Birch polypore

30 Friday Jan 2026

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It’s been a very long time since I blogged about this fascinating fungus, Birch polypore (Piptoporus betulinus), also known as Razorstrop fungus, because, as I explained in An essential piece of traveller’s kit (8 February 2016), barbers once used the hard surface of this fungus to sharpen their cut-throat razors.

Birch polypore is a rotter, literally; its powers of decomposition are strong, mostly acting on the wood of dead Birches (Betulinus species) but, as Pat O’Reilly writes in Fascinated by Fungi, it may also ‘be parasitic on weakened birches’. I found this lovely specimen feeding on a dead Birch in a Cardiff park earlier this week.

The Marl Med gull

29 Thursday Jan 2026

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I’ve almost certainly shown you this exact same Mediterranean gull in previous posts (Med gull on The Marl, 16 February 2022, and Mediterranean gull,13 January 2025). Though Med gulls don’t breed locally, we are lucky to have one or two overwinter hereabouts, and this individual is regularly seen with the Black-headed gull flock feeding on a Cardiff park and recreation area called The Marl.

Although it’s not ringed, so we can’t be absolutely certain we local birders are seeing the same bird each time, it seems a high probability as birds frequently stick to regular habits and locations. Also, these gulls can live between 10 and 15 years, which lends weight to the idea that the same bird is returning each winter to an area where it’s been able to find food during previous winters.

And there’s one other factor that makes me think this is the same Med gull – it is a very confiding bird, so confident, in fact, that it’s always the closest amongst the flock of other gulls to any humans and the path around the park, which means you can sit on a park bench and enjoy good views of it as it goes about its daily search for worms and other insects.

Recording Grey squirrels

28 Wednesday Jan 2026

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At the start of each month my local biodiversity records centre chooses one species of flora or fauna to be the species of the month, in the hope that recorders will focus some of their recording time during the coming month in looking for and recording that species so as to fill in the gaps in their maps. This month the species has been the Grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), a mammal so ubiquitous that you might think it would already have been recorded in every 1km square in south east Wales but no. As is reported on the SEWBReC website:

it is a species that can become overlooked due to being considered “too common to record”. It is important to record common species as well as rarities, to track population changes and other patterns over time.

Grey squirrels had already been recorded in most of the 1km squares in my area but I did manage to contribute a few additional records during the month.

Jimmy Wren

27 Tuesday Jan 2026

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I know Wrens are mostly referred to with the female vernacular name, Jenny Wren, but, from the way this handsome chap was belting out his melody, he was definitely a male advertising his territory and his attractiveness to any passing females. Hence, my title of Jimmy, not Jenny Wren.

I heard his song from the other side of the field, before I could even see him, which is quite common with these birds; small bird, big voice!

Millipede: Nanogona polydesmoides

26 Monday Jan 2026

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This is a new species for me and I’m not completely certain of my identification of this as Nanogona polydesmoides, a species of millipede, also known as the Eyed flat-backed millipede. However, on the Nature Spot website it’s been given a ‘green flag’, which indicates it’s easy to identify, and its appearance agrees with their description of it having ’rounded lobes on each side of the plates along its back, each with a short spine pointing backwards’.

The location in which I found this creature also agrees with the habitat details provided on the website: ‘Typically found in wet meadows and woodland where it lives in leaf litter and under logs’; I found this one in a small area of woodland, underneath a piece of bark that had fallen off a dying tree.

Mid-winter 10

25 Sunday Jan 2026

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After a week of very cold temperatures earlier this month and what seems like almost constant wind and rain since then, our native flora have finally realised it’s winter and so it was a struggle to find any wildflowers in bloom this week.

I thought I was going to have to be content with the ‘Winter 9’ in the above image (which are Alexanders, Daisy, Dandelion, Gorse, Groundsel, Sea radish, Sweet violet, Winter heliotrope, and Yarrow) but then, during this morning’s walk, I spotted this Hogweed, bringing me to a total of 10, still quite a disappointing total compared to recent years.

