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~ a celebration of nature

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Tag Archives: marsh marigold

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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90/365 Marsh merry-golds

31 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, marsh marigold, spring flowers, yellow flowers, yellow wildflowers

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Now before you feel the need to correct the spelling of ‘merry-gold’ in my title, let me just say that it was deliberate because I find Marsh marigolds such cheery, merry flowers, and it always makes me smile to see them. I spotted some yesterday in Cardiff’s Heath Park, and they’re also in full flower at the moment in Penarth’s Alexandra Park, where I went for a meander earlier today.

190331 marsh marigolds (3)
190331 marsh marigolds (2)

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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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Signs of spring: Marsh marigolds

02 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, parks, spring

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Caltha palustris, Heath Park, marsh marigold, signs of spring

180202 Marsh marigolds (2)

Though it’s hard to believe today, as I look out the window at yet another grey rainy day and the temperature is set to go down all day not up, here is yet another sign that spring really is just around the corner. I spotted these Marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris) blooming in a muddy pond in Cardiff’s Heath Park last week.

180202 Marsh marigolds (1)180202 Marsh marigolds (3)

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Merry marsh marigolds

25 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Caltha palustris, marsh marigold, spring, spring flowers

Yellow is the colour of happiness, optimism, enlightenment, creativity, hope, cheerfulness, and sunshine. Yellow is also the most luminous in the colour spectrum – the colour that most easily catches our eye and the eyes of bees so it’s no surprise that yellow is the most common flower colour, and the quintessential colour of Spring.

marsh marigold

One of the wonderfully vibrant plants whose flowers have been catching my eye over the past couple of weeks is the Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris). As its name implies, this wildflower likes the dampness of marshes, fens, ditches and the wetter areas of my local woodlands. According to Wikipedia, it ‘is probably one of the most ancient native plants, surviving the glaciations and flourishing after the last retreat of the ice in a landscape inundated with glacial meltwaters.’

marsh marigold (1)

The Marsh marigold is commonly known as Kingcup – its Latin name Caltha comes from the Greek word for goblet and its large golden cup-shaped flowers certainly look glorious enough to adorn the table of a king.

marsh marigold (2)

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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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