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Tag Archives: Grangemoor Park

Wasp spiders

31 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in spiders

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Argiope bruennichi, British spiders, Grangemoor Park, Wasp spider

Last week, entomologist Liam Olds made the stunning discovery of local populations of Wasp spiders, not once but twice, the first on 26 August at Porthkerry Country Park in Barry and the second the very next day at Grangemoor Park in Cardiff. Gangemoor is an easy walk for me and I’d never seen these spiders before so, of course, I went searching. Liam and fellow finder Christian Owen had located about 20 of these stunning spiders; I found seven, and was delighted to see so many.

210831 wasp spider (1)

As you can guess from its name, the Wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi) sports wasp-like back-and-yellow stripes on both its upper abdomen (photo above) and under side (below), presumably a clever attempt to fool potential predators into not eating it. In a manner similar to the Common garden spider, the Wasp spider constructs a large web, strung between the tall grasses of its favoured grass- and heath-lands, and sits in the middle awaiting its prey. There is one striking difference with the Wasp spider’s web though; it usually has a white zig-zag stripe running down through the middle. The purpose of this ‘stabilimentum’ is much debated, ranging from a form of camouflage to attracting prey by reflecting ultraviolet light, but it is certainly distinctive.

210831 wasp spider (2)

The Wasp spiders I saw were all females, as the male’s lifespan is short – if he doesn’t get eaten by the female after mating, he dies soon after serving his purpose. He is smaller and lacks the distinctive markings of the female – the UKSafari website has a photo of the male, and much interesting information about these intriguing spiders.

As you can see from the series of photos below, I was lucky to spot one Wasp spider wrapping up her recently caught lunch, an unlucky wasp. It’s a ‘Wasp eat wasp’ world out there, folks!

210831 wasp spider (3)210831 wasp spider (4)210831 wasp spider (5)

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Latticed heaths

21 Saturday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British moths, Grangemoor Park, Latticed heath, moth

Latticed heath moths have featured many times before on this blog (see here and here) but, after seeing over a dozen during a wander around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park this week, I can’t resist featuring them again. These are three I managed to get close enough to for macro photos.

210821 latticed heath (1)210821 latticed heath (2)210821 latticed heath (3)

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Southern marsh-orchids

16 Wednesday Jun 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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British native orchids, British orchids, Dactylorhiza praetermissa, Grangemoor Park, native orchids, Southern Marsh-orchid

Mostly, I only see four species of orchid: Early purple, Common spotted, Bee and Pyramidal, so I find it tricky identifying other species. And the fact that many species of orchid hybridise with each other also complicates the identification picture. So, when a Twitter pal tagged me for help identifying a Southern marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) I couldn’t assist, but decided to try to find some for myself to learn more about their appearance. I found one specimen during a recent visit to Aberbargoed (though not at the grasslands) and several at Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park.

The first thing I realised is that you can’t rely on colour. I found another orchid that looked the perfect shade of purple but didn’t have the right markings – perhaps a hybrid of Southern marsh and Common spotted. The two key things for Southern marsh-orchids, it seems to me, in non-botanist speak, are that the upper petals all reach skywards, like a person holding their arms in the air, and that the larger, lower petal has two cascades of spots that sometimes merge in to one but always fall in the centre of the petal, not spreading outwards. I’m sure there’s a more succinct way to phrase that but I think it’s best we each have our own ways to remember key points.

210616 southern marsh-orchid (2)
210616 southern marsh-orchid (3)
210616 southern marsh-orchid (4)

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A five-Brimstone day!

17 Wednesday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

≈ 8 Comments

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Brimstone, Brimstone butterfly, British butterflies, butterfly, Grangemoor Park

Though yesterday’s weren’t my first butterfly sightings of the year (I’ve seen two different species fly rapidly past in recent weeks but haven’t managed photos), they were simply splendid. A walk around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park produced five (!) Brimstones and, though most were patrolling their chosen territories at speed, I waited patiently for one to stop for a rest and managed to get close enough to get some good images. I can’t tell you how truly wonderful it feels to be sharing my air space with butterflies again. They are such magical creatures!

210317 brimstone

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350/366 S s s s … Siskin

15 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, trees, winter

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Alder, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Carduelis spinus, Grangemoor Park, Siskin, Siskin feeding on Alder cones

Siskin (Carduelis spinus) are not finches I see very often so, when I heard their high-pitched whistles at Grangemoor Park last Saturday, I immediately looked up to try to spot them.

201215 siskin (1)

And there they were, perhaps six birds, feeding on Alder cones, high above me. There were other trees in my sightline and the light was shocking so it wasn’t easy to watch or photograph them.

201215 siskin (2)

Still, I lingered on the muddy path for 20 minutes or so, enjoying their upside-down feeding techniques, listening to their noisy interaction, enjoying the fleeting glints of yellow when the sun lit their feathers. What a treat!

201215 siskin (3)

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229/366 More peas please

16 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers

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Black medick, British wildflowers, Common restharrow, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Ervilla hirsuta, Grangemoor Park, Hairy tare, Medicago lupulina, Ononis repens, Pea plant family

You’ll recall that a couple of weeks ago we had some members of the Pea family (A Pod of Peas, 26 July) – well, here are another three members of that extensive kin group.

