17 Wednesday Jan 2024
Have you ever wondered where ladybirds go in winter? Some of them hide away in crevices in tree bark, or under unused flower pots in garden sheds; some even invade our houses, where they can often be found huddled together along the edges of windows.
Others can be spotted outside, hiding in plain sight, as you see here, tucked in holes in fences or clinging on beneath seed heads. They’re such wonderful, though tiny pops of colour in an otherwise fairly drab landscape.
14 Sunday Jan 2024
Tags
Going, going, soon be gone! Given the voracious appetites of birds in the colder weather, those berries than still remain will soon be gone. So, I thought we’d have a change from wildflowers this week and, instead, enjoy some bright berry colours (and hips and haws and other berry-type fruit) before they all disappear into hungry mouths and beaks.
13 Saturday Jan 2024
I’ve been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, trying to be patient, not always succeeding. Then, finally, this week, Waxwings arrived at a park in north Cardiff, just a train ride away from home. I’m sure the four Scandinavian stunners felt right at home in the freezing temperatures today – not so the 20 or so birders waiting for the birds to come down from the treetops to eat the berries on the row of Rowan trees edging the park’s central path. Unfortunately, the Waxwings only came down to feed for a very short time while I was there but these were my first ever Waxwings so I was more than happy! Have you seen any this year?
12 Friday Jan 2024
Tags
Ash key fungi, British fungi, Diaporthe samaricola, Flagelloscypha minutissima, fungi on Ash keys, Neosetophoma samarorum
When I’ve searched Ash keys (seed pods) previously for fungi, I’ve found the two most common, which are Diaporthe samaricola (the small black dots on the upper, seed portion of the ash key, in the image on the right below) and Neosetophoma samarorum (the much smaller, black speckles on the lower, wing part of the key, in the same image) (see Ash key fungi, January 2021).
During recent checks, however, I found a third fungus, the three all flourishing quite happily side by side on one set of keys. The third fungus is white, slightly woolly and minute, and it might be something like Flagelloscypha minutissima, but without examining it and its spores under a microscope (which I don’t have) I can’t be sure.
11 Thursday Jan 2024
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, colour rings on Redshank, Peter Redshank, Redshank
Every year I worry just a little about our local ringed Redshank, affectionately named Peter for the fact that s/he was ringed at Peterstone Great Wharf, just along the coast from Cardiff (see Tracking Mr Redshank, March 2017). This handsome bird is at least eight years old, possibly older, as it was ringed as an adult in February 2016. And each year our local Redshanks brave the perilous north Atlantic twice, to fly to Iceland to breed and then return to our shores to over-winter. Fortunately, our Pete has made it safely back; s/he was seen by another local birder late last year, and I finally caught up with our local celebrity last Sunday.
10 Wednesday Jan 2024
Posted in wildflowers, winter
Phenology: noun; the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant and animal life (Oxford Dictionary).
In 2020 I was amazed to find my first Lesser celandine of the ‘spring’ flowering on 8 January (First Lesser celandine of 2020). This year, I was even more amazed to find my first even before the turning of the year, on 29 December, and then located another two flowers at a different site on my 1 January walk around Cardiff Bay. The way our changing climate is affecting plant phenology (i.e. how flowering times are influenced by seasonal weather variations) is just crazy.
08 Monday Jan 2024
I timed my visit to the north Cardiff reservoirs extremely well last Thursday because, unbeknown to me, the previous day had seen the arrival of a handsome male Ring-necked duck, drawn no doubt by the presence of a female, who has spent much of the winter cruising about Lisvane Reservoir. She had enjoyed the company of another female for a short while and a male – perhaps the same male – for a few days as well, but has spent most of her days with the good numbers of Tufted ducks, Mallards, Coots and Little grebes that live in this reservoir’s shallow waters. I was also lucky that they were relatively close to the edge of the reservoir, which enabled me to get some reasonable photos of the male and female together. I’m not sure what had attracted their attention when I took this image – I never realised their necks could extend this far!
07 Sunday Jan 2024
Posted in wildflowers, winter
The wet and windy weather may have passed but now it feels more like proper winter, with daytime high temperatures in single digits. Still, there are wildflowers to be found in bloom, some that we would usually see in a couple of months time rather than this early in the year. These sixteen are those I found on a walk around the outskirts of my town yesterday and this morning.
06 Saturday Jan 2024
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Common loon, Gavia immer, Great northern diver, Llanishen Reservoir, Loon
Finally, on Thursday, we had a break in the almost constant procession of wet and windy weather that made miserable many of my winter walks in December. To make the most of this, I caught the train to north Cardiff and enjoyed a wonderful walk around the recently reopened Llanishen and Lisvane Reservoirs, through the still muddy Nant Fawr woodland, and on down to Roath Park Lake. The highlight for me of this walk was getting relatively close views of the Great northern diver (Gavia immer) (what my American viewers would call a Common loon) that has been overwintering in Llanishen Reservoir. The bird was still some distance from me so my photos don’t do justice to how beautifully patterned this bird is but it was a pleasure to watch its constant diving.
02 Tuesday Jan 2024
This was originally going to be yesterday’s blog post but that Otter intervened. As I mentioned yesterday, my New Year’s Day walk around Cardiff Bay is becoming a personal tradition, as I challenge myself to see how many birds I can find. There was also one particular bird that’s a local rarity that I wanted to see, so let’s start with that. This juvenile Shag (on the left) has been present on the River Taff for a few days, hanging out with the local Cormorants (one on the right of the Shag). Fortunately, it seems quite settled and, presumably, is feeding well, despite the huge amount of detritus that has been flowing down the river following all the recent rain (as you can see behind the birds).
Another star bird, of the 48 species I counted during my walk, was a male Black redstart. I blogged about these now-regular Bay visitors last year (And then there were two, 18 November) but they are still special enough to get a mention. And, in recent weeks, there have, at various times, been two males and two females in their favourite area around the BBC buildings.
This female Goldeneye was another beauty that we don’t often see in the Bay so I was grateful to one of my fellow local birders who put out the word of its presence on the water behind the ice rink. I was so lucky with my first birding walk of the year, and I’m very much looking forward to how 2024 develops, though the almost constant rain needs to stop first!
earthstar 
You must be logged in to post a comment.