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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: Cathays Cemetery

173/365 Orange hawkweed

22 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, British wildflowers, Cathays Cemetery, Fox and cubs, Grim the collier, orange hawkweed, wildflowers

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The Orange hawkweed (also known as Fox-and-cubs and Grim the collier) was putting on a magnificent display in Cathays Cemetery today.

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So, I thought I’d better grab some photos because this is a cemetery that is (mis)managed by the ‘neat and tidy’ brigade, those who place value in strimming everything to within an inch of its life rather than in the beauty of the wildflowers and the food they provide to insects.

190622 orange hawkweed (2)

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159/365 On the wings of the storm

08 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly migration, Cathays Cemetery, Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui

There are two good things about the drenching and battering we’ve just suffered at the hands of the Spanish Storm Miguel: the first is that we really did need the rain, as the ground is already dry and cracked in places, and the second is that the strong winds may well be responsible for this glorious little lady I discovered at Cathays Cemetery today.

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She (or, in fact, it may be a he) is a Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), a butterfly which, according to the Butterfly Conservation website, ‘Each year … spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, recolonising mainland Europe and reaching Britain and Ireland.’ And s/he’s still looking quite pristine, despite that long journey.

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Wild Christmas, day 3

27 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature, walks, winter

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

bracket fungus, Cathays Cemetery, Clitocybe fungi, club fungus, coral fungus, earthstar, fungi foray, fungus, inkcap, mushroom, Redlead roundhead, waxcaps

I’m currently taking part in the local Wildlife Trusts’ #7DaysofWildChristmas challenge. This ‘is a week-long challenge to do one wild thing a day from the 25th to the 31st of December’. For me a challenge like this is easy peasy ’cause I try to live my whole life as one long wild challenge but I like to support these initiatives to help to inspire other people to put more Nature and wildness in their lives. Believe me, in a world as crazy as ours currently is, you will feel better for it.

For today’s challenge I spent about four hours at Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery, hunting for fungi to photograph (not forage) in both the old and new sections of the cemetery. I figured that, after all the rain we’ve had recently, I should be able to find one or two nice things. I wasn’t disappointed.

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Earpick fungus

09 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Auriscalpium vulgare, British fungi, Cathays Cemetery, Earpick fungus, fungi on conifer cones, fungi on pine cones, rare fungi

During a wander around Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery last Friday, I found my first Earpick fungi (Auriscalpium vulgare).

Now, you might think Earpick is a very odd name for a fungus – you certainly wouldn’t want to use them to clean your ears out! – but it’s actually quite logical. Auriscalpium is a combination of the Latin words auris, meaning ear, and scalpare, the verb ‘to scratch’. The stem of the fungus certainly does look quite scratchy, as does the underside of the cap, with its mass of tiny cone-shaped rods. And it’s those rods that are the connection to the word ‘ear’ in the fungi’s name – have you ever seen a magnified photo of the sensory hair cells of the human inner ear?

Vulgare just means common, though this fungus is certainly not that – when I checked the biological database for Wales, I found only 10 previous recorded sightings.

These fungi were growing at the base of a conifer but I didn’t realise until I started reading up about them when I got home that the fungi nearly always grow on the rotting cones of pines and other conifers. I didn’t notice any cones but they must have been there, under the moss and grass. Fascinating!

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Fair-handed Spring

23 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, plants, spring, wildflowers

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Tags

Cathays Cemetery, crocus, spring flowers

180223 crocuses (4)

Along these blushing borders bright with dew,
And in yon mingled wilderness of flowers,
Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace –
Throws out the snowdrop and the crocus first
~ James Thomson, ‘Spring’, The Seasons
180223 crocuses (2)180223 crocuses (3)180223 crocuses (5)180223 crocuses (1)

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Collared earthstars

24 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

British fungi, Cathays Cemetery, collared earthstar, earthstar, fungus, Geastrum triplex

You can’t have a blog named Earthstar without including, every now and then, a few photos of the Earthstar fungi for which it was named. I was pleased to see this little colony of Collared earthstars (Geastrum triplex) in Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery is still thriving.

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171124 Collared earthstars (1)
171124 Collared earthstars (3)

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It’s Fungi Friday!

17 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#FungiFriday, Apricot Club, Candlesnuff fungi, Cathays Cemetery, Clouded funnel, club fungi, Cortinarius, fungi, fungus, Heath Park, Stump puffballs, Trooping funnel

I needed a fungi fix so went for a wander around a couple of my old haunts, Heath Park and Cathays Cemetery, both in Cardiff. Here’s what I found …

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It’s waxcap time!

10 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

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Tags

Cathays Cemetery, fungi, fungus, grassland fungi, unimproved grassland, waxcaps

Look what I found hiding in the grass at Cathays Cemetery during a recent walk around: gorgeous fungal gems!

171110 Waxcaps (2)171110 Waxcaps (1)

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Autumn in Cardiff: Cathays Cemetery

17 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by sconzani in autumn, nature, trees

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Tags

autumn colour, autumn leaves, Cathays Cemetery

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I sure am glad I had a wander around my beautiful local cemetery yesterday, getting these photos, as today is cold and wet, with strong blustery winds, so I imagine most of the leaves will have been blown off their trees by tomorrow. I’ve blogged about the diversity of flora and fauna at this cemetery many times before but, in autumn, its huge variety of tree species becomes very apparent through the enormous range of shades to be seen in the dying leaves. Who would’ve thought there could be such beauty in death?

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Clubs at the cemetery

20 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by sconzani in fungi, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Apricot Club, Cathays Cemetery, Clavulinopsis luteoalba

True story: It was last Sunday and I was at my local cemetery, almost prostrate on the grass getting these shots of Apricot Club fungi (Clavulinopsis luteoalba) when these two old women came up behind me.
“Are you okay, dear?” one asked.
“Oh, yes,” said I, “just getting photos of these fungi.”
“Oh, that’s good,” said the other old dear, looking rather dubious about the actual existence of any fungi, so small were they in the grass. “Neither of us knows CPR so we were wondering what we were going to do when we saw you lying there.”

As I read recently, ‘Fungi have a long history of zealous but misunderstood enthusiasts.…’

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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.

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