Fat thighs are cool!

19 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, British beetles, British insects, Common spotted orchid, National Insect Week, Oedemera nobilis, Swollen-thighed beetle

Not only is this day 19 of #30DaysWild, but today is also the second day of National Insect Week. To celebrate, here is one of my favourite British insects, the Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis). I see these little guys on almost every type of flower at this time of year – this one’s on a Common spotted-orchid – and they always make me smile. It’s the male beetles that have those fat thighs – I haven’t been able to find out why, so if you know, please do tell.

180619 Swollen-thigh beetle

Ringlet no.1

18 Monday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, British butterfly, Common blue, Large skipper, Lavernock Nature Reserve, Ringlet, Ringlet butterfly, Small white

Today, on day 18 of #30DaysWild, I walked along the coastal path to Lavernock Nature Reserve, intending to do some sea-watching – and I did – I watched the sea for over an hour. I saw a couple of gulls and a lot of waves and a couple of large container ships heading up and down the channel. Of course, that was not what I was hoping to see. Over the past few days, there have been reports of large numbers of Manx shearwaters flying back and forth, as well as the occasional Storm petrel, Arctic skua, Gannets, Guillemots, Fulmars, etc. Today there were none – well, maybe 2 or 3 birds a long long long way out – but none that I could see with my bins.

180618 ringlet (1)

Luckily for me, though, I bumped into Alan, a fellow birder, who’s also a fan of butterflies and dragonflies – many of us birders are – and he very kindly showed me a Ringlet butterfly he’d just spotted. It was the first I’d seen in 2018 and, once I’d finished staring at the sea, I wandered around Lavernock and found another – or, possibly, the same one – plus a few other butterflies. So, I may not have bagged a new bird for my year list but I did bag a new butterfly (metaphorically speaking, of course).

180618 ringlet (2)

The supporting cast consisted of Large skippers, Common blues and a Small white.

Birding at Kenfig

16 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, walks

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Coot chicks, Glamorgan Bird Club, Kenfig National Nature Reserve, Kenfig Pool, Sparrowhawk

For day 16 of #30DaysWild I joined my fellow Glamorgan Bird Club members for their monthly wander around Kenfig National Nature Reserve. It started grey and later rained a little, so conditions weren’t ideal for birding and, in the leafy fullness of summer, birds can often be difficult to spot anyway.

180616 1 Kenfig NNR

The plus side of this for me is that I get to practise my listening skills as I gradually learn to recognise more and more bird songs and calls. And, fortunately, Ceri had brought his ’scope along, so we could all take a look at those birds that were distant specks on the tree-tops.

180616 2 distant bird 180616 3 distant bird

The highlight for me was this Sparrowhawk that Rob spotted sitting on the shore of Kenfig Pool.

180616 4 sparrowhawk

Though its origin is unknown and so it might not be a wild bird, the Pink-footed goose was still a nice addition to the Canada and Greylag geese on the pool.

180616 5 geese

And you know I can’t resist the young ones: these are just a couple of today’s Cootlets.

180616 6 coot chicks

Considering the conditions and the time of year, I reckon we did pretty well to spot and/or hear a total of 47 species. As I don’t have eyes in the back of my head, my personal list was 43: Collared dove, Woodpigeon, Starling, Blackbird, Wren, Dunnock, Swift, Lesser black-backed gull, Willow warbler, Greenfinch, Blackcap, Carrion crow, Magpie, Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, House sparrow, Song thrush, Skylark, Whitethroat, Robin, Stonechat, Linnet, Herring gull, Great tit, Buzzard, Raven, Lapwing, Sand martin, Coot, Mallard, Canada goose, Sparrowhawk, Greylag goose, Mute swan, Pink-footed goose Grey heron, Pied wagtail, Reed warbler, Chaffinch, Herring gull, Cormorant, Great crested grebe, Blue tit.

Ely embankment revisited

15 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, flowers, nature, walks, wildflowers

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Cardiff Bay, Carrion crow, Coot, Ely embankment, feral pigeon, Linnet, Mallard, Mute swan, Pied wagtail, River Ely, Small tortoiseshell

My regular followers will remember that, over the winter months, when there were more birds around, I posted a regular monthly roundup of the action along the embankment where the River Ely flows in to Cardiff Bay. Today, for day 15 of #30DaysWild, I thought I’d take another look. Here’s what I found …

The embankment is a riot of colour, with both native wildflowers and garden escapees in full bloom.

Two Linnets were foraging on flower seeds but were very skittish.

Loving these Oxeye daisies.

A juvenile Pied wagtail was feeding near the waterline.

A flock of 7 Feral pigeons was also foraging amongst the flowers

This Mallard had found a sunny spot for a snooze.

23 Mute swans were floating up the river, many taking the opportunity to preen as they went.

9 Coots were congregating at the water’s edge.

I saw my first Small tortoiseshell butterfly of the year.

Looking back up the river as an Aquabus shows sightseers the river. The black hulk is a new apartment block.

And finally, a Carrion crow was prospecting for tasty morsels.

