11 Wednesday Jul 2018
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers
Fasciated: Adjective; (Botany) Showing abnormal fusion of parts or organs, resulting in a flattened ribbon-like structure (Oxford Dictionary).
The thistle in my photo is an example; instead of developing in the circular shape that is usual for this plant, the flower has, for some unknown reason, become distorted into a flattened and elongated, almost oblong shape.
10 Tuesday Jul 2018
Posted in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers
Self-evident, really. Nom, nom, nom!
23 Saturday Jun 2018
Posted in flowers, insects, nature, walks, wildflowers
Tags
#30DaysWild, British butterflies, British insects, flowers for pollinators, National Insect Week, Penarth, wildflowers, Zigzag path
For day 23 of #30DaysWild, as it’s National Insect Week, I went seeking insects along one my local trails, the zigzag path that runs from upper Penarth down to the marina. This was once a heavily wooded hillside but now has a concrete path that gives pedestrians and cyclists easy access up and down the steep hill. Of course, people sometimes want a more direct route and you can see that the frequent stomping of feet has worn alternate paths down the hillside.
Though it looks quite grassy in this photo from a couple of weeks ago, the hillside is now a mass of self-sown native wildflowers and today it was alive with insects, from bees and hoverflies to butterflies, beetles and damselflies. This is a perfect site for wildflowers to grow – it is steep so difficult and presumably expensive to mow, and its steepness means it can’t be safely used by children playing (though, with a covering of snow, it is perfect for sledging!).
Though the local council usually strim this slope to death, utterly destroying the wildflowers and the wildlife, they have recently – and rather ironically – ploughed up a small flat area and dumped upon it soil seeded with wildflowers. That might sound hopeful, a positive action, but the ploughed area has not been maintained and, though I may be wrong, I doubt whether the wildflowers were locally sourced. I wonder too why the council would go to the expense of ploughing up perfectly good local wildflowers to plant others – do they think wildflowers should only be of the type they prescribe and only grow within a prescribed rectangular area? Surely they misunderstand the very essence of WILDflowers.
This blog post, then, is partly a celebration of the amazing variety of insects that enjoy the wildflowers that grow naturally around the zigzag path and partly a plea to the council not to kill those wildflowers and their pollinators but instead to celebrate and foster this wonderfully biodiverse area of Penarth.
19 Tuesday Jun 2018
Posted in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, British beetles, British insects, Common spotted orchid, National Insect Week, Oedemera nobilis, Swollen-thighed beetle
Not only is this day 19 of #30DaysWild, but today is also the second day of National Insect Week. To celebrate, here is one of my favourite British insects, the Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis). I see these little guys on almost every type of flower at this time of year – this one’s on a Common spotted-orchid – and they always make me smile. It’s the male beetles that have those fat thighs – I haven’t been able to find out why, so if you know, please do tell.
15 Friday Jun 2018
Posted in birds, flowers, nature, walks, wildflowers
Tags
#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Cardiff Bay, Carrion crow, Coot, Ely embankment, feral pigeon, Linnet, Mallard, Mute swan, Pied wagtail, River Ely, Small tortoiseshell
My regular followers will remember that, over the winter months, when there were more birds around, I posted a regular monthly roundup of the action along the embankment where the River Ely flows in to Cardiff Bay. Today, for day 15 of #30DaysWild, I thought I’d take another look. Here’s what I found …
The embankment is a riot of colour, with both native wildflowers and garden escapees in full bloom.
Two Linnets were foraging on flower seeds but were very skittish.
Loving these Oxeye daisies.
A juvenile Pied wagtail was feeding near the waterline.
A flock of 7 Feral pigeons was also foraging amongst the flowers
This Mallard had found a sunny spot for a snooze.
23 Mute swans were floating up the river, many taking the opportunity to preen as they went.
9 Coots were congregating at the water’s edge.
I saw my first Small tortoiseshell butterfly of the year.
Looking back up the river as an Aquabus shows sightseers the river. The black hulk is a new apartment block.
And finally, a Carrion crow was prospecting for tasty morsels.
13 Wednesday Jun 2018
Posted in insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
#30DaysWild, #plantsforpollinators, #WildflowerHour, 30 Days Wild, bees, bramble, bumblebees, flies, hoverflies, Rubus fruticosus agg
Last Sunday, on #WildflowerHour, the challenge was to find #plantsforpollinators, i.e. to find wildflowers that support a variety of the insects that act as pollinators. I had found several different insects on Bramble flowers last week so posted a series of photos that showed them. And that gave me the idea for day 13 of #30DaysWild, namely to see what insects I could find on the local Bramble bushes. It was overcast and a bit cooler today, so I didn’t see as many butterflies as last week, but there were bees and bumblebees, flies and hoverflies, one butterfly, and a number of bugs and beetles. Here they are …
04 Monday Jun 2018
Posted in birds, flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, birding birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff's canals, Common blue damselfly, Coot, Coot chicks, Coots nesting, feral pigeon, Fringed water-lily, Little Venice, Mallard, vegetation in canals
I had to go in to Cardiff city today to do a few chores so, for day four of #30DaysWild, I thought I’d take a wander along the old canals, an area known locally as Little Venice. The area closest to the main road is quite unkempt, but, except for the human rubbish, I like how overgrown it is – and I’m sure the wildlife does too – and the submerged plants are particularly lovely at the moment, with long streaming fronds covered in pretty white flowers.
