Wild blooms

28 Sunday Feb 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, plants, wildflowers, winter

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British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter colour, winter wildflowers

The results are in! After a concerted effort to check as many different local habitats as possible, walking 31.5 miles over 5 days, I managed to find 29 different wildflowers in bloom this week. Two (Ragwort and Smooth sow-thistle) were too distant for good photos; the other 27 feature in this week’s little video. I hope you’re also seeing plenty of flowers in your areas now too.

The 27 are: Alexanders, Barren strawberry, Colt’s-foot, Cow parsley, Cowslip, Creeping buttercup, Daisy, Dandelion, Dog’s mercury, Field speedwell, Forget-me-not, Gorse, Groundsel, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Lesser celandine, Opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage, Petty spurge (with little yellow spots of the rust Melampsora euphorbiae), Primrose, Red dead-nettle, Red valerian, Shepherd’s-purse, Snowdrop, Spurge laurel (a shrub really but I’m including it), Sweet violet, Three-cornered leek, Wavy bitter-cress, and Winter heliotrope.

Youth and cheerfulness

14 Sunday Feb 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, winter

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British wildflowers, crocus, Crocuses, Spring colour, spring flowers

As I’m sure most of you know, in Victorian Britain flowers had special meanings, and many people could understand the language of flowers, could even send coded messages by choosing carefully the flowers they included in a floral gift to a friend or potential lover.

Crocuses, apparently, symbolised youth and cheerfulness. Sadly, my youth is long gone but seeing these beauties on a recent walk certainly made me feel cheery.

Berry-eaters, worm-pluckers

13 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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birdwatching, British birds, Redwing

First, they were berry-eaters, stripping trees and shrubs of every luscious fruit. Now, they are frantic leaf-turners, wanna-be worm-pluckers, competing with the Song thrushes and Blackbirds for every tasty wriggler. Soon, the Redwings will be gone, flying back to their breeding grounds to produce next year’s berry-eaters and worm-pluckers. I will miss them; the worms probably not so much.

Elvish beauty

09 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature, winter

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British fungi, Elfcups, fungi, red elfcups, Ruby elfcup, Scarlet elfcup, woodland fungi

As I walked through a local woodland yesterday, in light sleet and a biting wind, I was seduced by these gorgeous elfcups, punctuating the dull greens and dirty browns with their glorious pops of bright red.

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And there were lots of them: tucked under draping fern fronds, nestled amongst lush mosses, almost every rotting log and every broken branch had its cup of scarlet (or ruby) red.

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I’m not sure if anyone has ever checked, microscopically, to determine whether the elfcups in these woodlands are Scarlet (Sarcoscypha austriaca) or Ruby (Sarcoscypha coccinea).

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And, though it would certainly be good to add them to the local biodiversity records, it was enough yesterday to simply feast my eyes on their magical elvish beauty.

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Wild in the churchyard

31 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in wildflowers, winter

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British wildflowers, Crocuses, Daisy, Primroses, Red valerian, Snowdrops, St Augustine's Church, Winter heliotrope, winter wildflowers

I often take a wander through the churchyard of St Augustine’s during my local exercise walks. As this space is purposefully managed to attract wildlife and nurture the environment, it’s always a pleasure to visit, to sit on a bench and listen to the birdsong, to check for what’s growing and blooming. On Thursday’s visit, I looked for wildflowers and was delighted to find my first Snowdrops and Crocuses of the year, as well as a lot of Winter heliotrope, several Primroses, a few Daisies in the grass, and the white-flowered variety of Red valerian.

210131 StAugs wildflowers (1) 210131 StAugs wildflowers (2) 210131 StAugs wildflowers (3) 210131 StAugs wildflowers (4) 210131 StAugs wildflowers (5) 210131 StAugs wildflowers (6)

Bullfinch and Bramble

23 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, plants, winter

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birding, birdwatching, Bramble seeds, British birds, bullfinch, Bullfinch eating Bramble seeds, female Bullfinch

At this time of year, I often see Bullfinches on Bramble bushes, nibbling on the seeds of those desiccated fruits that weren’t consumed by the berry loving birds in the autumn. This female was feasting happily close to one of the paths at Cosmeston last Monday.

210123 bullfinch

Hairy curtain crust

22 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in fungi, winter

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British fungi, crust fungi, Hairy curtain crust, Stereum hirsutum

This colony of Hairy curtain crust (Stereum hirsutum) was making an impressive display on a fallen tree I passed today.

210122 hairy curtain crust (1)

These fungi often start out hugging the wood they’re growing on (the scientific description is resupinate, with the fertile surface adnate to the substrate), then form wavy edged brackets are they age.

210122 hairy curtain crust (2)

The upper surface is hairy (hence the epithet hirsutum), and the lower surface smooth, with no obvious pores.

210122 hairy curtain crust (3)

The big wet

19 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in weather, winter

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flooding, reflections, reflections in water, reflections of trees, surface flooding

We’re half way through Storm Christoph – it drenched much of the country last night and is forecast to blast us again later today and all of tomorrow. It’s times like these I am thankful I live in a town that’s mostly built on a clifftop, though even here the heavy rainfall has caused surface flooding on the already sodden ground. I can enjoy the reflections but my thoughts are with those much less fortunate.

210119 big wet (3)

Grazing

18 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birds, Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve, Meadow pipit, Pied wagtail, Stonechat

Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve is not just about wetlands; there’s also a large swathe of grass where, during spring and summer, Bee orchids thrive (when the council operatives don’t cut them!) and where wildflowers bloom in abundance (ditto!). At the moment many hungry small birds can be seen in this area (when they’re not disturbed by dogs that should be on their leads in a nature reserve), searching for much needed insects and seeds. During my recent walks along the adjacent footpath, I’ve enjoyed seeing a pair of Meadow pipits, a male Stonechat, and several Pied wagtails grazing contentedly together.

210118 stonechat

Midwinter wildflowers

17 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers, winter

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British wildflowers, midwinter wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter colour, winter wildflowers

Nature’s resilience amazes me! It’s the middle of winter, we’ve had some very hard frosts and really chilly days as well as torrential rain, yet I’ve still been able to find 25 species of wildflower in bloom this week.

These heroes are Alexanders, Bramble, a garden-escapee Campanula species, Creeping buttercup, Daisy, Dandelion, Field speedwell, Gorse, Groundsel, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Lesser celandine, Mayweed species, Meadow buttercup, Nipplewort, Oxeye daisy, Primrose, Ragwort, Red valerian, Shepherd’s purse, Smooth sow-thistle, Sweet violet, Wild radish, and Winter heliotrope.