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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: Dog violet

89/366 This week’s new wildflowers

29 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, spring, wildflowers

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Barren strawberry, British wildflowers, Common Stork's-bill, Dog violet, Honesty, marsh marigold, Ramsons, Spring colour, spring flowers, Wild garlic

During this week’s walks, which have, of course, in our current lockdown situation, been shorter and much more restricted than my usual meanderings, my mood has been brightened by the sight of our beautiful flowering wild plants, especially those that have just come into bloom in recent days. They’re a heartening reminder of better times to come … eventually. These are those I’ve found this week.

200329 barren strawberry

Barren strawberry (Potentilla sterilis): It seems a shame that this species of strawberry doesn’t produce the luscious fruit we all enjoy in the summer months. Instead, its berries are small and quite hard.

200329 Common stork's-bill

Common stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium): I was delighted to spot these pretty little things. I’m a big fan of the whole Geranium family, the crane’s-bills and the stork’s-bills.

200329 dog-violet

Dog-violet (Viola sp.): The photos I took weren’t good enough for me to work out whether these are Early dog-violets or Common dog-violets but they’re pretty nonetheless.

200329 honesty

Honesty (Lunaria annua): When I had a garden I used to grow Honesty, partly for its lovely flowers but also to harvest the branches of seed pods once they’d dried. I love their fragility and the way they glisten in the sunshine. Their vernacular name, Moonpennies, is so appropriate.

200329 marsh marigold

Marsh-marigold (Caltha palustris): These were growing in the depths of a small dingle right in the middle of the town where I live, the flowers are little bright lights beaming up from the gloom.

200329 ramsons

Ramsons (Allium ursinum): That same valley where I found the Marsh-marigolds is also home to swathes of Ramsons, also known to many of us as Wild garlic. There must be thousands of these plants in the valley and along the sides of the stream bed that leads from there down towards the sea.

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61/366 Lilac and yellow

01 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#WildflowerHour, British wildflowers, Dog violet, primrose, Winter aconite

Rather than a full list of wildflower sightings this week, I’m focusing on just three, this week’s new (to me) blooms. And, in fact, this first wildflower, Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), was a first-ever sighting for me. Originally from southern Europe, this plant is a member of the buttercup family, and, if the database records of this beautiful flower are any indication, it’s a plant that is quite rare in the wild in Wales.

200301 winter aconite

This is a dog-violet, possibly Early dog-violet, though I didn’t take good enough photos of the particular features needed to differentiate the Early (Viola reichenbachiana) from the Common (Viola riviniana).

200301 early dog-violet

And, finally, this delightful combination of the two colours of the above blooms, lilac and yellow, a Primrose. Though not the usual cream-coloured flower we most commonly see, this is, I believe, a natural colour variation of the native Primrose, rather than something humans have bred.

200301 primrose pink variety

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Birding at Cefn Cadlan and Cwm Cadlan

17 Thursday May 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, plants, wildflowers

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Tags

British flora, British wildflowers, Cefn Cadlan, Common butterwort, Cwm Cadlan, Dog violet, Greater stitchwort, Green-veined white butterfly, Marsh lousewort, marsh marigold, Micropterix calthella, Native bluebell, Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage, Redstart, Water avens, Wood sorrel

You may be surprised to learn that birding trips aren’t always dominated by birdwatching.

180517 near Cefn Cadlan

Last Sunday’s Glamorgan Bird Club trip saw 22 people striding firstly around the high moorland near Cefn Cadlan, north of Cardiff on the way to Brecon, and then exploring nearby Cwm Cadlan National Nature Reserve, an area renowned for the rare plants that thrive in its wet grasslands.

180517 lane to Cwm Cadlan

Of course, we were on the trip primarily to look for birds – and I saw my first Redstarts for the year (always on distant tree tops) and heard my first Cuckoo (exactly a year since my very first Cuckoo).

180517 Redstart

You’ll just have to believe me when I say that the dot in the centre of this photo is a Redstart

But, when the birds proved elusive, our team of talented amateur naturalists turned their attention to all the other wildlife and wildflowers that surrounded us. We saw frogs and a hare; speculated on what had left its footprints in the mud; enjoyed all the Green-veined white and Orange-tip butterflies that were nectaring on the abundant Cuckkoflowers …

180517 Green-veined white

and we turned our heads downwards to admire all the special wildflowers that surrounded us. It was a glorious sunny day, the scenery was stunning, and the flora and fauna superb.

180517 Common butterwort

Common butterwort, not yet in flower

180517 Dog violet

Dog violet

180517 Greater stitchwort

Greater stitchwort

180517 Lousewort

Lousewort

180517 Marsh marigold and Micropterix calthella

Marsh marigold, and the tiny moths are Micropterix calthella

180517 Native bluebell

Native bluebell

180517 Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage

Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage

180517 water avens

Water avens, a very beautiful plant and a new one for me

180517 Wood sorrel

Wood sorrel

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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