28 Friday Sep 2018
Posted in autumn, flowers, nature, wildflowers
Last week we had our first two named autumn storms, this week we’ve had glorious clear days but rather chilly overnight temperatures, so I think it’s fair to say autumn has well and truly arrived. Amazingly, though, wildflowers are still blooming in large numbers. Here are the species I’ve found during my walks around Cosmeston Lakes Country Park this week.
08 Saturday Sep 2018
Tags
autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, migrating birds, Saxicola rubetra, Whinchat
One of the highlights of this week at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park has been watching the party of three Whinchats that have stopped off to feed up prior to their migration to central and southern Africa. I think they’re a family group because this one appears still to have the plumage of a juvenile.
Another (below) is still part way through the moulting process. I read recently that birds don’t usually migrate until after their moult is complete, as the lack of all their proper flight feathers, in particular, can affect their ability to fly long distances. Perhaps that’s another reason why they’ve broken their journey at Cosmeston.
This is the third Whinchat, or Saxicola rubetra, to give it its scientific name.
Their common name, as with many birds, reflects their behaviour – whin is another word for gorse, as these little birds are commonly found amongst gorse and bracken and areas of low shrubs and bushes. Chat relates to their call, which combines the sound of two stones being tapped together with a series of melodic whistles.
06 Thursday Sep 2018
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Grasshopper warbler, Gropper, Locustella naevia
Non-birders will be wondering what on earth my title is about; birders, on the other hand, will immediately recognise the name and understand the reason for my excitement. Gropper is birder shorthand for Grasshopper warbler (Locustella naevia) and this is one difficult bird to photograph, except perhaps in the springtime, when it pops up a little more often to advertise itself to potential mates. Although Groppers are present in many parts of Britain, it’s usually their grasshopper-chirping-like song (called reeling) that lets you know one’s about.
I was alerted to this bird’s presence by my birding friend Graham, who got a photo the previous day, and he’d also seen migrating birds in this general location, one of the outer fields at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, so I figured it was worth a look.
I found this particular bird and stood still watching it for so long that a grasshopper (the insect, not the bird) started climbing up the inside of my trouser leg, which, sadly, didn’t end well for the grasshopper as I freaked slightly about what it might be. And, to be completely honest, not having seen a Gropper up close before, I actually thought the bird I was watching was an immature Reed warbler. It was only when I sent Graham a photo later that he confirmed its identity. I might just have to go back and see if I can find it again.
01 Saturday Sep 2018
Tags
autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Chiffchaff, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, migrating birds, Pied plycatcher, Redstart, Wheatear, Whinchat, Whitethroat, Willow warbler
My local country park, Cosmeston Lakes, has been awash with migrating birds this past week. And it’s not just me getting better at finding them – according to birders who’ve been checking the area much longer than I’ve lived nearby, this has been a bumper year for sightings.
On 24 August I found two Redstarts, a male and another that may have been a female or an immature bird that hadn’t yet developed its full adult colouration.
Also on the 24th I had a very fleeting view of a Wheatear that popped up from grass to fencepost, then was off in the blink of an eye.
On the 27th my birding friend Della texted me to say she’d found a Whinchat. That was the fastest I’d ever walked to Cosmeston and, luckily, the bird waited for me – and, in fact, stayed around most of the week so I saw it several times.
During my frequent visits to Cossie this week, I’ve seen ones and twos of Whitethroat and Chiffchaff, and tens of Willow warblers. These are the ones I spotted on the 30th.
Also on 30 August, I spotted another Redstart and, from the dark head colours, I could tell this one was definitely a male.
The week ended with a bang! My birding friend, Graham, let me know that he’d seen a Pied flycatcher with a small group of Spotted flycatchers, a most unusual visitor. Luckily, I was on the coastal path heading homeward so was able to divert towards Cosmeston and, with Graham’s help, got distant views of this beautiful little bird catching flies along the tree line. What a stunning week it has been!
27 Monday Aug 2018
Tags
autumn migration, bird migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Muscicapa striata, Spotted flycatcher
The autumn bird migration is now in full swing in south Wales and almost every day migrating birds are being spotted at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, where they’re stopping off to refuel before they tackle their long flights to warmer over-wintering locations in Europe and Africa. One that I find particularly charming is the Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), which is not really spotted at all, more streaky and stripy. The scientific name is more accurate: Muscicapa is a combination of the Latin word musca, meaning fly, and capere, meaning to catch, and the epithet striata is from the Latin striatus, meaning striated.
I saw my first Spotted flycatcher at Cossie on 7 August.
