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Tag Archives: primrose

68/366 Pavement plants

08 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, spring, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

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.

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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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86/365 In west paddock

27 Wednesday Mar 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, insects, nature, spring, wildflowers

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Tags

Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, primrose, Scutellinia fungi, Small tortoiseshell, violets

190327 west paddock (1)

Today I went to Cosmeston for the first time in a few weeks and I was delighted to find its west paddock tinged a delicate shade of purple from all the violets currently in flower. I don’t remember it being so obvious in previous years. Along the edges of the paddock, primroses were in bloom, adding their soft buttery yellow to the colour mix.

190327 west paddock (2)
190327 west paddock (3)

While looking more closely at the flowers, I noticed tiny circles of red dotting the soil – a species of Scutellinia fungi I’m guessing, but working out which species requires some serious microscope work.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
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And then along flew my first Small tortoiseshell butterfly of the year to add its vibrant hues to the kaleidoscope of colour in the paddock. Just perfect!

190327 west paddock (6)

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March at Cosmeston

29 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, flowers, nature, reptiles, spring, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Chiffchaff, Common frog, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Hawfinch, Meadow pipit, primrose, Reed buntin, Sand martin, Scaup, treecreeper

11 March  This visit to Cosmeston started with me being yaffled at by a Green woodpecker – I always think they’re jeering at me, trying to lure me into stalking them for that ever-elusive close-up. I resisted and walked on, then paused to watch a Magpie trying to carry off a very large twig / small branch, proof that nest-building has begun.

180329 1 primroses

Masses of pale Primroses were flowering prettily along the western boundary path, and the lake was overflowing the boardwalk at the west end due to recent heavy rain.

180329 2 drake Scaup

I paused near there, as I always do, to look at the gulls and finally, FINALLY, spotted the drake Scaup that’s been visiting the Cosmeston lakes on and off in recent weeks, this time in company with a female Tufted duck, which could be why some interesting hybrids are occasionally sighted locally.

180329 3 Treecreeper
180329 4 Gadwall & Tufted ducks

I walked up Mile Road and then off the main track to where the bird hide used to be (it was burnt down by vandals last year and has not been rebuilt), and spotted a Treecreeper hopping up a nearby tree, then turned to see a group of five Gadwall on the east lake, much closer in than usual.

180329 5 Great crested grebes

I watched them a while then was charmed to also watch a pair of Great crested grebes displaying – more on those here. I wandered on, up Mile Road to the top end where I head back in to suburbia, and was farewelled by a large flock of perhaps fifty Fieldfare and Redwing that flew up from the area of Old Cogan Farm and landed in the trees above me.

180329 6 Scaup
180329 7 Common frog

16 March  I only walked through Cosmeston as part of a longer walk from Sully to Penarth, so I didn’t linger long but I did manage to get closer views and better photos of the Scaup, as it was sitting right off the boardwalk and ‘swan feeding area’ near the cafe. And I also detoured past the dipping pond to check out the Common frog eruption – see more on the frogs here.

180329 8 Meadow pipits
180329 9 Meadow pipits

19 March  I stomped off to Cossie with snow still on the ground (but steadily melting) after the ‘Mini-beast from the east’, the second instalment of cold weather to blast us this month. The most notable wildlife effect was in the large numbers of Meadow pipits to be seen, sometimes in singles, at one point a flock of at least 20 grazing together.

180329 10 Chiffchaff

It was also a day of confusing birds: there was a female Blackbird with a pale bib, making me think she might be a Ring ouzel, and two Chiffchaffs pretending to be Reed warblers, presumably because there were more insects to be had close to the water – behaviour also seen at another site in south Wales that day.

180329 11 Sand martin

And, another sign of spring, I saw my first Sand martins of the year, three of them, hawking back and forth on the east lake.

180329 12 Reed bunting

23 March  Once again, this was a walk through rather than around Cosmeston, as I was doing the same walk as a week ago, from Sully back home. As I had recently stocked up on bird seed, I was sprinkling small amounts here and there as I strolled, and was delighted to see three male Reed buntings come down for a snack in one spot – such handsome birds. The other highlight was the Chiffchaffs, at least six crisscrossing the lane between the two lakes, flycatching the multitude of little gnatty things flying about on this sunny day.

180329 13 hawfinch

29 March  Well, I wasn’t intending to make another visit to Cossie this month but then one of my birding friends spotted a Hawfinch there on the 27th and I couldn’t let that pass without at least having a look for it. (For non-birders, Hawfinches are usually difficult to find, though they have been having a good winter this year.) So, trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to dodge heavy rain showers, I headed over to Cosmeston early this morning. I knew the approximate location to look but it certainly wasn’t easy spotting anything in the dense trees. Luckily, I had listened to the bird’s call on the RSPB website before I set off and that’s how I found it … by listening very very carefully and then following that sound. The bird was very high in a tree and almost obscured by intervening branches (my photo is a heavy crop) … but I was very chuffed to find it!

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Ring-ting!

09 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

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Tags

British flora, British wildflowers, primrose, William Allingham poem

180209 primroses (1)
180209 primroses (2)

‘Ring-ting! I wish I were a Primrose,
A bright yellow Primrose blowing in the spring!
The stooping boughs above me,
The wandering bee to love me,
The fern and moss to creep across,
And the elm-tree for our king!’

~  from William Allingham, ‘Wishing, A Child’s Song’. Allingham (1824-1889) was an Irish poet and man of letters.

