15 Thursday May 2025
I feel a bit like these beautiful Brimstones, needing to refuel to restore my energy after yesterday’s house move. My surroundings are still chaotic but I made sure to get out for a short time today because walking in Nature is how I heal, how I find peace amongst the madness, how I refuel my mind and my spirit.
The image above shows a female Brimstone, which is paler than the more yellowy male in the photo below. Red campion was their flower of choice this day.
23 Tuesday Apr 2024
Posted in insects, wildflowers
This gorgeous female (the spring females are more heavily marked than the males) was my first Green-veined white (Pieris napi) of the year. It occurred to me later that I should’ve watched her for longer as I’ve not yet seen any of this species’ eggs or caterpillars. I might start checking the larval foodplants they use – Cuckooflower, Garlic mustard, Hedge mustard, Wild Cabbage and Wild radish, amongst others – to see what I can find. If I find anything, I’ll report back.
26 Sunday Nov 2023
Posted in wildflowers
Here are three campions I’ve found during this week’s walks. The first was a late-flowering surprise I found on Wednesday and is in the best condition of these three campions as it was photographed before the hard frost we had yesterday, Saturday. This is the lovely Red campion (Silene dioica).
The White campion (Silene latifolia) also looked lovely when I saw it on Wednesday but these photos were taken today so the flowers were showing the effects of the weather, drooping, wet from this morning’s drizzle, the petals almost transparent but still pretty. I’ve included a second photo, a side view of the flower so you can see the difference between White and the third campion, below, which also has white petals.
And this is the third campion of the week, very much past its best now, with the merest slivers of petals still remaining. The shape that gives the Bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) its name is very obvious and, once again, I’ve included a second image, this one taken in June, to show this pretty flower at its best.
23 Sunday May 2021
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers
Tags
British wildflowers, Common comfrey, Field scabious, Flax, knapweed, Oxeye daisy, Ragged robin, Red campion, Red valerian, Spring colour, Yarrow
Despite our un-spring-like weather, more and more wildflowers are coming in to bloom. Here are some I’ve noticed during the past fortnight’s ramblings in my local countryside: Comfrey, Field scabious, Flax, Knapweed, Oxeye daisy, Ragged robin, Red campion and Red valerian, and Yarrow. Though my video shows a decidedly blue-pink range of hues, there are other-coloured species in bloom – it’s just that I intend doing some family- or species-specific blogs so will save those photographs for now.
16 Friday Apr 2021
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers
Tags
British wildflowers, Bush vetch, Garlic mustard, Herb Robert, Honesty, Red campion, Shining crane's-bill, Spring colour, spring wildflowers
These gorgeous wildflowers are now blooming in the sunnier, more sheltered spots I pass on my daily walks:
Bush vetch (Vicia sepium), the first of the vetches I’ve seen this year.
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), also known as Jack-by-the-hedge
Honesty (Lunaria annua), originally a garden escapee but now naturalised in the local countryside
Red campion (Silene dioica)
Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) and, below, its cousin, Shining crane’s-bill (Geranium lucidum). As you can see, the flowers of these two are very similar but the leaves are quite different.
26 Sunday Apr 2020
Posted in nature, spring, wildflowers
Tags
British wildflowers, Bush vetch, Common bird's foot trefoil, Common vetch, Grass vetchling, Red campion, Spring colour, spring wildflowers
You know the summer’s not far away when members of the extensive Pea family start to flower and, during this week’s exercise walks, I’ve spotted four Pea species newly come in to flower. The first were three of the vetches …
Bush vetch (Vicia sepium)
Common vetch (Vicia sativa) … and friends.
Grass vetchling (Lathyrus nissolia)
And, also, one of my all-time favourites – possibly because it’s also a favourite with a lot of the butterflies and day-flying moths I adore so much, Common bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus).
Oh, and this week’s new blooms also included one not-a-pea wildflower, the always lovely Red campion (Silene dioica).
18 Thursday Apr 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, fungi, nature
Tags
Bute Park, Microbotryum silenes-dioicae, Red campion, Red campion smut, Silene dioica, smut, smut fungus
One of my Facebook friends recently made the comment that you can never have too much smut so I immediately thought of him when I saw how much smut was to be found in Cardiff’s Bute Park this afternoon.
Before you think this blog is descending rapidly towards the gutter, let me quickly say that the smut to which I am referring is Microbotryum silenes-dioicae, a smut that occurs on the anthers of Red campion (Silene dioica) flowers. It’s a type of fungus that produces brown, powdery spores so it’s very easy to spot, as you can see below – the photo on the left shows a normal Red campion flower, the flowers on the right are smutty.
17 Sunday Apr 2016
Posted in nature, spring, wildflowers
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!
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).
earthstar 
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