110/365 A smelly Saturday

20 Saturday Apr 2019

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

Tags

Alexandra Park, British flora, Bute Park, Ramsons, Roath Park, smelly plants, Wild garlic

It doesn’t matter what name you call it by – Ramsons, Londoner’s lily or Wild garlic – it smells. Some people even find the smell overwhelming but I don’t mind it, and when you see Ramsons flowering en masse, they’re really very lovely.

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According to Richard Mabey in my ever-useful Flora Britannica, Ramsons were ‘unmistakable and abundant enough to figure in Old English place names’ and he gives the following examples: ‘Ramsey Island off Pembrokeshire; Ramsbottom, Lancashire; Ramsdell, Hampshire; Ramsholt, Suffolk; Ramshope, Northumberland; and Ramshorn, Staffordshire’.

Here in Penarth, the banks of the stream that flows alongside Alexandra Park are carpeted with Ramsons at this time of year, and their growth is also lush in the wild gardens in Cardiff’s Roath Park and under the trees in Bute Park’s woodland trail. Get sniffing!

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Morning has broken

21 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in nature, parks, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cold morning, golden hour, Roath Park, Roath Park Recreation Grounds, sunrise

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I think I should get up and out early more often. The mercury didn’t rise over 3°C today and it was -1°C when I took this photo at 8.30am, as I set off for a full day’s wildlife recorders’ forum. There was a light ground mist hovering over the Roath Park Recreation Grounds and the scene was lit by that beautiful light that comes soon after sunrise, the time of day photographers call the golden hour. Sublime!

The bounteous cotoneaster

19 Thursday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

berries, birding, birdwatching, blackbird, British birds, Cotoneaster berries, Redwing, Roath Park, winter berries for birds, Woodpigeon

They may look luscious and juicy but Cotoneaster berries contain toxins, which means that many people consider them poisonous. (There’s a good article about whether or not they really are poisonous on the Poison Garden website.) Yet the blackbirds, thrushes and woodpigeons seem to enjoy them and, when the more desirable berries like rowan have been consumed, these nutritious berries help to sustain the birds through the lean winter months.

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Roath Park has several cotoneaster trees that are covered in bright red and dull yellow berries at the moment so, as I walked home from the train station this afternoon I kept an eye out for feeding birds. And I got lucky.

The hefty woodpigeons were easy to spot as their clambering made the branches shake a lot. The blackbirds were more delicate but also more entertaining, as they performed their aerial trapeze, clinging to branches and stretching as far sideways or upside down as they could to reach the furthest fruit. The bonus of the day was a group of about five redwings also feeding spasmodically in these trees. They were more skittish, flitting quickly on to the very top branches for some rapid pecking but, always watchful, flitting away again to higher nearby trees as people walked past along the pathway.

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Lovely dovey

18 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Mute swan, Roath Park, Roath Park Lake, swans mating

Spring was in the air at Roath Park Lake yesterday – or maybe in the water. First, I saw this – you might not believe me when I tell you there are two swans there!

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And breathe!

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And then it was all kissy wissy, smoochy woochy, lovey dovey!

Roath Park Bird Walk

15 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, parks

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Grey wagtail, Jay, Pied wagtail, Roath Park, Roath Park Lake, robin, Tufted duck

My imminent house-moving was getting to me today and, as I’m already about two-thirds packed with a week still to go, I allowed myself an afternoon off for a long walk around my local parks for a Nature fix.

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It always amazes me how many species of birds I can see in a walk around Roath Park Lake. Today it was 28: Carrion crow, Magpie, Jay, Robin, Dunnock, Lesser black-backed gull, Black-headed gull, Canada goose, Barnacle goose, Greylag goose, Mallard, Manky mallard and Aylesbury duck, Coot, Moorhen, Pochard, Tufted duck, Teal, Shoveler, Pied wagtail, Grey wagtail, Redwing, Song thrush, Cormorant, Mute swan, House sparrow, Feral pigeon and Woodpigeon (though purists might not count the Aylesbury duck, Manky mallards or Feral pigeons as extra species). Still, I think it’s an impressive total. These are just a very small selection of the photos I took …

Roath Brook

10 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in leaves, nature, parks, trees

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

autumn colours, bridge, brook, reflections, reflections in water, Roath Brook, Roath Park, stream

I’m moving house in a couple of weeks so I’ve started saying goodbye to some of my favourite local spots – not that I won’t ever see them again, as Roath Park will still be a short 30-minute train ride away, but now it’s just a 5-minute walk.

