16 Sunday Feb 2020
Storm Dennis has dumped a huge amount of rain across Wales this weekend, on to ground already saturated by the rain from Storm Ciara and, sadly, this has led to severe flooding in some south Wales communities. I am fortunate to live in a town which, although by the sea, is mostly built upon the clifftops, between 30 and 70 metres above sea level, so we have escaped with just a little surface flooding. And that, as you can see, can provide some very attractive reflections.
15 Saturday Feb 2020
Tags
British insects, Common Green Shieldbug, Green shieldbug, Palomena prasina, sunbathing shieldbug
Obviously, these photos were not taken today, as Storm Dennis is currently blasting the British Isles – though, in truth, here in south Wales we are not getting quite as much rain as I expected, nor are we being battered as severely as we were by the fiercely gusting winds that accompanied last weekend’s Storm Ciara, for which I am extremely grateful.
My photos of this Common green shieldbug (Palomena prasina) were taken a week ago, on a warm (for the time of year) sunny day. And, as I have just read in a tweet by SEWBReC, our local biodiversity records centre, that ‘Now is a good time of year to spot shieldbugs sunbathing on (rare!) sunny days’, I thought I would make this little sunbather my critter of the day.
14 Friday Feb 2020
Love is in the air for the Black-headed gulls, as many have already completed the change to their breeding colours, their head plumage morphed from (mostly) winter white to the chocolate brown (not black) of summer. It’s little wonder people find identifying (not sea)gulls confusing when they are so misleadingly named.
Here’s a link to a blog from 2016 that shows the change process in photographs.
12 Wednesday Feb 2020
Tags
Before you think you’re reading the wrong blog, this is not a weather report!
It’s just that I was surprised during today’s woodland walk (in sunshine, though with a very chilly breeze blowing) to see that smatterings of yesterday’s hail were still lying amongst the vegetation in more sheltered areas.
And, not only that, but there were also two small drifts, a couple of feet across, of the snow that must have fallen on Monday night while I was sleeping. I noticed traces of it on some shady rooftops yesterday but thought it would all have melted away by now.
The fact that both hail and snow have survived is certainly proof, which today’s numb fingertips can confirm, that the temperatures have been much cooler this week.
11 Tuesday Feb 2020
Today’s walk around some of central Cardiff’s lovely parks was peppered with light hail showers but that worked in my favour because it meant there weren’t many other people out walking and so the birds weren’t as disturbed as they might have been. And that meant I was able to get quite close to some of the large flocks of Redwings that were grazing on the grassy meadows and playing fields. What handsome birds these winter visitors are, with their distinctive pale face stripes, their rusty flanks and their ‘tseep tseep’ calls.
10 Monday Feb 2020
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Black-headed gull, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff Bay birds, gulls on beach, gulls on mudflats
Storm Ciara has been blasting us with gale-force winds, heavy showers and stinging hail again today but I managed a brisk walk down to Cardiff Bay without getting drenched (though I did have to shelter from the wild weather for 30 minutes as a squall roared through – it was loud and dramatic).
The sheltering gave me the chance to watch the Black-headed gulls tackling the weather – their aerial control was incredible, though even they were struggling at times, and the majority of the gulls were hunkered down on the beach and mudflats, prospecting for mid-morning snacks.
28 Tuesday Jan 2020
Despite being caught twice in freezing hail showers, I had a lovely walk today, and part of the reason is because I saw my first Blackthorn blossoms for 2020. As Blackthorn flowers appear before the leaves (in contrast to Hawthorn, where the leaves appear first), this hedge along the roadside at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park still looks lifeless and barren.
In fact, the brown branches and twigs were dotted here and there with white buds and occasional fully open blossoms. Spring is coming!
26 Sunday Jan 2020
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers, winter
In New Zealand we call this plant Onion weed but, here in Britain, its common name is Three-cornered leek. As its scientific name, Allium triquetrum, indicates, this bulbous plant is part of the garlic and onion family, the Alliums, and triquetrum refers to the triangular shape of its flower stem.
In Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey writes that this smelly plant was ‘introduced to Britain in 1752’ and ‘began to escape into shady hedge-banks and churchyards in Cornwall in the 1860s. By the 1930s it was in Devon’ and, in 1995, Mabey found it in the Chilterns, near London. Obviously, it’s spread even further since then, as it’s jumped the border and is thriving here in Wales. These were my first Three-cornered leek flowers for 2020.
25 Saturday Jan 2020
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Great Crested Grebe
Today’s seven-mile walk was through thick grey drizzle-like mist and, except for the raucous gulls at the edge of Cosmeston’s east lake (where everyone feeds the birds), the land was hushed and still. Not wanting to get my gear wet, I only got my camera out of my backpack once, for a few shots of this handsome Great crested grebe.
22 Wednesday Jan 2020
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers, winter
I saw my first Snowdrops of 2020 today in Cardiff’s Bute Park.
Candlemas bells, Mary’s taper, Snow piercer, February fairmaids, Dingle-dangle – all vernacular names for Snowdrops, according to my Flora Britannica. In Welsh, Snowdrop is Eirlys (pronounced Ire-liss), a lovely word that’s sometimes used as a girl’s name. How pretty!
earthstar 
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