180209 primroses (3)

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Primrose x Cowslip = False Oxlip

12 Friday May 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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Tags

British flora, British wildflowers, Cowslip, False oxlip, flora hybridisation, flower hybrids, primrose, Primula veris, Primula vulgaris, Primula vulgaris x veris = P. x polyantha


Where Primroses (Primula vulgaris) and Cowslips (Primula veris) grow in close proximity they will occasionally hybridise to produce the False Oxlip (Primula vulgaris x veris = P. x polyantha). Though this is not really clear from my images, the hybrid is usually a larger plant than the Cowslip, and I think it combines the prettiest traits of both parents to produce a real stunner!

170512 A Primrose
170512 B Cowslip
170512 C False oxlip

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Sweet-potato-pink primroses

06 Monday Mar 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British native flora, British wildflowers, genetic variation in primrose, pink-purple primrose, primrose, Primula vulgaris

One of the earliest signs of Spring here in Britain is the flowering of the native primrose (Primula vulgaris). Its flowers range in colour from milk white through clotted cream to buttery yellow but there is also a sweet-potato-pink variation. In a delectable continuation of my comestible metaphors, in his Flora Britannica author Richard Mabey labels this form rhubarb-and-custard.

170306-primrose-1

I found these flowers growing locally in the now-public grounds of an old house, built between 1790 and 1810. Though some areas of the grounds have obviously been cultivated, there are also wilder areas where native flowers grow, and these lilac-flowered primroses are sprinkled in amongst the more common yellow forms, suggesting they are not garden escapees. In Flora Britannica, Mabey goes on to say that the rhubarb-and-custard variety ‘is most frequent in churchyards and on banks close to villages, so there is some doubt about its origins. But it also occurs in much wilder sites, especially in west Wales, and is so constant in its colouration that it is almost certainly a genetically different form.’ Delicious!

170306-primrose-2

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Signs of spring

23 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

crocus, Galanthus nivalis, Lesser Celandine, primrose, Primula vulgaris, snowdrop, spring flowers in January

It’s not even the end of January and the spring flowers are starting to open. I saw these Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), Crocuses (Crocus sp.), Lesser celandines (Ficaria verna) and Primroses (Primula vulgaris) yesterday during a walk through my local park and cemetery. They’re wonderful to see but I have a feeling winter hasn’t quite finished with us yet.

170122-signs-of-spring-1
170122-signs-of-spring-2
170122-signs-of-spring-3
170122-signs-of-spring-4

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‘Dedicated Naturalist’: The Primrose

29 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by sconzani in 'Dedicated Naturalist' Project, flowers, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Dr Mary Gillham, primrose, wildflowers

A snippet from my volunteer work on the ‘Dedicated Naturalist’ Project, helping to decipher and digitise, record and publicise the life’s work of naturalist extraordinaire, Dr Mary Gillham.

It’s almost 79 years to the day since fifteen-year-old Mary Gillham drew these very precise illustrations of the anatomy of a primrose. (Note the teacher’s comment: ‘This shows improvement in neatness’!)

160429 primrose (1)

She was in her final, fifth form year at Ealing Grammar School for Girls, and, as you can see from her work, she already had well-developed powers of observation and a fine drawing style. Though she was raised in the London suburb of Ealing, Mary’s love of the natural world began early,

looking at birds and flowers in the local parks and on family Saturdays in the country. I brought bits and pieces for the wild flower shelf in my Junior School and began collecting and pressing specimens of the commoner species. One such collection, classified not very scientifically under flower colour, was sent by the school to a museum in Russia, as an example of an eleven-year-old’s work. 

From small beginnings come great naturalists! 

You can follow our progress with this project on Facebook and on Twitter. A website will follow soon.

160429 primrose (2)

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Bute Park wildflowers

17 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by sconzani in nature, spring, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bluebell, Bute Park, Common dog-violet, Daisy, dandelion, Germander speedwell, Golden saxifrage, gorse, Greater stitchwort, Green alkanet, Herb Robert, Lesser Celandine, primrose, Red campion, Sweet violet, White deadnettle, Wild garlic, Wild strawberry, Wood anemone

This weekend I could have paid £12 to see what I’m sure would have been gorgeous flowers and inspirational displays at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Flower Show being held here in Cardiff’s Bute Park but, as I don’t have that kind of cash to splash at the moment, I decided to see what flowers I could find in Bute Park for nothing. With 18 different types of wildflowers currently in bloom I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Enjoy!

160417 bluebell
160417 daisy bellis perennis
160417 dandelion
160417 dead nettle white
160417 geranium robertianum herb robert
160417 germander speedwell
160417 gorse
160417 greater stitchwort Stellaria holostea
160417 Green Alkanet Pentaglottis sempervirens
160417 lesser celandine
160417 opposite leaved golden saxifrage
160417 primrose primula vulgaris
160417 red campion
160417 violet blue
160417 violet white
160417 wild garlic
160417 wild strawberry
160417 wood anemone

There were: Bluebell (mostly Spanish but I found a few natives) (Hyacinthoides non-scripta); Daisy (Bellis perennis); Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale); White deadnettle (Lamium album); Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum); Germander speedwell (Veronica Chamaedrys); Gorse (Ulex europaeus); Greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea); Green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens); Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria); Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium); Primrose (Primula vulgaris); Red campion (Silene dioica); Common dog-violet (Viola riviniana) and Sweet violet (Viola odorata); Wild garlic (Allium ursinum); Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca); and Wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa).

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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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