6 January 2017

I’ve taken lots of photographs of Roath Brook in the 17 months I’ve lived in this area, mostly from a similar angle, standing on one bridge and looking towards the other, ’cause it’s just such a lovely scene. Here are just a few of those shots, mostly taken in autumn and winter as the leaves obscure the scene in spring and summer.

24 September 2015

7 November 2015

31 December 2015, after heavy rain

9 November 2016

Fog

20 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by sconzani in nature, seasons, winter

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

fog, mist, Roath Lake, Roath Park, Roath Park Lake, winter weather

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I can see it coming. Rolling silently over the house roofs and tree tops from the south, where the sea lies, where the ocean roars. Slowly, gradually, the light grows dim, eerie, the sun’s rays weaker, unable to penetrate the gloom. Trees vanish, leaving mere ghostly outlines.

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Sounds become muffled but, at the same time, strangely amplified. Voices echo, seem nearby yet, in reality, are hundreds of metres distant. Footsteps tap, tap, tap. Spectral figures appear, pass quickly by, disappear once more. Birds fall silent as if afraid to pierce the silence with their squawks, tweets, chirps.

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Fog is everywhere, blanketing the lake, flowing along the brook, shrouding buildings, hovering over bushes, making branches droop, making hair frizz. Creeping tendrils wind their way through tree branches, wrap themselves around park benches, slither between railings. Fog makes throats choke and chests heave, and seeps into old bones.

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On Roath Lake, the light-less lighthouse needs a light today and a horn to warn.

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Autumn in Cardiff: Roath Park

13 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by sconzani in autumn, nature, parks, trees

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

autumn colour, autumn leaves, Cardiff, Roath Park

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We are having such a spectacular autumn here in Cardiff that I feel the need to share some of the stunning colour I’m seeing in my almost-daily walks in my local parks. I chose well when I found a flat across the road from Roath Park – or, at least, part of it, the recreation grounds, a large grassy area of playing fields. There are also pleasure gardens, a botanical and rose garden, a large lake, and an area called the wild gardens. The park contains a huge variety of trees, both native and exotic, so the colour at this time of year is just magical.

That other Naked Lady

13 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature

≈ 4 Comments

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Amaryllis belladonna, Autumn crocus, Belladonna lily, Colchium autumnale, Naked Ladies, Roath Park

When I posted last Friday on the Naked Ladies of Roath and Bute, my gardening friends were quick to point out that, as well as the Autumn crocus, Colchium autumnale, there is another flower that also has the common name Naked Lady … and here she is, Amaryllis belladonna, found flaunting her gorgeous pinkness outside the glasshouse at Roath Park on yesterday’s walk. Though a South African native, the Belladonna lily, as she’s also commonly called, can be found in gardens and parks throughout the world. Her large showy blooms appear in the autumn, with the narrow strap-shaped leaves following a little after the flowers.

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The Naked Ladies of Roath and Bute

09 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Autumn crocus, Bute Park, Colchium autumnale, Naked Boy, Naked Ladies, Roath Park, Son-of-the-father

My colleagues at my voluntary job raised their eyebrows and smirks appeared on a couple of faces when I said I was going to photograph Naked Ladies after work last Tuesday, but it was true. I’d seen some in Cardiff’s Roath Park the previous weekend and I wanted to see if they were also performing in Bute Park … and they were!

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Of course, I’m referring to the Autumn crocus, Colchium autumnale … what were you thinking?! As well as the common name Naked Ladies, they are also known as Naked boys and Sons-before-the-father because of their growth habit – they produce leaves in the springtime that die back over the summer and then flower, leafless, in the autumn. Their scientific name comes from Colchis, a place in Georgia from where they are believed to have originated, and they are not actually crosuses at all (crocuses are Iridiceae not Colchicaceae).

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Though many of the flowers I saw had been nibbled, presumably by squirrels or slugs, the colchicine chemical these Naked Ladies contain is extremely poisonous and many people have died over the years from mistaking the leaves for wild garlic. Look, admire, enjoy but don’t touch!