spring

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Just like their makers, nests come in all shapes and sizes, and they’re made of all sorts of materials: twigs and branches, feathers, moss, paper and plastic, mud. They can be seen high in trees and on buildings, hidden secretively away in hedges and behind reeds, or plonked in a hole in a concrete platoon, as I saw some Coots do recently in Cardiff. Some are messy and loosely constructed, others are cosy and snug, still others are miniature works of art.

180409 buzzard

This is prime bird-nesting season so it’s quite likely you’ll see nests when you’re out walking. Please stay well away and do not disturb parents, eggs or babies. In Britain (and I’m sure in most countries) it is, in fact, an offence under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to ‘intentionally take, damage, destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built’ and to ‘intentionally take or destroy  the egg of any wild bird’. (You can read more details here.) And, rest assured, my photos were all taken with a long lens, well away from the birds, so as not to disturb them.

This week in insects

08 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in insects, nature, spiders, spring

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I mentioned yesterday that I saw my first butterflies of 2018 this week. The first was a Peacock but my camera was in my backpack and, by the time I extracted it, the butterfly had flown off. I was still cursing that fact when another butterfly appeared, this lovely Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta). Snap!

180408 Red admiral

On Wednesday’s walk, as well as the bee-flies I blogged about yesterday, I also saw several varieties of bee. I’m hopeless at identifying bees – I will focus on them one year to try to improve my skills, but that won’t be this year. Luckily, there’s a good Facebook group where the folks are very helpful, and they’ve IDed these as Yellow-legged mining bees (Andrena flavipes). They’re spring-flying solitary bees that make individual nests but often in large groups (the experts call them aggregations). This lot, of perhaps 20, were digging in to a sandy bank by the seaside. (Here’s a link to more information from BWARS.)

180408 Yellow-legged mining bee (1)

This next little critter was tiny, as you can see by comparison with my hand behind (and I have small hands). Once again, I needed help on the ID but the folks from my local Butterfly Conservation Facebook group are experts. This is a caterpillar of the Magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata), a stunning-looking moth that I have not yet seen. Its caterpillar is quite lovely too, don’t you think?

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Though only 3 to 5mm long, these little Red Velvet Mites are hard to miss, simply because of their unusual colour. This is one of the Trombidiidae family but I don’t know which one. It’s really an arachnid (note the eight legs) rather than an insect but I’m including it here anyway. It’s carnivorous but no need to worry – it only eats creatures smaller than itself!

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And, finally, a bee that I haven’t tried to put a name to – I just liked it for the way it’s positively luxuriating in the pollen of this Lesser celandine flower.

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Signs of spring: Bee-flies

07 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by in insects, nature, spring

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Last Wednesday was a ‘B’ day – not ‘B’ as in ‘B-rated’ or in any way inferior – in fact, in that sense, it was an A+ day. I named it a ‘B’ day because I saw my first Butterflies of 2018, my first Blackcap, and my first Bee-flies – and not just one Bee-fly, but a total of seven!

180407 bee-flies (7)

The Bee-fly (officially Bombylius major) is a strange-looking mini-beastie, a weird and wonderful combination, all the cuteness of a furry teddy-bear but with the sinister look of a sword fish. Never fear, it is entirely harmless to humans, though it does lay its eggs in the nests of bees and wasps, where the bee-fly larvae feast on the bee and wasp larvae. Its sword-shaped proboscis is no stinging machine – it’s used exclusively for drinking nectar from flowers. These are springtime mini-beasties, out now in sunny spots in your garden or local hedgerow.