Cuteness

14 Thursday Jun 2018

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Canada goose, Canada goose goslings, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, gosling, Moorhen, Moorhen chicks

Sometimes, when all the news seems to be full of doom and gloom, it’s nice to have something in our lives to make us smile. So, on day 14 of #30DaysWild, I went looking for cute babies ’cause they always make me smile – not human babies but baby birds. First, I found these three gorgeous little Canada goose goslings with their parents by the east lake at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.

180614 Canada geese goslings (1)

And then, at the dipping pond, I spent a very enjoyable half hour watching the many Moorhen babies feeding, swimming, and preening. I hope they make you smile as well.

On the Bramble

13 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, wildflowers

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#30DaysWild, #plantsforpollinators, #WildflowerHour, 30 Days Wild, bees, bramble, bumblebees, flies, hoverflies, Rubus fruticosus agg

Last Sunday, on #WildflowerHour, the challenge was to find #plantsforpollinators, i.e. to find wildflowers that support a variety of the insects that act as pollinators. I had found several different insects on Bramble flowers last week so posted a series of photos that showed them. And that gave me the idea for day 13 of #30DaysWild, namely to see what insects I could find on the local Bramble bushes. It was overcast and a bit cooler today, so I didn’t see as many butterflies as last week, but there were bees and bumblebees, flies and hoverflies, one butterfly, and a number of bugs and beetles. Here they are …

Lively Lavernock

12 Tuesday Jun 2018

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Blue-tailed damselfly, Broad-bodied Chaser, Common blue butterfly, Emperor dragonfly, Large Red damselfly, Large skipper, Lavernock Nature Reserve, Six-spot burnet, Small copper, Speckled wood

Day 12 of my #30DaysWild was spent wandering around the nature reserve at Lavernock. Though it’s not yet the riot of colour it will be in another month or so, many wildflowers are already blooming, including the Common spotted and Pyramidal orchids, and plenty of critters were feasting on nectar and pollen.

180612 Pyramidal & Common spotted orchids

Today’s highlights included my first Six-spot burnet moth of the year, which was dazzling in the bright sunlight, and my second Small copper butterfly, a rather tatty looking specimen but still lovely to see. The Large skippers, Common blues and Speckled woods were abundant, and I also saw whites, a Brimstone and several Meadow brown butterflies.

180612 1 small copper

The pond was alive with dragon- and damselfly action, with both a female Emperor and a female Broad-bodied chaser ovipositing. There were three male Broad-bodied chasers constantly squabbling over territory and a Four-spotted chaser trying to avoid them all. Damselflies included Large reds, Common blues, Azures and Blue-tailed. ’Twas a very lively place today!

180612 Broad-bodied chaser male 180612 Broad-bodied chaser emale

Wild out the window

11 Monday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, feral pigeon, house sparrow, Swift, wildlife at home

‘The best laid plans….’ Due to the unforeseen circumstance of untimely tradesmen I was forced to set aside my plan to go searching for butterflies today and instead spent day 11 of #30DaysWild at home. Still, there is always something wild to be found, just by looking out the window.

In the lovely tree outside my living room window, a young Feral pigeon has recently been spending much of its time, either perched or moving tentatively along the swaying branches, while it waits for its parents to return and feed it. Each time I heard it make its faint pleading peep, I popped up with my camera to try to get photos, though mostly the leaves got in the way. – a fact which, in fact, might please you when I tell you the pigeons regurgitate a type of ‘milk’ to feed their young!

180611 (6) House sparrow females

House sparrows also popped in and out of the tree, heralded by their familiar cheep cheep, and I also caught them sitting on the back wall downstairs, looking around for anything edible.

180611 (7) House sparrow male

The Swifts have been very active overhead much of the day, with four sweeping very low around the back of the house at times, even coming very close to the eaves. I’m not sure if they were checking the area for potential nesting sites or, more likely, swooping in to pick off insects to eat. They move so quickly I only managed one photo but watching their aerial agility was certainly the highlight of my wild day at home.

180611 (8) Swift

Here be dragons

10 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, nature photography, parks

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Black-tailed skimmer, British dragonflies, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, dragonflies, Emperor dragonfly, Four-spotted Chaser, Odonata

This is Wales. We have dragons!
More specifically, this was Cosmeston Lakes Country Park on day 10 of #30DaysWild, where I managed to find three different species of dragonfly.

180610 Black-tailed skimmer immature male

An immature male Black-tailed skimmer

A mature male Black-tailed skimmer

Above and below, a female Emperor, ovipositing (i.e. egg-laying)

180610 Emperor female (2)

As above, so below: Four-spotted chasers

180610 Four-spotted chaser (2)

From garbage to glorious

09 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, insects, nature, parks

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#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, Bee orchid, Blackcap, Brimstone butterfly, Common blue butterfly, Common spotted orchid, Emperor dragonfly, Grangemoor Park, Holly blue butterfly, Large skipper, long-tailed tit, Meadow Brown, Pyramidal orchid, Southern marsh orchid

Day 9 of #30DaysWild saw me at Grangemoor Park, a place that used to be Cardiff’s rubbish dump: when it closed in 1994, it contained an estimated four million cubic metres of garbage, both commercial and household. Now, it’s not only a public park but also a SINC (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation), and is home to a wonderfully diverse range of flora and fauna. My photos show just some of what I discovered there today …