• ABOUT
  • BIRDING 2018
  • Birding 2019
  • BLOG POSTS
  • Butterflies 2018
  • Resources

earthstar

~ a celebration of nature

earthstar

Tag Archives: Zigzag path

320/366 Zigzag flowers

15 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

autumn colour, British wildflowers, Penarth zigzag path, wildflowers in bloom, Zigzag path, Zigzag path wildflowers

I haven’t checked what’s flowering along the local zigzag path for a while so I thought I’d take a look for this week’s Sunday wildflower post and #wildflowerhour on social media. Imagine my delight when I found these 14 species: Ragwort, Cinquefoil (a nice surprise), Creeping thistle, Hedge bindweed, Meadow crane’s-bill (which is doing really well since the Council stopped cutting the vegetation on this site), Common vetch, Red clover, Bramble species, Herb Robert, Field scabious, Tufted vetch (nice to see the two vetches in bloom), Winter helleborine (another nice, unexpectedly early surprise) [ed. heliotrope, not helleborine – thanks, Vicky!], Black medick, and Meadow buttercup.

201115 1 ragwort
201115 2 cinquefoil
201115 3 creeping thistle
201115 4 hedge bindweed
201115 5 meadow crane's-bill
201115 6 common vetch
201115 7 red clover
201115 8 bramble
201115 9 herb robert
201115 10 field scabious
201115 11 tufted vetch
201115 12 winter helleborine
201115 13 black medick
201115 14 meadow buttercup

Like this:

Like Loading...

The zigzag winter 10

09 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers, winter

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#WildflowerHour, #winter10, British wildflowers, Penarth, wildflowers, wildflowers blooming in winter, winter flowers, Zigzag path

I’ve blogged previously about the wildflower and invertebrate delights of the local zigzag path that leads from Penarth down the cliffs to Penarth Marina. It’s a path I walk at least once a week so, during Friday’s wander, I decided to see what wildflowers were still in bloom there for this week’s Wildflowerhour and its Winter 10 challenge. And here they are …

181209 bramble
181209 common ragwort
181209 daisy
181209 groundsel
181209 knapweed
181209 mallow sp maybe
181209 sow thistle
181209 thistle
181209 white clover
181209 yarrow

Like this:

Like Loading...

Zigzag wildflowers

19 Friday Oct 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#FloralFriday, autumn colour, British flora, British native flowers, British wildflower, Penarth, Penarth zigzag path, Zigzag path

Back in June, I wrote a blog post about the insects I’d found when out walking along one of my local trails, the zigzag path that runs down to the marina from upper Penarth. I was critical in that blog of the man-made wildflower patch I’d found, a rectangular area adjacent to the path, where perfectly good local wildflowers had been ploughed up and the area sown with some artificial wildflower mix.

181019 yellow flowers (1)
181019 yellow flowers (2)
181019 yellow flowers (3)
181019 yellow flowers (4)
181019 yellow flowers (6)
181019 yellow flowers (5)

I had some contact following that post with the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Parks and Open Spaces Officer, who was pleased to learn the insects were doing well on the site and said he was ‘surprised if they [the landscape team] didn’t try and use native wildflowers. Hopefully they will spread out and add to the seed-bank all over the site in time.’ I haven’t had the heart to tell him that Council operatives strimmed that wildflower patch a couple of months later, before the plants had even had time to flower, let along spread their seed. What an incredible waste of money that planting scheme was!

181019 zigzag wildflowers (1)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (2)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (9)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (8)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (3)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (7)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (15)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (13)

Luckily, the Council operatives haven’t yet strimmed or mown the rest of the vegetation growing alongside the path, and the steep banks have been awash with wonderful colour over the summer months. Even as recently as this Wednesday, when I decided to photograph all the different flower species I could find, there was still a lovely variety as you can see.

181019 zigzag wildflowers (4)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (5)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (18)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (10)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (17)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (6)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (16)
181019 zigzag wildflowers (11)

 

Like this:

Like Loading...

Insects of the zigzag path

23 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, walks, wildflowers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

#30DaysWild, British butterflies, British insects, flowers for pollinators, National Insect Week, Penarth, wildflowers, Zigzag path

180623 zigzag insects (1)

For day 23 of #30DaysWild, as it’s National Insect Week, I went seeking insects along one my local trails, the zigzag path that runs from upper Penarth down to the marina. This was once a heavily wooded hillside but now has a concrete path that gives pedestrians and cyclists easy access up and down the steep hill. Of course, people sometimes want a more direct route and you can see that the frequent stomping of feet has worn alternate paths down the hillside.

180623 zigzag path

Though it looks quite grassy in this photo from a couple of weeks ago, the hillside is now a mass of self-sown native wildflowers and today it was alive with insects, from bees and hoverflies to butterflies, beetles and damselflies. This is a perfect site for wildflowers to grow – it is steep so difficult and presumably expensive to mow, and its steepness means it can’t be safely used by children playing (though, with a covering of snow, it is perfect for sledging!).

180623 zigzag insects (2)
180623 zigzag insects (3)
180623 zigzag insects (4)
180623 zigzag insects (5)

Though the local council usually strim this slope to death, utterly destroying the wildflowers and the wildlife, they have recently – and rather ironically – ploughed up a small flat area and dumped upon it soil seeded with wildflowers. That might sound hopeful, a positive action, but the ploughed area has not been maintained and, though I may be wrong, I doubt whether the wildflowers were locally sourced. I wonder too why the council would go to the expense of ploughing up perfectly good local wildflowers to plant others – do they think wildflowers should only be of the type they prescribe and only grow within a prescribed rectangular area? Surely they misunderstand the very essence of WILDflowers.

180623 zigzag insects (6)
180623 zigzag insects (7)
180623 zigzag insects (8)
180623 zigzag insects (9)

This blog post, then, is partly a celebration of the amazing variety of insects that enjoy the wildflowers that grow naturally around the zigzag path and partly a plea to the council not to kill those wildflowers and their pollinators but instead to celebrate and foster this wonderfully biodiverse area of Penarth.

180623 zigzag insects (10)
180623 zigzag insects (11)
180623 zigzag insects (12)
180623 zigzag insects (13)
180623 zigzag insects (14)
180623 zigzag insects (15)

Like this:

Like Loading...

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.

View Full Profile →

Follow earthstar on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Recent blog posts

  • Shieldbugs on gorse April 22, 2021
  • The blues are back April 21, 2021
  • Bonaparte’s gull April 20, 2021
  • Small but feisty April 19, 2021
  • Wild in the woodland April 18, 2021

From the archives

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

COPYRIGHT

Unless otherwise acknowledged, the text and photographs on this blog are my own and are subject to international copyright. Nothing may be downloaded or copied without my permission.

Click on the category

'Dedicated Naturalist' Project 365DaysWildin2019 amphibian animals autumn birds coastal fauna flowers fungi geology insects ladybird leaves lichen mammal molluscs nature nature photography parks plants reptiles seaside seasons spiders spring trees walks weather wildflowers winter

Fellow Earth Stars!

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    <span>%d</span> bloggers like this: