Devil-in-a-bush

09 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, plants, spring, wildflowers

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ancient woodland, British wildflowers, Herb-Paris, Paris quadrifolia, spring wildflowers, wildflowers in ancient woodland

During my weekly walks in local ancient woodland, I’ve been monitoring the development of this plant, watching it arise from the damp soil, waiting for its leaves to grow and its flower to emerge … and yesterday the first of the blooms were finally open.

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This is Herb-paris (Paris quadrifolia), and I think you can see the reason I have been so keen to see these stunning flowers again.

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Their structure is remarkable, a combination that Richard Mabey describes thus in Flora Britannica: ‘a star of four very narrow yellow-green petals and four wider sepals, topped by a crown of eight golden stamens, and later a single shining black berry – the “devil-in-the-bush” that was one of the plant’s obsolete names’.

210409 herb-paris (3)

The plants are looking particularly abundant this year and many flowers have yet to open so I will definitely be returning to feast my eyes on these beauties many times before they disappear for another year.

Love story with a twist

08 Thursday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, spring

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birding, birds nesting in Cardiff Bay, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Great crested grebes mating

Great crested grebes are featuring here twice in one week but I can never resist a good story. When I arrived at Cardiff Bay wetlands yesterday, a pair was in the reeds near the boardwalk.

210408 grebe vs coot (1)

The female was lying flat across the beginnings of a nest platform, making odd groaning noises. Having seen this before, I knew what was going to happen next …

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And it did. After a few minutes, the male jumped up on top of her and they proceeded to mate.

210408 grebe vs coot (3)

The dismount with grebes would never score well in a gymnastics competition – the male sort of slides off, pushing the female’s head under the water.

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You could almost hear their after-thoughts: ‘Better get on with the nest building’, and both birds began gathering twigs to place on the nest.

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But a nearby Coot was having none of it. He didn’t want these noisy characters for neighbours and, faster than the grebes could place twigs on the platform, he was pulling them off again.

210408 grebe vs coot (6)

There was a stand-off, much posturing and squawking, and eventually the male grebe charged the Coot. The grebe thought it had won but the Coot didn’t retreat far. The grebes might keep trying but my money’s on the Coot to win this territorial battle.

Leaf burst: Field maple

06 Tuesday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in leaves, spring, trees

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British trees, bud burst, Field maple, Field maple bud burst, Field maple leaf burst, leaf burst

Field maple leaves are now bursting out wherever I walk, and they speak truth to the old saying that ‘good things come in small packages’. The tiny buds are exquisitely fashioned, covered in a soft furry outer skin that splits open to reveal the sculptural beauty of the prominent lime-green veins and much-folded pinkish-red blade.

Good Friday plant

02 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in plants, spring, wildflowers

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Adoxa moschatellina, British wildflowers, Good Friday plant, Moschatel, Spring colour, Town Hall clock

This couldn’t have been more appropriate if I’d planned it, which I assure you I didn’t. Until yesterday’s wander through a local woodland, I’d never seen Moschatel before. Its scientific name is Adoxa moschatellina but one of its vernacular names is Good Friday plant, because it usually begins flowering at the beginning of April and is often first seen in bloom at Easter.

Another of its common names is Townhall clock, which Richard Mabey explains in Flora Britannica is because the small flowers ‘are arranged in a remarkable fashion, at right angles to one another, like the faces of a town clock – except that there is a fifth on top, pointing towards the sky’. My photos don’t show this very well so I might have to revisit to get more.

It’s bee-fly time again

30 Tuesday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in spring

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Bee-fly, British bee-flies, Dark-edged bee-fly

My, what long legs you have! My, what a long proboscis you have! But this is no big bad wolf – it’s a bee-fly, a Dark-edged bee-fly (Bombylius major) to be precise.

210330 dark-edged bee-fly (1)

There are several species of bee-fly in Britain but this is the only one I’ve seen – we don’t appear to get any others locally. Still, it’s fabulous to see these furry creatures flitting from flower to flower again. Yet another sign of spring!

The Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme has been running Bee-fly Watch for the last six years and wants your help to track the emergence and the spread of bee-flies in Britain. You can find out more on their website.