The canals flow in a couple of different directions, both ultimately emptying into East Bute Dock, where once a million tons of coal a year was loaded on to waiting ships. The canals are bordered by various types of accommodation and office blocks, have footpaths along both sides, and in places are adorned with beautiful, currently flowering native Fringed Water Lily (Nymphoides peltata).
The canals also support a range of wildlife. Drake mallards snoozed on the warm stone edges, Common blue damselflies flitted back and forth, and a feral pigeon strutted towards me, hopeful of a spot of lunch.
The big drawcard of these waterways for me, though, is that Coots can usually be found nesting here, often very successfully. In their large sturdy nest structures, built of sticks and plant material and human detritus, I’ve seen broods of up to 6 chicks.
Today there were two pairs with quite well-grown young, and three more birds sitting, possibly with little ones tucked under their wings. And very cute they all were too!
03 Sunday Jun 2018
Posted in flowers, nature, parks, wildflowers
Tags
#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Bee orchid, British orchids, Common spotted orchid, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Greater butterfly-orchid, orchid, Southern marsh orchid
For day three of #30DaysWild I went searching for orchids at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, and I got lucky. The Common spotted-orchids are blooming in good numbers now, two of the small number of well hidden Greater butterfly-orchids are flowering, I found my first Bee orchid of the season, and I think I found my first Southern marsh-orchid as well. It couldn’t get much better than that!
Common spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)
Greater butterfly-orchid (Platanthera chlorantha)
Bee orchid (Ophrys apifera)
Southern marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) (and Common blue butterfly)
31 Thursday May 2018
Tags
Azure damselfly, Bird’s-foot trefoil, Bugle, Common blue butterfly, Common whitethroat, Coot, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, cuckoo spit, Dingy Skipper, Flax, Hawthorn blossom, Large Red damselfly, Mallard ducklings, Scarlet pimpernel, Swallow, tadpoles
I literally dipped in and out of Cosmeston on 2 May, for a quick look at the dipping pond to see if I could spot any Water voles. I dipped on the voles but I did see Ma Mallard and her two gorgeous ducklings, and a gazillion tadpoles.
11 May I needed to stretch my legs after spending the previous day sorting out after my birding trip so off to Cosmeston I headed. I came in from the north end via Old Cogan farm, where a pair of Swallows was sitting on the wires. I suspect they nest in the old barn as I see them there often over the summer months.
Apart from those Swallows, it was quiet on the bird front and, as a cool wind was blowing, there were no butterflies about either. So, I took lots of photos of newly blooming wildflowers …
While doing that, I found an interesting little critter mooching around on some leaves (it looked like a weevil without a long snout but I haven’t positively identified it), and I spotted my first cuckoo spit of the season (I just know you’ll be delighted with that find!).
15 May A brief walk through on my way home from Lavernock. I wandered along the edges of Sully brook and then, once again, stopped for a few minutes at the dipping pond. The bad news was that mother Mallard only had one duckling remaining – fingers crossed it makes it to adulthood. The good news was that I saw my first damselflies for the year – both Azure and Large reds were out in numbers.
17 May I passed through Cossie again, this time on my way home from Sully. A Common whitethroat was showing well in the reeds near the cafe, and a Coot was shepherding her three young offspring around the west lake. The chicks were well developed, which bodes well for their survival.
20 May This time my 3-hour mooch was all concentrated at Cosmeston. I went early to avoid the Sunday crowds and the scorching sun, and walked the east and west paddocks from one end to the other and back again, along the various trails. I was looking particularly for orchids but saw only leaves, a few with the stalks of flower buds just emerging, and for butterflies. The Dingy skippers and Common blue butterflies were out in good numbers, and it was a pleasure to watch them flitting to and fro.
24 May I went early again to Cosmeston but not early enough, as the rain came in almost as soon as I arrived and I didn’t have a coat with me. I lingered long enough to enjoy the glorious Hawthorn blossom that covers the hedgerows like summer snow, before striding quickly homewards.
25 Friday May 2018
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers
Tags
British wildflowers, Bush vetch, Common vetch, Herb Bennet, Oxeye daisy, Ragged robin, Russian comfrey, Wood avens
Time to catch up on which wildflowers are currently flowering in the waysides …
I often see the mottled purplish flowers of Bush vetch (Vicia sepium) in the wonderfully scruffy areas on the edges of roads and paths.
Often accompanying its Bush cousin, the Common vetch (Vicia sativa) has a delicate pink, often single flower, very much like the popular garden plant the Sweet pea, to which it is also related.
There’s something innately cheerful about the Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), which also goes by the common names of Dog daisy, Horse daisy, Moon daisy and Moonpenny (I almost typed Moneypenny!).
The perfectly named Ragged-Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) likes to have its feet in damp places so look for it in marshy areas, near drains and streams.
Given the deep purple of its flowers, I think this might be Russian comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum), a hybrid of Common and Creeping comfrey. I found it growing well in a coastal location near where I live.
Though officially known as Wood avens (Geum urbanum) I always think of this plant as Herb Bennet, which, according to Flora Britannica, is a corruption of the medieval Latin herba benedicta, meaning the blessed herb. Its roots were widely used in herbal medicine.
earthstar 
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