Common restharrow (Ononis repens)
The name ‘restharrow’ comes from the fact that this wildflower’s thick long roots were ‘tough enough to stop a horse-drawn harrow in its tracks’ (Flora Britannica) and that esteemed publication also notes that those roots could be chewed, with a taste like liquorice. According to the Plantlife website, the plant’s shoots also had culinary uses: they could be boiled as a vegetable or eaten in salads.

200809 common restharrow (2)
200809 common restharrow (1)

200809 common restharrow (3)

Hairy tare (Ervilla hirsuta)
There’s an abundance of this little plant curling and winding itself through the rough grassland and wildflower fields at Grangemoor Park. As its flowers are rather small, it’s easy to miss how lovely they are but they’re definitely worth a closer look, anytime from May to August.

200816 hairy tare (3)200816 hairy tare (4)

Black medick (Medicago lupulina)
This is a plant I often see along the edges of roads but it’s also particularly numerous in one of the wildflower fields at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. The First Nature website explains its scientific name thus:
‘The genus name Medicago refers to the region of Iran known as Media, where this plant was thought to have originated. The specific epithet lupulina means “wolf-like” – a reference to the flowers of the hop Humulus lupulus, which its inflorescence resembles.’

200816 black meddick (2)
200816 black meddick (4)

200816 black meddick (1)

 

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218/366 Vervain

05 Wednesday Aug 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, plants, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Grangemoor Park, The Chief Herb, The Herb, Verbena officinalis, Vervain, wildflower

I’ve been trying, very slowly, to learn the names of more wildflowers so, when I couldn’t put a name to this plant at Grangemoor Park a couple of days ago, I made sure to take lots of photos of it. And today I found out this straggly, nondescript wildflower is not just any old plant, this is ‘The Herb’!

200805 vervain (1)

Vervain (Verbena officinalis) was so valued by herbalists in Anglo Saxon times that it was considered ‘The Chief Herb’, and was ‘a venerated plant, valued not just as a panacea (it was trumpeted as a cure for the plague in the Middle Ages) but as a magical charm, which could both protect against witches and demons and conjure up devilry of its own’ (Flora Britannica). 

200805 vervain (3)
200805 vervain (2)

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196/366 First Brown argus of 2020

14 Tuesday Jul 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

British butterflies, Brown argus, butterfly, butterflying, Grangemoor Park

By this date last year, I had managed to find Brown argus butterflies at two different local sites (and one of those was the first Cardiff record in eight years). This year I only spotted my first Brown argus last Saturday, almost two months later than last year. The Polyommatinae family (that’s the blues and arguses) are not faring well in my part of south Wales this year, which is a great shame, as they are all gorgeous little butterflies.

200714 brown argus (1)

If you’re having trouble telling a Brown argus from a Common blue female, my blog Flying on the wings of Confusion, July 2018, has ID pointers and photos that should help.

200714 brown argus (2)

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194/366 Watching, waiting

12 Sunday Jul 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 1 Comment

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British orchids, Broad-leaved helleborine, Grangemoor Park, native orchids

During my lockdown meanders around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park, I’ve been keeping an eye on these Broad-leaved helleborines, watching and waiting for them to bloom. Though I’d only found them in one location in previous years, this year I’ve spotted them in three different places around the park.

200712 broad-leaved helleborine 17 june (2)

Here they are on 17 June, looking healthy, with lots of lush foliage.

200712 broad-leaved helleborine 17 june (1)

Just over a week later, on 25 June, flower spikes have developed well on a couple of plants, so I’m hopeful of a good display.

200712 broad-leaved helleborine 25 june (1)
200712 broad-leaved helleborine 25 june (2)

I don’t manage to get back this way until 11 July, but I’m full of expectation of a mass of blooms. Unfortunately, though we’ve had plenty of rain, a couple of plants look brown and slightly withered (as they’re adjacent to a well-used footpath, I wonder if passing dogs might have urinated on them). A couple of other plants look as if they’ve been trampled.

200712 broad-leaved helleborine 11 july (1)
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Luckily, I have found two plants with spikes intact and a couple of flowers open on each. Such pretty little things.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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178/366 Essex skippers

26 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Essex skipper, Grangemoor Park, Skippers

I’ve been melting in this week’s heatwave but it’s been a wonderful week for butterflies: on Monday, a long-lost Small heath, on Wednesday my first Painted Lady of the year, and yesterday two Essex skippers.

200626 essex skipper (1)

I went early to Grangemoor Park to avoid the worst of the heat but it was already roasting, and the skippers, Large and Small, were scooting around the grasses and wildflowers so rapidly that I couldn’t get many photos. Then, along one path, two skippers flew up, one disappeared but the other found a perch and stayed there, most patiently, while I quietly edged my way around in front of it to check what I suspected from the rear view. And, bingo, black-tipped antennae – an Essex skipper.

200626 essex skipper (2)

A second path, an almost perfect repeat performance, a second Essex skipper. I do find these gorgeous little skippers will remain on a perch when they find one to their liking, which is extremely convenient for getting photos to confirm their identities.

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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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