• ABOUT
  • BIRDING 2018
  • Birding 2019
  • BLOG POSTS
  • Butterflies 2018
  • Resources

earthstar

~ a celebration of nature

earthstar

Tag Archives: autumn colour

Rowan, the thinker

03 Sunday Nov 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, trees

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn berries, autumn colour, British trees, Celtic Zodiac, Rowan, Rowan berries, Rowan The Thinker

Did you know there is an ancient Celtic zodiac, with trees as the symbols for each of the thirteen (moon-cycle-based, hence thirteen not twelve) signs? I didn’t, until I saw a post on Instagram by the extremely talented artist Luke Adam Hawker, who has just released a series of etchings, one for each of the signs (I wish I could afford to buy the etching for my sign!).

241103 rowan (1)

Along with the tree images he’s been posting, he’s also listed information about the qualities attributed to people born under each sign. The Rowan tree is the symbol for a person born between 21 January and 17 February, summarised as The Thinker, and the qualities they are said to possess are as follows:

Philosophical visionaries with original and creative minds, often misunderstood due to their passionate ideals. Despite a cool exterior, they burn with inner passion, transforming situations and inspiring others with their unique perspectives.

Are you a Thinker? Do you recognise yourself in this description?

241103 rowan (2)

The Rowans in my images, taken at Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery during a recent wander, are lush with berries at the moment, providing welcome fodder for both local birds and the winter thrushes currently arriving from Europe and Scandinavia.

241103 rowan (3)

Like Loading...

Autumn around Roath Lake

27 Sunday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, leaves, trees

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn at Roath Lake, autumn colour, autumn leaves, autumn trees

On Thursday I caught the train in to Cardiff, to the station nearest Roath Park, specifically to immerse myself in the gorgeous colours of Autumn, and I was not disappointed. Here are some of the glorious scenes that caught my eye around the lake.241027 roath lake (1)241027 roath lake (2)241027 roath lake (3)

Like Loading...

The ones I missed

20 Sunday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn colour, autumn wildflowers, autumn wildflowers in bloom, British wildflowers

These are some of the wildflowers I missed from last Sunday’s mid-autumn wildflowers-still-in-flower video and have found during this past week, many found during a thorough walk around Cardiff Bay where the vetches, in particular, but also plants like Viper’s bugloss are still in bloom.

241020 goat's-rue

Goat’s-rue

241020 wildflowers (1)

Bush vetch, Common chickweed, Common cornsalad, Common stork’s-bill, Creeping cinquefoil, Crown vetch, Dove’s-foot crane’s-bill, Honeysuckle, and Lucerne.

241020 wildflowers (2)

Mayweed, Old man’s beard, Petty spurge, Prickly sowthistle, Scarlet pimpernel, Sun spurge, Tansy, Viper’s bugloss, and Wavy bittercress.

241020 rosebay willowherb

And, last but certainly not least, Rosebay willowherb, which I had to use my long lens to capture as it was growing down a riverside embankment.

Like Loading...

Mid Autumn wildflowers

13 Sunday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn colour, autumn wildflowers, autumn wildflowers in bloom, British wildflowers

For the past ten days or so, during my daily meanders around the local countryside, I’ve been on the lookout for any wildflowers still in bloom and, as we’ve only just experienced our first frost of the season and temperatures generally have been quite mild, many plants still have flowers, albeit, occasionally, on a very limited scale – a single Black horehound flower on the one plant I found, for example. Other plants, like Common ragwort, are still producing abundant numbers of flowers, much to the delight and relief of those insects still out and about. Here’s what I’ve found; I’m sure there are more that I’ve missed.

Like Loading...

Cyclamen at the cemetery

06 Sunday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn colour, cyclamen, flowers at the cemetery, mass flowering of cyclamen, naturalised plants

These are probably not wildflowers in the strict sense of the word, but more likely the offspring of a single plant that was placed on a grave in memory of a lost loved one. Yet, over the years, these cyclamen have escaped the confines of the concrete edging around the grave, to spread and naturalise in the surrounding grass and across neighbouring graves, providing this glorious display of autumn colour. What better way to celebrate the life of those we lose than with flowering plants as beautiful as these!

241006 cyclamen

Like Loading...

Scarlet waxcaps

04 Friday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn colour, British waxcaps, Hygrocybe coccinea, Scarlet waxcaps, waxcap fungi, waxcaps

These Scarlet waxcaps (Hygrocybe coccinea) are the little gems I was hoping to find during my last visit to Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery a couple of weeks ago but they hadn’t yet popped their little gorgeous heads up through the mossy grass.

