Autumn Redstarts

24 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

Tags

autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Redstart

Thanks to a chat with local expert birder, Graham, I saw splashes of autumn, the flashing orange-red of a young male Redstart, at Cosmeston yesterday.

And he – the bird that is, not Graham – certainly wasn’t shy about displaying the glorious colours under his tail and wing, as he flitted from bush to ground to small tree to wire fence in his constant search for food.

There was another bird calling constantly very close by, probably a second Redstart, but I didn’t manage to get on to it before getting a message that there were Whinchats on the other side of the park. I love this time of year – you never know what’s going to turn up next.

Tiny dancer

23 Monday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

British flies, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Herina lugubris, picture-winged fly

I’m walking along a field path at Cosmeston when I feel a light touch on my arm. Before I even look down, I know what it is as this has happened to me often this summer. It’s a picture-winged fly, probably Herina lugubris, dancing along my bare skin, flashing its wings as it goes. It tickles!

Late summer mellows

22 Sunday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British wildflowers, late summer wildflowers

A selection of the wildflowers in bloom during these last weeks of summer – this week, those of more mellow, subtle hues; next week, I’ll feature the brightly coloured flowers.

These are Bramble, Broad-leaved willowherb, Burdock, Daisy, Everlasting pea, Great willowherb, Hedge woundwort, Hemp agrimony, Knapweed, Large bindweed, Marsh woundwort, Meadow crane’s-bill, Mint, Oxeye daisy, Purple loosestrife, Red clover, Red valerian, Rosebay willowherb, Sneezewort, Tufted vetch, White clover, Wild carrot, and Yarrow.

Latticed heaths

21 Saturday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British moths, Grangemoor Park, Latticed heath, moth

Latticed heath moths have featured many times before on this blog (see here and here) but, after seeing over a dozen during a wander around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park this week, I can’t resist featuring them again. These are three I managed to get close enough to for macro photos.

210821 latticed heath (1) 210821 latticed heath (2) 210821 latticed heath (3)

Grey dagger

20 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British moths, Grey dagger, Grey dagger caterpillar, Grey dagger larva, moth caterpillar, moth larva

The Butterfly Conservation website says the dagger moths get their name from the dagger-like markings on their wings but check out the hump on the back of this Grey dagger larva – in the infamous words of Lady Macbeth from the Scottish play, ‘is this a dagger I see before me’?

210820 grey dagger

Migration companions

19 Thursday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Spotted flycatcher, Willow warbler

These three were hanging out together in a clump of trees at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park yesterday, two Spotted flycatchers flanking a Willow warbler. All are starting their annual autumn migration to Africa, the Willow warbler to southern Tanzania or northern Mozambique, the flycatchers anywhere from the coastal forests of the Gulf of Guinea to South Africa. I hope to get better photos of these birds in the coming weeks but was delighted to get this shot of all three together.

210819 spotted flycatchers

Buff-tip larvae

18 Wednesday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British moths, Buff-tip moth, Buff-tip moth caterpillars, moth caterpillars, moth larvae, Moth larvae on Oak leaves

I’ve never seen a Buff-tip moth (Phalera bucephala) except in photographs (they look incredibly like twigs – see images on the Butterfly Conservation website here). But yesterday I found their larvae, lots of them, all huddled together on the top side and underside of an Oak leaf.

210818 buff tip moth larvae (1)

The adult moth, which flies from May to early August, lays clusters of eggs under the leaves of the trees their caterpillars feed on, which, as well as Oak, include Hazel and the various birches and sallows, amongst others.

210818 buff tip moth larvae (2)

The larvae hatch out after 2-3 weeks and start eating. It takes just a month for them to go through their four instars, after which they move down into the ground to pupate. Come the spring, the whole process begins again.

210818 buff tip moth larvae (3)

Getting up close

17 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Common blue butterfly, macro photography, Meadow Brown, practising macro photography, Speckled wood

I mostly use my Olympus camera for macro photographs, and to get crisp shots I need to get within an inch or two of the subject. As you can imagine, a lot of little creatures are alarmed by a large animal looming over them with a camera so, from time to time, I use one of my daily walks to practise my stealth. After a couple of false starts yesterday, I was very pleased to get up close to these three butterflies – a Common blue, a Meadow brown and a Speckled wood – as the macro photos give such good detail of the anatomy of these beautiful butterflies.

210817 common blue 210817 meadow brown 210817 speckled wood

Bush-crickets

16 Monday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British bush-crickets, British orthoptera, crickets, Dark bush-cricket, Speckled bush-cricket

August is the time of the crickets, when many species mature from nymph to adults and the males begin their night-time wing-against-wing-rubbing (called stridulation) to advertise their presence.

210816 dark bush-cricket

I found this Dark bush-cricket sunning itself on a bramble bush. It started to move under a leaf as I approached with my macro-lensed camera but then kindly consented to pose for some images. It’s such a handsome beast, with its dappled brown body armour.

210816 speckled bush-cricket

This Speckled bush-cricket also wasn’t sure about me getting so close but somehow sensed I wasn’t a threat. She’s a stunning female – the dagger-like appendage on her rear is her ovipositor, used to lay eggs in tree bark and plant stems.

Variations in pink and white

15 Sunday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British wildflowers, colour variation in flowers, Common centaury, knapweed, thistle, Yarrow

It fascinates me how many wildflowers vary from their standard colours, often changing from pink to white and vice versa. Here we have Centaury, usually pink but also commonly seen with white flowers; Knapweed, also usually a pinkish lilac, but I occasionally see a white variant; Thistles that are also usually pinky lilac but often flowering white hereabouts; and the usually white Yarrow, which I find growing with quite pink flowers in a local field.