07 Sunday Apr 2024
Posted in flowers, insects, wildflowers
Tags
British butterflies, British wildflowers, butterfly, dandelion, dandelion flowers, insects on dandelions, Small white, Small white butterfly
I missed celebrating National Dandelion Day earlier this week so today’s wildflower post focuses on the wonder that is the Dandelion and the many insects that rely on its early source of nutrition. This little group of photos also includes my first Small white butterfly of the year, found on Friday.
29 Friday Mar 2024
The few Brimstones I’ve seen so far this year – just three before today – have been buttery yellow males and have raced past at the speed of light, spreading their pheromones and patrolling their chosen area in the hope of finding themselves a female. Though determining their colour can sometimes be tricky without the other gender for comparison, I think today’s Brimstone, with its paler, more greenish-lemon colour, was a female. She was certainly hungry, happy to linger and make the most of the lush Dandelions.
30 Sunday Apr 2023
Posted in wildflowers
We’ve had National Dandelion Day (on 5 April), but today’s flower festivities have gone global. So, happy International Day of the Dandelion (#InternationalDayOfTheDandelion on social media)! I am always happy to celebrate the sunshine cheerfulness and undeniable bounty of the dandelion so here are a few recent flowers and friends finds.
05 Wednesday Apr 2023
Tags
Bee-fly, Bombylius major, British bee-flies, dandelion, Dark-edged bee-flies, value of Dandelion flowers
Apparently, today is #NationalDandelionDay. Dandelions are brilliant for so many reasons (I’ve blogged about their value to insects previously – see Delicious Dandelions, April 2022) but what better reason than the food they provide to all the gorgeous little bee-flies that are currently emerging all over the country.
These are Dark-edged bee-flies (Bombylius major), the only bee-fly species we have locally though there are other species in Britain. The top bundle of fluff is a male and the bottom is a female. The way to tell the sexes apart is to look at their eyes – if there’s a gap between the eyes, it’s a female. The males usually emerge first, with the females following a week to ten days later.
22 Sunday Jan 2023
Posted in wildflowers, winter
Tags
British wildflowers, Daisy, dandelion, Field speedwell, wildflowers in bloom, Winter heliotrope, winter wildflowers
After a week of hard frosts and bitterly cold winds, it’s not surprising that I’ve found very few wildflowers in bloom. Indeed, I’m rather surprised to have found any. But those I have found seem to be particularly hardy plants and are wildflowers I’ve previously found during the winter months. They are Daisy and Dandelion, Field speedwell, Gorse, Sun spurge, and Winter heliotrope.
24 Sunday Apr 2022
Posted in flowers, insects, wildflowers
I’ve said it before, I’ll probably say it again: Dandelions are an essential source of nectar and pollen for all kinds of insects, particularly those that emerge in early Spring when few other plants are in flower. So, on this International Dandelion Day, a plea to you all – PLEASE don’t cut, kill or otherwise damage your Dandelions!
26 Thursday Mar 2020
Posted in insects, nature, spring, wildflowers
Tags
Brimstone, Brimstone butterfly, British butterflies, British wildflowers, dandelion, Gonepteryx rhamni, Grangemoor Park
Here’s why it should be an offence to cut, spray or otherwise destroy blooming wildflowers – in this case, Dandelions, in particular.
During yesterday’s daily exercise walk around Grangemoor Park I saw at least five Brimstone butterflies. These were all males, newly emerged from hibernation and already flying frantically back and forth along their chosen path-sides and hedgerows, seeking out females to mate with.
As there aren’t yet many wildflowers in bloom at Grangemoor, when it came time to refuel for their next patrol flight, every single one of these Brimstones stopped and supped on Dandelion nectar. In fact, once I twigged to what they were doing, I took to checking every Dandelion I saw, just in case it held a butterfly. So, please, PLEASE, leave your Dandelions for the insects to feed on.
08 Sunday Mar 2020
Posted in nature, spring, wildflowers
Tags
#PavementPlants, #WildflowerHour, British wildflowers, Coltsfoot, Common cornsalad, Daisy, dandelion, Herb Robert, Lesser Celandine, primrose, Red dead-nettle, Shepherd's purse
Now that Spring has sprung, the folks who run #WildflowerHour on social media are issuing weekly challenges for followers to focus their searches around. This week it was #PavementPlants, searching for any plants in bloom that were growing in the cracks or along the edges of their local pavements. Challenges like this do mean you get some odd looks from people when you’re photographing your finds but I’m very used to that these days.
Here’s what I found: Coltsfoot (I love how tenacious these plants are – they were pushing up between the cracks in an old set of steps connecting two local streets); Common cornsalad; Daisy; Dandelion; Herb Robert; Lesser celandine; Primrose; Red dead-nettle; and Shepherd’s-purse.
02 Monday Mar 2020
Posted in insects, nature, spring, wildflowers
Tags
A little bit of sunshine and a sheltered spot, plus a few blooming wildflowers – in this case, dandelions and Alexanders, alongside a south Wales coastal road – and out came the flying critters: solitary bees a’buzzing, various species of flies a’flying and hoverflies a’hovering. Spring is off to a flying start!
30 Thursday Jan 2020
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers
I’ve posted about this phenomenon before (see Wild word: fasciated, back in July 2018) but, as some of you may not have been following me back then, I thought it was worth repeating, especially as I’ve found such a magnificent example.
So, this Dandelion stem and flower are fasciated, i.e. both parts of the plant exhibit an abnormal fusion which has resulted in a flattening of their structure. In this particular case, it almost appears as if three separate stems and flowers have fused into one.
I couldn’t resist the alliteration in the title as my spellchecker kept changing fasciated to fascinated – what a difference an ‘n’ makes!
earthstar 
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