First Willow warbler

29 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, spring

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bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, spring migration, Willow warbler

Bird migration never ceases to amaze me. To think that this little tiny bird has flown all the way from Africa, a journey of 5000 miles, maybe more, and that it may already have made the journey there and back several times. It was a genuine treat to see and listen to this global traveller, my first Willow warbler of the year, at Cosmeston on Friday.

Bud burst

28 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in leaves, spring, trees

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bud burst, buds, Hawthorn, Hawthorn leaves, leaf burst, the greening of spring, tree buds

Have you been watching the greening? The buds on the trees growing ever fatter? Swelling to the point where they burst with spring goodness?

This year I’ve been paying more attention to this incredible process. These are some images of Hawthorn from the last couple of weeks.

210328 hawthorn budburst (7)

First Wheatear

24 Wednesday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, spring

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bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, spring migration, Wheatear

Monday was warm and sunny, at last – sunny days have been few and far between so far this month – so I decided to walk a circuit of Cardiff Bay, hoping this might be the day I would see my first Wheatear of the year.

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I was already on the Barrage, bins out and scanning, when I got a message from a fellow birder that a Wheatear had just been reported. As I checked further along the Barrage, I could see someone, off their bike, camera with long lens in hand – that had to be where it was.

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It only took a few minutes to reach Tate, one of our star local birders, whose keen eyes had found this stunning male Wheatear. We’re lucky that these birds sometimes stop off for an insect break on the Barrage rocks before continuing their migration flight to their breeding grounds further north. Such a treat to see!

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Blossom and bumbles

22 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, spring, trees

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British bumblebees, Buff-tailed bumblebee, Cherry blossom, Spring blossom

At this time of year the ornamental cherry tree outside my flat is awash with blossom, of a warm white shade flushed with the merest tinge of pink.

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It looks glorious, especially on sunny days, and, at a time when there are few flowers in bloom, it’s a magnet for newly emerging, hungry insects of the flying kind.

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Yesterday, as well as a few Honey bees, I spotted half a dozen, all Buff-tailed, bumblebees doddering from one flower to the next, before lurching haphazardly to the next branch, dislodging the delicate petals as they passed.

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The Violet challenge

21 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Common dog-violet, dog violets, Early dog-violet, Spring colour, Sweet violet, Viola odorata, Viola odorata var. dumetorum, Viola reichenbachiana, Viola riviniana, violets, white Sweet violet

The wildflower hour challenge this week was to ‘find a violet in bloom and work out which one it is’. Now, you might think that’s an easy task but, once you learn – as I did – that there are five subspecies of Sweet violet alone, you could easily decide – as I almost did – that this was a challenge too far. But I persevered, and found three different species (and two subspecies of one).

210321 Viola odorata var odorata (1)

Let’s start with Sweet violet, and the two subspecies I Iocated, the standard purple violet with the glorious scent, Viola odorata var. odorata, and one of the two white subspecies, Viola odorata var. dumetorum. As well as its glorious smell, the Sweet violet can most easily be identified by the rounded sepals that lay flat against the flower (if the sepals were angled back towards the stem, you’d have a Hairy violet – I didn’t find any of those this week). And I’ve not yet seen the second variation of the white violet, Viola odorata var. imberbis (which doesn’t have a ‘beard’, the hairs inside the flower).

210321 Viola odorata var dumetorum (1)

I managed to find both the dog-violets (the word ‘dog’ in this case indicating there is no scent; nothing to do with the domestic pet!). These are Common dog-violet (Viola riviniana) (photos on the left below) and Early dog-violet (Viola reichenbachiana) (photos on the right). These two can be difficult to tell apart sometimes but, though both dog-violets have pointy sepals, the Common dog’s sepals are usually bigger, with tops (the sepal appendages) that are more square, and often notched or scalloped. Also, the spurs at the back of the flowers are mostly stouter and notched at the end on the Common dog, and the veins inside its flowers are longer and multi-branching.

210321 Viola reichenbachiana early dog (1)

210321 Viola reichenbachiana early dog (2)

You can find Wildflower hour on Twitter by clicking this link, and their website is here. They’re probably on Facebook too but I no longer use FB. If you’re on Twitter, there are many excellent botanists’ accounts to follow but one I definitely recommend is Moira O’Donnell (@nervousbotanist), who often shares easy-to-follow species crib sheets, one of which I have drawn on for this post.