April on the Ely embankment

01 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring, weather

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Ely embankment, Redshank, River Ely, Turnstone

I thought I’d avoid an April Fool’s Day visit to ‘my patch’ in case a long-extinct Dodo should suddenly appear before me (!) so my first wander this month was on 2 April.

180501 turnstones (2)

There were no particular surprises lurking, just the standard avians – two Pied wagtails and one Grey, and two Redshanks, but the treat was a total of 15 Turnstones, many now showing signs of their change to summer plumage. I assume these birds were enjoying a short stopover in Cardiff Bay before continuing their journey north. According to information on the Joint Nature Conservancy Committee website, the Turnstones that winter on the coasts of north-west Europe (including Britain and Ireland) are part of the Western Palearctic population and breed on Canada’s Ellesmere Island, and in north and east Greenland.

A good comparison: lower bird changing to breeding plumage, upper bird in winter dress.

The rest of April reads pretty much like that first visit – the occasional one or two Redshanks, the occasional one or two Pied and Grey wagtails, and Turnstone numbers in the low to mid teens. The weather varied considerably, from damp and foggy winter-like gloom to brilliant blue skies with the water so still you could perfect reflections mirrored in it, but the bird numbers and varieties remained fairly static.

180501 weather fog 180501 weather fine

So, what I think I will do in subsequent months is expand my monthly catch up to include the whole of Cardiff Bay. I walk right round on a regular basis and, as the habitats are more varied, there is more chance of spotting something a little more interesting. Let’s see what May brings …

180501 turnstone & redshank

Redshank and Turnstones: I still love ’em!

Moor babies

28 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

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Tags

baby birds, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Forest Farm, Forest Farm Nature Reserve, Moorhen, Moorhen chicks

All was peaceful as my friend Jill and I sat in a hide at Forest Farm Nature Reserve earlier this week. Light rain was falling and, though we could hear bird song in the reeds and surrounding trees, the only birds we saw were the cheeky little Great tits and Robins coming to feed on seed left by previous visitors to the hide.

180427 Moorhen chicks (1)

Suddenly, a Moorhen appeared over the lip of the hillock in front of us, making a determined beeline for the front of the hide to harvest the seed that had been thrown out on the grass. The bird wasn’t at all hesitant and nervous … and then we saw why, as first one, then another little bundle of black fluff appeared over the hillock behind. We eventually counted five Moorhen chicks, and both parents emerged to help feed their ravenous youngsters. They were so delightful and entertaining to watch.

180427 Moorhen chicks (2) 180427 Moorhen chicks (3) 180427 Moorhen chicks (4) 180427 Moorhen chicks (5) 180427 Moorhen chicks (6) 180427 Moorhen chicks (7) 180427 Moorhen chicks (8)

A host of local names

27 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Cardamine pratensis, Cuckooflower, Lady's smock, Meadow bittercress, spring flowers

‘Any flower that comes with a host of local names is likely to be of human use, either as food or as medicine’, writes John Lewis-Stempel, in his truly wonderful book Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field (Doubleday, London, 2014; highly recommended, if you haven’t already read it). And he goes on to mention just a few of the local names that have been given to Cardamine pratensis, namely Cuckooflower (because the pale pink flowers tend to appear around the same time the Cuckoo returns to Britain from its winter sojourn in warmer climes); and Lady’s smock, Lady’s gloves, and Lady’s mantle (due to the flower’s resemblance to those articles of clothing) (though I don’t really see the gloves).

Lewis-Stempel also notes the vernacular Meadow bittercress, so named because ‘the needle-thin leaves … make a peppery edible that used to be sold on medieval market stalls’, which I never knew before. I also didn’t realise that Cuckooflower is the food plant of the caterpillar of the Orange-tip butterfly – reason enough for me not to eat those peppery leaves as I’d love to see more Orange-tips fluttering around.

Grandmother’s nightcap

20 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Anemone nemorosa, British wildflowers, Grandmother's nightcap, Moggie nightgown, Smell foxes, spring flowers, Windflower, Wood anemone

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 sconzani in birds, nature, spring, walks

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birding, birdwatching, Brecon Beacons, British birds, Craig Cerrig Gleisiad, Dipper, Glamorgan Bird Club, Grey wagtail, Pen-y-fan, Pied flycatcher, Stonechat, Willow tit

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 sconzani in leaves, nature, spring, trees

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#WildWords, bud burst, bud scales, new leaves, Spring has sprung, springtime, wild words

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 sconzani in insects, nature, spring

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Bee-fly, British butterflies, butterflies, Comma, Comma butterfly, Peacock, Peacock butterfly, Speckled wood, Spring has sprung, springtime

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 Peacock 180416 2 Comma 180416 3 Peacock 180416 4 Comma 180416 5 Speckled wood 180416 6 Bee fly

On the verge

15 Sunday Apr 2018

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

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#Ontheverge, #WildflowerHour, British wildflowers, spring flowers, wildflowers

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.

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.

Common cornsalad (Valerianella locusta)

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

The ever reliable Daisy (Bellis perennis)

180415 Dandelion Taraxacum sp and slug friend

Partly devoured Dandelion (Taraxacum sp.) and slug friend

Field Wood-rush (Luzula campestris)

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)

180415 Ribwort plantain Plantago lanceolata

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

Wavy Bitter-cress (Cardamine flexuosa)

My week in wildflowers

13 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

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Barren strawberry, Bluebell, British flora, British wildflowers, Common Stork's-bill, Cornsalad, Danish scurvygrass, gorse, Grape hyacinth, Petty spurge, Ragwort, Red dead-nettle, Three-cornered leek

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 sconzani in flowers, nature, spring, trees

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blackthorn, blossom, Cherry plum, Prunus cerasifera, prunus species, Prunus spinosa, spring, Spring blossom

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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).