348/366 Cosmeston treasure hunt

13 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by sconzani in wildflowers, winter

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British wildflowers, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, December wildflowers, winter wildflowers

This was hard work! The paddocks at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park get shaved of all vegetation at least once each year, usually in autumn, and that process happened late this year, just two weeks ago. So, it took me three visits, covering almost every inch of the site, checking the field boundaries in particular, searching for any wildflowers the tractor’s blades might have missed.

I’m actually amazed I managed to find this many species still flowering: Bramble, Carline thistle, Creeping buttercup, Creeping thistle, Daisy, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Oxeye daisy, Sweet violet, Wild radish, Winter heliotrope, and Yellow-wort.

296/366 A gull’s history

22 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, colour-ringed gull, colour-ringed Lesser black-backed gull, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Lesser black-backed gull

Yesterday’s inbox contained an email with the life history of this ringed Lesser black-backed gull I found at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park and reported to the BTO’s ringers on 5 October. This bird was first ringed on Flat Holm Island, in the Bristol Channel off the south Wales coast, on 1 July 2017. A couple of months later, on 6 September, it was spotted at Cosmeston, and then it headed 1200 kms south to Matosinhos, a port and fishing town in Portugal, where it was seen twice in October 2017, on the 27th and again on the 31st. The bird wasn’t seen again until my recent report so it’s anybody’s guess where it’s been for the past three years.

201022 ringed lesser black-backed gull

294/366 Goldeneye

20 Tuesday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, British ducks, Bucephala clangula, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, diving ducks, Goldeneye

No, I’m not blogging about a James Bond film, though our recent visitor to Cosmeston Lakes Country Park is almost as exotic, and certainly as handsome as any of the many James Bonds. This is a drake Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), a diving duck that’s a little smaller than a Mallard.

201020 goldeneye (1)

This drake was first picked up by our best local birder last Friday evening so I strode along to the lakes early Saturday morning and had distant views of it on the west lake. The Goldeneye appeared to have left Saturday afternoon, as another local birder couldn’t find it, but I was back at Cosmeston early Sunday, sitting quietly on a bench next to the east lake, when Mr Goldeneye popped out from the vegetation right in front of me and I was able to get these closer photos of him.

201020 goldeneye (2)

Though Goldeneye are known to spend their winters in small groups on reservoirs and inland lakes, and in sheltered coastal bays, they are not a common sight in my part of south Wales, so it has been a treat to have the chance to see this stunning bird.

66/366 Three Brown rats

06 Friday Mar 2020

Posted by sconzani in animals, mammal, nature

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brown rat, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Rattus norvegicus

I found some kind soul had left a scattering of bird seed and peanuts, still in their shells, on the dirt by the side of the east lake at Cosmeston, when I walked there this afternoon. A Mute swan, a couple of Mallards and a few Tufted ducks were milling around at the water’s edge, presumably having just been fed, but they couldn’t reach these extra seeds. The food didn’t go to waste though. As I watched, first a set of twitching whiskers and then a pair of dark bulging eyes appeared over the edge of the bank … a Brown rat!

200306 Brown rat (1)

And then another …

200306 Brown rat (2)

And another … three Brown rats! One at a time, they ran out, grabbed a peanut shell, and scurried away to stash their finds somewhere safe. And on they went until all the peanuts had disappeared. They were so cute to watch.

200306 Brown rat (3) 200306 Brown rat (4) 200306 Brown rat (5)

28/366 Blossoming Blackthorn

28 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, winter

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blackthorn, Blackthorn blossom, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Spring blossom

Despite being caught twice in freezing hail showers, I had a lovely walk today, and part of the reason is because I saw my first Blackthorn blossoms for 2020. As Blackthorn flowers appear before the leaves (in contrast to Hawthorn, where the leaves appear first), this hedge along the roadside at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park still looks lifeless and barren.

200128 blackthorn (1)

In fact, the brown branches and twigs were dotted here and there with white buds and occasional fully open blossoms. Spring is coming!

25/366 Grey, but a grebe

25 Saturday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Great Crested Grebe

Today’s seven-mile walk was through thick grey drizzle-like mist and, except for the raucous gulls at the edge of Cosmeston’s east lake (where everyone feeds the birds), the land was hushed and still. Not wanting to get my gear wet, I only got my camera out of my backpack once, for a few shots of this handsome Great crested grebe.

200125 great crested grebe (1) 200125 great crested grebe (2) 200125 great crested grebe (3)

350/365 Ratty stocks up

16 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in mammal, nature, winter

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British mammals, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Water vole

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.

191216 water vole (3) 191216 water vole (1)

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!

191216 water vole (2) 191216 water vole (4)

341/365 Marsh tit

07 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cogan Wood, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Marsh tit

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.

191207 Marsh tit (1)

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.

191207 Marsh tit (2)

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.

191207 Marsh tit (3)

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.

244/365 Autumn lady’s-tresses

01 Sunday Sep 2019

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

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#365DaysWild, Autumn Lady’s-tresses, British orchids, British wildflowers, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, orchids, Spiranthes spiralis

Happy (calendar) Autumn!

190901 autumn lady's-tresses (1)

Today’s plant couldn’t be more appropriate – these are Autumn lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis). True to their name, they usually appear when the weather turns more autumnal, and their twirling spiral form apparently reminded their original namer of the ringlets once popular in women’s hairstyles.

Though they like to grow in very short turf, Autumn lady’s-tresses are themselves quite small and, surrounded as these were by other wildflowers, especially the superficially similar Eyebright, they weren’t easy to spot.

Luckily for me, when I was having an early wander around Cosmeston this morning, I bumped into a friend of a friend, who is extremely knowledgeable about the local flora, and he very kindly showed me where these gorgeous little orchids were growing.

190901 autumn ladies tresses (6)

223/365 Sunshine after rain

11 Sunday Aug 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

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British butterflies, butterfly, butterfly migration, Clouded yellow, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park

For those who don’t live in Britain, we’ve had some wild weather over the past few days, with torrential rain at times and some very high wind gusts. I was starting to go stir crazy so, as soon as it began to clear around midday today, I headed out for a walk.

190811 clouded yellow (1)

I was wondering if I would spot anything unusual the wind had blown in … and I did! This blast of sunshine, a Clouded yellow, an occasional migrant to our shores, was flying around in the east paddock at Cosmeston.

190811 clouded yellow (2)