A week later, on the 15th, I had two sightings.
The 20th was a bumper day, with three birds, two obviously travelling together, and another doing its own thing.
And last Friday, the 24th, a birding friend put me on to a single bird, that was catching flies in the paddock I walked through on my way home. Fingers crossed I manage to see a few more before they all disappear for the winter.
20 Monday Aug 2018
Tags
British moths, Common purple & gold, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, moth, moths, Pyrausta purpuralis, UK moths
Every step I take across the west paddock at Cosmeston seems to send at least two tiny beige-looking insects flicking off in different directions in front of me. At first, I think they might be grasshoppers or crickets, springing quickly out of the way of my trampling feet but no – these creatures are not making straight leaps, they are fluttering and flying. They’re not easy to follow – as soon as they touch the ground they seem to disappear so I have to focus intently to follow each flight and then approach very slowly to discover what they are.
It turns out they’re not beige at all – they’re a quite striking combination of maroon and yellow, hence their common name, Common purple & gold. This is Pyrausta purpuralis, not to be confused with Pyrausta aurata, a very similar moth of the same family (see more here).
With a wingspan of just 20mm, this moth really is tiny but it’s relatively common throughout Britain, particularly on chalky downs and dry grasslands. The moths I’m seeing now in such abundance are the second brood of the year and fly, both during the day and at night, from July to August. I saw their parents during May and June, though they didn’t seem as plentiful. Perhaps this is a moth species that has enjoyed our hot dry weather this summer.
15 Wednesday Aug 2018
Tags
aphids, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, ladybirds, Wild parsnip, Willow warbler, Willow warbler migration
Do you remember last Friday I blogged about the abundance of ladybirds at Cosmeston? They were feasting on the huge numbers of aphids on the Wild parsnip plants. Well, it turns out the ladybirds have had some competition for those aphids this week, as the migrating Willow warblers move through. I don’t think we need to worry though – there are more than enough aphids to go around!
10 Friday Aug 2018
Tags
7-spot ladybirds, aphids, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, harlequin ladybird, ladybirds, Wild parsnip
I googled ‘What do ladybirds eat?’ today because I was trying to work out why there are so many ladybirds – about a 50 / 50 split between 7-spots and Harlequins – on the Wild parsnip plants at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. It turns out ladybirds are particularly keen on aphids and, as you can see in some of my photos, there are rather a lot of aphids on these plants. Good news for the ladybirds!
15 Sunday Jul 2018
Well, the truth is Ratty probably never went away. Water voles might disappear from sight during the cold months of winter but they don’t actually hibernate – they simply burrow deeper underground to keep warm, and they spend a lot of time sleeping, which means they don’t need to snack too often from the larder they stock in autumn, full of bulbs, roots and tubers. They also bung up the entrance to their burrows with a mix of vegetation and mud, which helps keep the heat inside.
Come the Spring, they emerge and spend more time out and about, though it’s only in the past month or so that I’ve seen them again at Cosmeston. That may just be the timing of my visits, though the few I’ve seen have also seemed a bit less confident about being out and about than last year’s Water voles, possibly because some idiot people have let their dogs jump into the dipping pond, an area where they are obviously forbidden.
It’s probably impossible to tell how many of last year’s release of 100 Water voles have survived the winter but another 40-odd were released a few weeks back to supplement the local population.
People love to watch them, young and old alike, so let’s hope we can all enjoy them chewing away at the vegetation for the days, weeks, months to come.
30 Saturday Jun 2018
Tags
#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Cuckoo
My #30DaysWild has ended with a cracking day at Cosmeston. Not only did I spot my first Gatekeeper butterfly for 2018, I also spent time watching one of the local Water voles for the first time this year. And then, to top it all off, I happened to be talking to the wife of one of my birding friends when he phoned her from the other end of the park to say he’d just spotted a Cuckoo.
Very obligingly, the Cuckoo hung around while I hightailed it to where it had last been seen … and, in fact, it was still there several hours later.
I’ve heard Cuckoos several times now and had a brief glimpse of one flying but, as Cuckoos don’t breed in my part of south Wales, this was the first time I was able to have a good look at one. (This bird was probably just making a brief stopover at Cosmeston on its way south to Africa.)
And what a beautiful bird it is, with stunning markings, and much bigger than I had thought.
What a magical end to my June wildness this was! But, of course, being ‘wild’ doesn’t just happen in June. Spending time exploring the natural world and its wildlife is what keeps me sane and brings joy to my life, and sharing that joy is why I write this blog.
earthstar 
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