Female Scaup

24 Saturday Jan 2026

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It was 10.34 yesterday morning and I was walking across the Barrage, being blasted by the ferocious winds that have plagued us for three days now and looking to see if those winds had blown any interesting birds in to Cardiff Bay, when my phone emitted the double ping that meant a new WhatsApp message had been posted on the local birding group.

A Scaup had been sighted with a flock of Tufted ducks close to the water’s edge by the Norwegian Church. It was perfect timing as I had literally just taken a couple of steps towards home, having spotted nothing new. Instead, I immediately turned around and started striding in the direction of the church, as I knew there was a possibility the birds might be disturbed and I didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

Luckily for me, this stunning female Scaup was still there, and, for the next 15 minutes or so, I enjoyed wonderfully close views. Most of the time she had her head tucked under her wing snoozing but twice, when a group of noisy people walked along the pavement behind me and when one of the water buses left Mermaid Quay to sail up the River Taff to central Cardiff, the Scaup lifted her head to scan her surroundings. Unfortunately, the revving engines, passenger screams, and wave action caused by a Cardiff Jetboat hurtling around nearby then caused almost the entire flock of birds to panic and fly to the other side of the Bay, exactly what I had feared might happen. (And don’t even get me started on the damage and disturbance that jetboat causes in the Bay!)

I had actually seen this same Scaup twice before yesterday, as she had been at Cosmeston Lakes for a couple of weeks before relocating to the Bay with her Tufty friends on Thursday. However, when I had managed to pick her out at Cosmeston, she had always been distant, on the far side of the west lake, so I was really thrilled to see her up close in the Bay.

Robin vs rat

23 Friday Jan 2026

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Overlooking the west lake at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park is a small viewpoint that is home to a little Robin. Whenever I stop there to check for any new waterfowl on the lake, the Robin always pops out and gives me that stare that Robins do so well – the ‘Feed me’ stare. If I have any food with me, I always give in!

Now, Robins may look cute and appealing but they also have a nasty streak and can be quite vicious when defending their territory or, in this case, tasty berry-flavoured suet pellets. The Robin managed to chase away a Dunnock, a Blue tit and a Great tit but then it met its match.

Not one, but two Brown rats must’ve heard the commotion and surmised correctly that food was on offer, and they easily bullied the little birds out of the way, even the feisty little Robin. I never knew rats liked suet pellets but then I guess rats will eat pretty much anything.

Larva: Southern wainscot

22 Thursday Jan 2026

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Firstly, I want to admit that I had no idea I would find this little creature lurking inside a rolled up leaf in the reeds by the River Ely during yesterday’s walk. I had noticed the mottling on some of the leaves and wondered what was causing it – a fungus maybe?

I still don’t know the answer to that question as I was completely distracted when I found the caterpillar, and was totally focused on that instead.

My find hasn’t yet been verified but I think this is the larva of the Southern wainscot moth (Mythimna straminea), which, according to the UK Moths website, overwinters as a larva and typically spends its days hiding in the stems of various Reeds (Phragmites species), emerging at night to feed.

There are only a few records of this moth in the greater Cardiff area but I doubt many people spend time checking the leaves of reeds for its larvae and I also doubt anyone ever runs a moth trap at night in this particular Grangemoor Park location, which explains the lack of records of the adult moth (a beauty you can see on UK Moths) in the immediate area.

Hungry House sparrow

21 Wednesday Jan 2026

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I was actually watching an over-wintering Chiffchaff, dotting about in an area of scrub and tall reeds and occasionally giving its characteristic short call, when the ever-cheerful ‘cheep, cheep, cheep’ of the local gang of House sparrows distracted me.

And, as the Chiffchaff wouldn’t come out to play, I focused instead on the sparrows, as they’re always so entertaining to watch and much more cooperative photographic subjects. This handsome male was enjoying his luncheon, munching contentedly on the flower buds of a nearby Gorse bush.