241004 scarlet waxcaps (1)

This week some had, though many more were still just tiny scarlet bumps about to burst through.

241004 scarlet waxcaps (2)

Sadly, Cardiff Council workers were in the middle of cutting the grass at the cemetery so the chances of these, and any other waxcaps I didn’t manage to spot, surviving are about zero.

241004 scarlet waxcaps (3)

The cemetery is a SSSI precisely because of its rare waxcaps, and I know from speaking to a local ecologist that the Council has been given information on how they should be managing the cemetery to conserve and enhance the waxcap population. Sadly, like so many councils in the UK, they choose to destroy the environment rather than protect it.

241004 scarlet waxcaps (4)

Like Loading...

Dogwood berries

22 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, plants

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

autumn berries, autumn colour, Common dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, Cornus sericea, Dogwood, Red-osier dogwood

To celebrate the Autumn equinox I thought I’d share some berries, and for this post I’ve confined my enthusiasm for all berries to a shrub that really comes in to its own at this time of year, Dogwood. The species I see most often is Common dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), which grows in hedgerows and along woodland edges, the twigs of which have previously had an interesting use, according to the Woodland Trust website:

The origin of the name comes from the smooth, straight twigs which were used to make butchers’ skewers. Skewers used to be called ‘dags’ or ‘dogs’, so the name means ‘skewer wood’.

240922 dogwood

I only noticed this second species of Dogwood quite recently, and then only because of its stunning berries that start out as tiny globes of purple before turning a bright snowy white. This is Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea), which is usually a cultivated species grown in parks and gardens but which escapes that controlled setting to become naturalised in wilder places.

240922 red osier dogwood

Like Loading...

Meadow saffron

15 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

autumn colour, Autumn crocus, Colchium autumnale, Meadow saffron

Meadow saffron (Colchicum autumnale), also known as Autumn crocus even though it’s not actually a crocus, is currently providing visitors to Roath Park Lake with a magnificent display of colour.

240915 autumn crocus (1)

As well as the grassy area near Roath Lake, these gorgeous plants bloom annually in Cardiff’s Bute Park. I’ve blogged about them before, and provided more information, back in 2016 (The Naked Ladies of Roath and Bute, 9 September).

240915 autumn crocus (2)

Like Loading...

Waxcap Friday

24 Friday Nov 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

autumn colour, autumn fungi, Ballerina waxcap, Cuphophyllus virgineus, Gliophorus psittacinus, Hygrocybe coccinea, parrot waxcap, Pink waxcap, Porpolomopsis calyptriformis, Scarlet waxcap, Snowy waxcap, waxcaps

Green, pink, red and white are just some of the colours you can see in the diverse range of fungi known as waxcaps. These are some I’ve found during recent fungi-seeking forays.

231124 waxcap parrot

Parrot waxcap (Gliophorus psittacinus)

231124 waxcap pink

Pink waxcap (Porpolomopsis calyptriformis), also known as the ballerina, for the tutu-like appearance of its spread cap as it dances in the grass

231124 waxcap scarlet

Scarlet waxcap (Hygrocybe coccinea)

231124 waxcap snowy

Snowy waxcap (Cuphophyllus virgineus)

Like Loading...

59!

12 Sunday Nov 2023

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

autumn colour, autumn wildflowers, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom

I was surprised at the start of the week to find wildflowers blooming that should long since have gone to seed and that inspired me to see just how many wild flowers I could find during this week’s walks. The answer, of course, is in the title of this post – 59! That is to say, I have 59 images to share but there were a few more plants in flower that I didn’t manage, for one reason or another, to photograph. Some wildflowers were quite unexpected, like the Carline thistle that had one flower open and 3 more buds still to develop; some were abundant, like the Yellow-wort still standing tall in a field at Cosmeston; others, like the Common stork’s-bill, were the last survivors of the strimmers that have been very active this month. Here they all are …

Like Loading...
← Older posts
Newer posts →

About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

View Full Profile →

Follow earthstar on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Recent blog posts

  • O is for Odonata December 20, 2025
  • N is for nest December 19, 2025
  • M is for mite December 18, 2025
  • L is for lepidopteran lifers December 17, 2025
  • K is for Keeled skimmers December 16, 2025

From the archives

COPYRIGHT

Unless otherwise acknowledged, the text and photographs on this blog are my own and are subject to international copyright. Nothing may be downloaded or copied without my permission.

Fellow Earth Stars!

  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar
  • Unknown's avatar

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • earthstar
    • Join 667 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • earthstar
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.

    %d