Category Archives: spring

The Boraginaceae

16 Sunday Apr 2023

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Finding flowering specimens of the Borage family was the target of this week’s Wildflower Hour. This family, the Boraginaceae, includes the various Forget-me-nots (Myosotis species), the Comfries (Symphytum species), Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis), Viper’s-bugloss (Echium vulgare), the Gromwells (Lithospermum species), Green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens), Borage (Borago officinalis), of course, and a few other species as well. Unfortunately, our wet Spring, the recent cold spell and storm mean many of these wildflower species are not yet flowering locally but I have managed to find three species.

Comfrey : I’m not sure which of the Symphytum species this is. It’s growing on the edge of a carpark so is probably a wind-blown garden escape or was perhaps seeded via a bird dropping.

Lungwort : Sadly, this isn’t a common plant locally – I only know of two locations where it grows. I wish there was more as the bees love it.

Forget-me-not : Did you know that the yellow ring at the centre of the Forget-me-not flower fades from egg-yolk yellow to white after pollination, which indicates to insects that there’s no more nectar and they should try another flower?

Rue-leaved saxifrage

09 Sunday Apr 2023

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Another week, another new plant – I’m on a roll!

230409 rue-leaved saxifrage (1)

This hairy little annual, with the sweet white flowers, is Rue-leaved saxifrage (Saxifraga tridactylites). Its three-lobed leaves (hence the tridactyl in its name) are quite distinctive and are often tinged with red, as are the plant’s stems.

230409 rue-leaved saxifrage (2)

In Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey writes that this saxifrage is widespread but declining, though the book is now 25 years old so I’m not sure if that is still the case. Certainly, it’s not a plant I’ve come across before in my meanderings and these few were growing on the much-overgrown route of a former railway line so could originally have been carried this way by a train.

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The weather effect

06 Thursday Apr 2023

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The weather effect? By 1 April last year, I’d clocked 63 butterflies of 7 species. This year I’d only recorded 13 butterflies of 4 species. As well as our very wet and cool spring, it seems that last year’s hot dry summer is also having a prolonged effect on butterfly numbers. Butterfly Conservation has warned that

Drought impacts the offspring of the butterflies that are flying during the hot dry weather by causing the plants that caterpillars rely on for food to wither and die. Without sufficient food, many caterpillars will fail to survive, leading to lower numbers of butterflies in the next generation. For some of the UK species that have more than one generation in a year, the resulting major decline in numbers has already been seen. However, for others, the next generation isn’t on the wing until this summer, meaning there could be noticeably fewer butterflies around in 2023.

230406 speckled wood (1)

Imagine my delight then, when I finally spotted not one but my first two Speckled woods of 2023, a week later than last year. Let’s hope this year’s weather is a little more kind to our insect neighbours, though climate change is already affecting and will continue to affect them.

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Dark-edged bee-flies

05 Wednesday Apr 2023

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Apparently, today is #NationalDandelionDay. Dandelions are brilliant for so many reasons (I’ve blogged about their value to insects previously – see Delicious Dandelions, April 2022) but what better reason than the food they provide to all the gorgeous little bee-flies that are currently emerging all over the country.

230405 bee-fly male

These are Dark-edged bee-flies (Bombylius major), the only bee-fly species we have locally though there are other species in Britain. The top bundle of fluff is a male and the bottom is a female. The way to tell the sexes apart is to look at their eyes – if there’s a gap between the eyes, it’s a female. The males usually emerge first, with the females following a week to ten days later.

230405 bee-fly female

American winter-cress

02 Sunday Apr 2023

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One of my local green spaces, Grangemoor Park, in Cardiff, an old landfill site, has been much churned up over the past year due to the need for repairs to its drainage system. Seeing the amount of damage done to the park, the huge numbers of trees cut down, the wide gravel paths laid down where once were wildflowers and scrub, has been very depressing but I’m hoping Nature will quickly repair the human damage. In the meantime, trying to be positive, I’ve been keeping an eye on the disturbed ground for any botanical surprises. And this is one!

230402 american winter-cress (1)

I’m 99% sure that this lovely little treasure is American winter-cress (Barbarea verna), a new plant for me. I’ve had a botanist confirm my identification but with one proviso. She thought ‘Yes I think it looks like it is B. verna as opposed to B. intermedia. If you should happen to see it again when it is in fruit, it should have long (over 4cm) curved fruits, whereas intermedia has shorter (less than 4cm) straight fruits.’ Needless to say, I will be checking the fruits in due course.

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In Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey writes that Barbarea verna has proven to be ‘popular and successful as a vegetable. Originally from south-west Europe, it has been introduced as a cultivated vegetable not just to the United States and northern Europe, but to South America and Australasia. It has become widely naturalised in all these places.’ I will be tempted, once it has grown, to harvest some of the leaves, which can be used like ‘rocket’ in a salad, though it is growing in the perfect spot for passing canines to anoint so will have to be washed very thoroughly.

230402 american winter-cress (3)

Changing colours

01 Saturday Apr 2023

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There hasn’t been a lot of Turnstone activity around Cardiff Bay this winter, perhaps because the milder weather has allowed them to forage and rest in more exposed locations, so it was delightful to see a flock of 13 birds on the River Ely embankment on Thursday. Several were showing signs of the colour changes, those splodges of rusty red that come as they moult into their breeding plumage.

230401 turnstone (1)

Judging by previous years, these superb little waders will be heading north to their breeding sites in the next few weeks and I won’t see them again until sometime in August, when they and their fledged youngsters will return to our shores.

230401 turnstone (2)

There’s a Chiffchaff in my tree

22 Wednesday Mar 2023

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There’s a Chiffchaff in my tree, chiffchaffing happily!

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That was my tweet this morning after I’d spent a joyous 20 minutes standing by the open window, watching this little bird flit about the cherry tree outside my living room, catching tiny insects and singing almost the entire time.

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Although some Chiffchaffs now overwinter in the warmer parts of Britain, most still migrate, and they began arriving back in my area in good number last Friday. After this morning’s home-based Chffichaff encounter, I went for a walk around Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, during which I heard and/or saw at least 23 more Chiffchaffs. Their song will soon become one of the commonplace sounds of spring/summer but, for now, it’s pure magic!

230322 chiffchaff (3)

First Blackcap

20 Monday Mar 2023

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I heard him before I saw him – in fact, it took a while to spot this little chap, who was mostly hidden amongst the greenery as he sang his little tune. Was he celebrating the fact that he’d finally arrived on land after his long migration flight? Or was he practising his melody in preparation for trying to woo a potential mate? Though some Blackcaps now over-winter here, they are mostly to be found feeding in people’s gardens, taking advantage of the goodies on offer from feeders. This little fellow was by the sea, with no houses or gardens nearby, which is why I’m fairly sure he was a newly arrived migrant. And he was my first Blackcap of the year. I look forward to seeing more.

230320 first blackcap

Two sedges

17 Sunday Apr 2022

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Sedges are new territory for me, a tentative step into the vast myriad of grasses, rushes and sedges I have yet to identify and recognise. This first, Pendulous sedge (Carex pendula), lines the rides in a local ancient woodland, where it thrives on the heavy clay soil. It’s quite a tall plant, growing up to five feet, and its flower spikes drape gracefully along the track edges.

220417 pendulous sedge

I think this second plant is Glaucous sedge (Carex flacca), though there are a number of smaller sedges and they can be tricky to identify. This plant is much smaller than its stately cousin, though it also prefers the damp, living in ditches and moist meadows.

220417 glaucous sedge