22 Monday Apr 2019
Posted in nature, insects, 365DaysWildin2019
Tags
Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, damselfly, damselflies, Pyrrhosoma nymphula, Large Red damselfly, Cosmeston, British damselflies, #365DaysWild
Our warm Easter weekend weather has certainly brought out the critters. Today I spotted my first damselfly of 2019, this lovely Large Red (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). Woot!
11 Thursday Apr 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, nature, reptiles
Tags
#365DaysWild, Anguis fragilis, British reptiles, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, refugia, slow-worm
I was walking with my friend Sharon around Cosmeston today when we spied a refugia and couldn’t resist having a look underneath. This is what we found … but what is going on?
These are Slow-worms (Anguis fragilis), and there look to be two of them intertwined. We assumed they were mating but I’ve been reading that they don’t usually mate until May, and that males and females differ in colour and appearance – these appear to be two females. And what’s with the ants? Are they trying to attack the Slow-worms, irritate them so that they move away?
Answers on a postcard … or in the comments below. Thanks, and if/when I find out more, I’ll update this post.
p.s. I’ve been told by a friend that if one Slow-worm finds a nice warm place to bask, others will join it – so just friends enjoying the warmth together, I think. And the ants don’t like them ’cause the Slow-worms will eat their pupae but the ants can’t harm the Slow-worms.
01 Monday Apr 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, spring
Tags
#365DaysWild, baby birds, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Moorhen, Moorhen chicks
At 9am this morning, one of these Moorhen parents was still sitting on five eggs. By the time I got to the pond at 11.30 there were five newly hatched little bundles of fluff, two of which were already venturing out of the nest. And Mum and Dad were already mating, in preparation for their next brood. If these are the same Moorhens that bred at this site last year, they had three broods in total, I think, and those born first were helping the parents feed the subsequent generations. I’ll be keeping an eye on what happens this year.
27 Wednesday Mar 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, insects, nature, spring, wildflowers
Tags
Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, primrose, Scutellinia fungi, Small tortoiseshell, violets
Today I went to Cosmeston for the first time in a few weeks and I was delighted to find its west paddock tinged a delicate shade of purple from all the violets currently in flower. I don’t remember it being so obvious in previous years. Along the edges of the paddock, primroses were in bloom, adding their soft buttery yellow to the colour mix.
While looking more closely at the flowers, I noticed tiny circles of red dotting the soil – a species of Scutellinia fungi I’m guessing, but working out which species requires some serious microscope work.
And then along flew my first Small tortoiseshell butterfly of the year to add its vibrant hues to the kaleidoscope of colour in the paddock. Just perfect!
11 Monday Mar 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature
Tags
British fungi, Common jellyspot, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Dacrymyces stillatus, jellyspot fungus, orange jellyspot
According to Pat O’Reilly’s brilliant First Nature website, the scientific name for Common jellyspot, which is Dacrymyces stillatus, is ‘named from Dacry- meaning a tear (as in weeping) and –myces meaning fungus, while the specific epithet stillatus means poured or dripped. Hence Dacrymyces stillatus means teardrop-like fungi that look as though they have dripped on to the substrate.’ In this particular case the substrate is a series of fence posts at Cosmeston, where I’ve seen this jellyspot growing for several months now.
05 Tuesday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Common Gull, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, gulls, identifying gulls
I’m sure I’m gaining a reputation as ‘The woman who stares at gulls’. I don’t think of myself as a larophile, a gull-worshipper – I’d just like to become better at identifying them. With their annually changing plumages, the juveniles are the most difficult; generally, the adult gulls are easier, if you can get a good look at them. Today, at Cosmeston, while staring at the gulls as usual, I actually found something different, not one of the usual Black-headed gulls or Lesser black-backed gulls or Herring gulls, but this lovely Common gull. Fortunately, it was close to the shoreline so it was easy to pick out its distinctive bill and head shape and colouring. A very pretty little gull!
24 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Green woodpecker, yaffle, Yaffling woodpecker
It was a woodpecker-kind of day at Cosmeston today. No sooner had I arrived and cast my eye (and bins) up towards the chirping-finch-filled trees above my head than I spotted a Great spotted woodpecker. It wasn’t drumming but was studiously pounding away at the tree trunk it was on – preliminary hole excavation work perhaps.
Then, as I headed on along the path, I heard this Green woodpecker yaffling in the neighbouring field. A reasonably tall hedge separated us so I was able to get quite close for photos and to watch it prospecting for ants and other insects in the damp ground. I wonder if the winter dampness means its prey is further down in the soil – it was certainly probing quite deeply.
22 Tuesday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter
Today I went looking for the Siskin that were seen at Cosmeston on Sunday (and had been heard by another birder earlier in the month). They’re not birds I’m familiar with as they’re not common locally and I’ve only seen them a couple of times when I’ve been on bird club trips (oh, and once very high in the trees at Forest Farm). My heart skipped a beat when I heard a flock of Goldfinches in the trees ahead of me (the Siskin were associating with Goldfinches on Sunday) and saw a few flashes of yellow and green in the birds with them. Unfortunately, they weren’t Siskin but Greenfinches – I’m not complaining though, as Greenfinches are also birds I don’t see very often.
18 Friday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature, winter
Tags
#365DaysWild, Cogan Wood, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, slime, slime mould, slime on ivy leaf
It’s been wintery today, with a chill wind and frequent showers, but I rugged up and headed out for a stomp for the air and exercise. Cosmeston was almost empty of people and dogs, something unheard of on warmer days, and any wildlife was also keeping well under cover. So, I enjoyed a bimble in Cogan Wood, picking up logs, looking for insects and fungi, and I found this interesting slime mould growing on an ivy leaf.
06 Sunday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, lichen, nature
Tags
#365DaysWild, British lichen, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, lichen on fence post, springtail
Much to the amazement – or perhaps the amusement – of Cosmeston’s dogwalkers, I spent rather a lot of time closely studying the tops of fence posts today. The variety of lichen to be found on them is really quite astonishing but I wasn’t only admiring the lichen. There were even more interesting things sitting on those fence posts …
