Tag Archives: Cosmeston Lakes Country Park

15/366 Immature drake scaup

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in birds, nature, winter

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What a difference a month makes! Well, actually, not quite a month – my first photo below was taken on 21 December, the other two today, 15 January.

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Two juvenile drake Greater scaup (Aythya marila) have been over-wintering in my local area, some days on the lakes at Cosmeston, some days in Cardiff Bay, either at the wetlands reserve or on the opposite side of the bay, near Ferry Court, always in the company of the flocks of Tufted ducks.

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When they were first sighted, it was difficult to tell them apart from the female Tufties, so brown were they in appearance. But, as you can see in these photos, they are gradually acquiring more grey feathers on their backs and white on their lower bodies.

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In February and March, scaup begin to migrate to the Arctic in preparation for breeding, though, according to my bird guide, some immature birds remain in their wintering grounds over the summer months. It will be interesting to see what these two decide to do.

13/366 Sweet violets

13 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by in nature, wildflowers, winter

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As the gusty winds of Storm Brendan began to blow the trees around and I slipped and slid along Cosmeston’s muddy paths, I came upon this host of spring flowers.

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Not the traditional host (of Daffodils) these, but rather Sweet violets (Viola odorata), considered native in some parts of Britain, invasive garden escapees in others. I’m not sure which these are but they were lovely to see.

I didn’t detect any smell but that could perhaps just have been the wind and rain or my inadequate nose, as I’m fairly sure they are Sweet violets – blunt sepals, hairy stems and leaves, the right leaf shape and growth pattern, flowering very early. A delight on a grey day.

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363/365 An extremely early bumble

29 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by in insects, nature, winter

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I was amazed today at Cosmeston to hear a buzzing sound and then watch this bumblebee fly slowly past, to settle on the trunk of a nearby tree. It’s a Tree bumblebee, I think, Bombus hypnorum, a species that usually emerges from its winter sleep in March.

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Yesterday I saw a Red admiral butterfly, and now today this bumblebee. It just shows how mild our winter weather has been so far.

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350/365 Ratty stocks up

16 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by in mammal, nature, winter

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One of the Cosmeston water voles was out and about today, munching on vegetation and also hauling in supplies, taking them under the dipping pond’s boardwalk and presumably stashing them somewhere.

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Luckily, I was the only person around and, by staying quiet and still, I was able to watch it coming and going for quite some time. It was a delight!

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348/365 The final brood

14 Saturday Dec 2019

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The Moorhens of Cosmeston’s dipping pond have had a bumper year.

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I blogged about their first brood of five on the day they hatched 1 April ‘91/365 New arrivals’ and then reported on their progress on 28 April ‘118/365 Chick update’.

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Then, on 25 June, in ‘176/365 More new arrivals’, I happily announced the arrival of five more chicks.

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I must have missed the hatching of the third brood, which probably arrived in early September. I’m not sure how many there were but four have survived and flourished, as you can see in this latest set of family photos.

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These adult Moorhens are obviously excellent parents!

343/365 The nut warbler

09 Monday Dec 2019

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The Nuthatch is such an entertaining bird, with its propensity to run, quite quickly, headlong down tree trunks.

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Over the centuries, and throughout Britain, this very handsome bird has acquired a wealth of vernacular names. My Fauna Botannica lists the following: mud dabber and mud stopper (I’ve never seen one near mud but this, apparently, refers to its plastering of mud around the entrance to its nest); nutcracker, nutback, nut jobber and nut topper (it is rather partial to nuts); woodcracker, woodbacker and woodjar (it likes to wedge the nuts it collects in cracks in tree bark, to hold them firm while it attacks them with its beak); and jar bird and jobbin (‘to job’ meaning ‘to jab’, at the nuts).

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In Welsh the Nuthatch is Telor y Cnau, which translates as Nut warbler. I’m not sure I would label its rather strident call a warble – to me it’s more of a trill, but that’s just my interpretation.

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This particular bird was stocking up on the sunflower hearts I had put out for the small birds to snack on at Cosmeston today.

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341/365 Marsh tit

07 Saturday Dec 2019

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Having stocked up on bird seed yesterday (the littlies are rather partial to sunflower hearts, I’ve found), I was delighted today to tempt out one of the resident Marsh tits in Cosmeston’s Cogan Wood.

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Actually, it wasn’t all that difficult. I was mobbed by Great and Blue tits as soon as I began sprinkling the seeds on an old tree stump, with one particularly cheeky Great tit grabbing a seed from my container before I’d even started tipping them out.

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I wasn’t sure the Marsh tit would come but it soon appeared and, although initially a little hesitant to compete with the other birds, it didn’t take long to summon its courage and was picking up 2 or 3 seeds at a time before flying off to find somewhere quiet to eat them.

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We’re lucky to have this bird at Cosmeston as it’s now an ‘uncommon and thinly distributed resident breeder’, according to the Glamorgan Bird Club’s Eastern Glamorgan Bird Report No.56, and these tits were only recorded in 8 locations in our county in 2017.

325/365 Sleeping ducks

21 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by in autumn, birds, nature

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A freezing easterly wind was blasting anyone and anything foolish enough to be out and about today, which, of course, included me. At least I had the luxury of several layers of clothing, plus woolly hat, scarf and gloves.

For the Tufted ducks at Cosmeston, it was a case of lying low, in the lee of any vegetation that provided shelter, and trying to sleep, though with one eye open in case some kind person should toss them some seed.

*Note to self: Buy bird seed to take along on future winter walks.

323/365 Autumn critters

19 Tuesday Nov 2019

Posted by in autumn, insects, nature, plants

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It may be late autumn, with shortening days, chill winds and cooling nights but, when the sun comes out as it did yesterday, the insects also come out to warm themselves and feed. During my walk around Cosmeston I spotted a late Red admiral butterfly and then, further on, where ivy was still flowering, a host of flying mini-beasties: hoverflies, various bees and wasps. And, near them, tucked away further down on a bramble leaf, even a caterpillar, probably a moth larva though I’m not sure which species.

315/365 Sparrowhawk

11 Monday Nov 2019

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This Sparrowhawk was hunting over the west paddock at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park this afternoon. Three times I spotted it flying past, landing to check out potential prey and then moving on again empty-clawed.

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Sparrowhawks always look smaller than I expect but they are incredibly aerobatic and agile in the air. I watched this one swerving at speed between branches that were swaying in the strong breeze. Once it landed, it was rather ungainly, struggling to maintain its balance on bushes as it peered down for the bird it had been chasing.

What a pleasure it was to watch such a magnificent creature! I’m only sorry the photos don’t do it justice – it was a little too distant.

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