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.
13 Thursday Feb 2020
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Green woodpecker, Green woodpecker pooh, signs of Green woodpecker, woodpecker holes in dirt
Even if I hadn’t heard the Green woodpecker yaffling as it flew from the paddock ahead of a dog and its walker passing through, I would have known the bird had recently been there. For, as I strolled along the boundary path, every patch of bare earth had punched into it the tell-tale holes of the woodpecker’s probing beak as it had searched beneath the ground for ants and other insects.
And, always quite close to those scatterings of holes were the bird’s droppings, with their characteristic hook at one end – just like a stick of candy, someone once told me, though undoubtedly the taste would be rather different. If you look closely at my photos, you might just make out the carapaces from the bird’s feasting.
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.
09 Sunday Feb 2020
Posted in nature, spring, wildflowers
Tags
Alexanders, British wildflowers, Cherry plum blossom, crocus, Dog's mercury, Lesser Celandine, snowdrop, Spring blossom
This week’s wanderings produced sightings of two new wildflowers for the year, Dog’s mercury (Mercurialis perennis), thriving under a hedgerow, and Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum), an exceedingly common plant along the local coastal path.
I’d seen Crocuses already but this swathe, growing on a small green in the village of Michaelston-le-Pit, was a lilac delight.
Not a wildflower, but the local Cherry plum trees have burst into bloom this week. They say Spring to me!
Snowdrops are out en masse now, and more and more bursts of bright yellow Lesser celandines can be found, sprinkled along paths and in the local woodlands. So cheery!
08 Saturday Feb 2020
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Blue Tom, British birds, dunnock, Dunnock's vernacular names, Hedge Betty, Hedge Mike
The Dunnock has some wonderful vernacular names. From my Fauna Britannica: Billy (Oxfordshire); blue Isaac (Gloucestershire); dickie (Lancashire); hedge Betty (Warwickshire); Philip (Ireland); blue Tom (Stirlingshire); hedge Mike (Sussex) – these are just a few of the 49 names listed, from all parts of Britain. It’s no wonder, as the Dunnock is one of the most common of British birds.
It may be dun coloured (hence its most common name, though some people still call it by its former name of Hedge sparrow) but its small frame is packed with character.
This particular bird was so intent on blasting out its song today that it almost ignored me, standing on the muddy path in front of it. Another Dunnock was singing its territory and attractiveness as a mate from a nearby bush so I think there was a little competition going on.
07 Friday Feb 2020
Grebes were much in evidence today.
As well as these two Great crested grebes, I saw several other pairs, some displaying and, once, a couple of males engaged in a noisy dispute, over a fine nesting spot perhaps.
Making a lot of chattering noise as they swam, two Little grebes also seemed to be searching for potential nest sites amongst the reeds. We might be expecting a mighty storm in the next couple of days but the birds are thinking it’s Springtime.
06 Thursday Feb 2020
Tags
British hoverflies, dormant hoverfly larvae, hoverfly, hoverfly larva, Platycheirus larva, Platycheirus species
When I first saw this creature, I thought it might be a butterfly or moth larva but I was wrong – nothing new there!
Thanks to a Twitter pal, I now know it’s a hoverfly larva and, with some excellent help from an entomologist who specialises in flies, I also now know it’s one of the Platycheirus family of hoverflies but not which of their 25 British species.
Apparently, little is known about the larvae of some species of hoverflies: their larvae have not yet been fully examined or described, so you really need to rear a dormant larva through to adulthood to be sure. Not knowing that, I left this one in the woodland where I saw it, but next time …
05 Wednesday Feb 2020
It’s been a glorious day, with blue skies and sunshine aplenty. And everywhere I went, the birds were singing out their pleasure, announcing their availability, staking their claims on territories, and canoodling!
In the churchyard at St Augustine’s, two pairs of Collared doves were coo-coo-cooooing from their chosen trees.
One pair was hiding shyly in amongst the greenery but the other two were sitting on bare branches, basking in the sunshine, preening each other, and being lovey-dovey. I guess that’s where the expression comes from.
earthstar 
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