Suran Y coed - wood sorrel. cyffredin yn coedtir rwan.
Marddanhadlen wen - white dead nettle.
Cheers J.P.
Suran Y coed - wood sorrel. cyffredin yn coedtir rwan.
Marddanhadlen wen - white dead nettle.
Cheers J.P.
Diolch. We have these up the back, but I still haven’t got around to getting a camera and I’m not sure I can get up there nowadays!!
Sometimes i feel oh so lucky to wander willy nilly with not to much creaking in the joints (yet).
Last night was a late one with people around moth traps, this morning was an early one to see what came while we grabbed some sleep. (photo’s a bit dull due to no sun (i find using flash causes reflections often)).
Pryf teiliwr - Daddy long legs, note missing leg, the photo shows nicely the lack of hind wings which have evolved to be counter balancing halters over millennia.
Picwnen - Wasp. (yes all sorts appear in moth traps).
Carpiog porffor - Purple thorn.
Cheers J.P.
From a culinary point of view, is this the same as the sorrel i used to grow in my garden principally to make lovely soups?
Well i didn’t know the answer but on looking it up it would appear the two are a long way apart.
Your sorrel would i think of been Rumex acetosa.
The wood sorrel is Oxalis acetosella, apparently sometimes eater but rather bitter.
On a different note.
Pidyn y gog - cuckoo’s point, is now developing the sheath which surrounds it’s flower
these will soon be interestingly colourful.
Cheers J.P.
Many thanks for your research, J P. I’m guessing from the name that Oxalis acetosella contains Oxalic Acid so I’ll leave it out of my soups 'cos it’s mildly toxic
I don’t creak much, it’s my lungs that are shot!!
Daddy long legs
I thought these were Crane flies and that Daddy long legs were like spiders with no wings but very long legs! I was rather frightened of these as a kid when they battererd round my bedroom in the dark!! I didn’t mind the wingless long-legged ones!! When very small, I remember playing with spiders, but when about 11, a spider knocked over my alarm clock, waking me up. My memory has blanked exactly what I saw, but Dad thought it had come from the tropics. I still don’t like spiders and actually prefer the ones with wings!!!
They used to come in with the bananas sometimes didn’t they? Probably all different now, but back in the day, Elf and Safety wasn’t even a story by Enid Blyton.
The pleasure is mine, there is so much to learn (especially with plants) , it all adds to the interest.
Here we seem to be in coloquial names again, the spiders we called harvest men because we found so many in corn fields. on the net we can find daddy long legs fly and/or spider so quite which is right or wrong i’m not sure anyone knows.
They still do, but often now the ships holds are filled with an inert gas to control the bananas ripening time, so i guess insects would arrive dead.
Glesyn y celyn - Holly blue.
Cheers J.P.
I know it’s not native and not wild but I’m particularly chuffed with our magnolia. If I go back to the taxonomic name, I’d guess the Welsh would be something like “blodau fawr”
The bush peeking from the right is lilac “lelog” and in the background on the left is black lace elder *ysgawen les du"?
It’s outside, thanks for sharing.
Cheers J.P.
Cacynen cyffredin - buff tailed bumble bee.
Siglen fraith ar y nydd. - Pied wagtail on nest (against the roof atop lots of clutter in friends shed).
Coeden lawrgeirios - cherry laurel.
Cheers J.P.
Siff-Saff - Chiffchaff.
Gweirloyn brych - speckled wood.
Gwyn gwythiennau gwyrddion - Green veined white (think it’s going to take some time to remember the welsh name).
Lindys - caterpillar (this caterpillar is of the drinker moth for which i have yet to find a name yn cymraeg).
Copyn hela - Nursery web spider.
Click on images to enlarge (today was rather lucky outside).
Cheers J.P.
John, this photos are stunning. I heard a cuckoo today but have still not seen a swallow yet!
Thanks, i have heard but not seen one cuckoo. swallows are busy deciding where to nest so hopefully soon some images of interest.
Cheers J.P.
John, in past years we have seen the odd goldfinch on our feeder, but this year we have two coming regularly, Do you think they may be coming further north due to global warming? Oh, and do you know if the females are drab, which would mean both the bright ones are males!
Well, from memory the females are a little less colorful (but not much).
I wouldn’t be surprised if their range is moving north (but haven’t checked any data on that).
What i do seem to remember is they are one species that is doing well over recent years.
They have moved up onto the top 10 most common birds, at the expense of the green finch
who’s numbers have slumped some what over the same time span.
If i get near a bird survey/ringing group i may get a photo of both sexes for comparison,
thanks for another challenge. (her arall).
Cheers J.P.
Neidr Y gwair - Grass snake (oedd hi braidd yn hir - it was rather long).
Chwilen deigr werdd - Green tiger beetle.
Gwyn blaen oren benywaidd - orange tip female. (not a great image but will do for illustration of difference).
Gwyn blaen oren gwrywaidd - orange tip male.
(note the female does not have the orange tips, but has the green camouflage pattern under the wings the same as the male).
cuddliw - camouflage.
Cheers J.P.
Oh John, that’s so sad!! I used to have a load of green finches in my yard on Gower. We got some up here, but far less and I put it down to being so far north!! But we only saw one or two last year and maybe that’s because they are dying out. We see bull finches about as often as green finches, i.e. rarely!! Chaffinches? 50+ at a time!!!
p.s. On Gower, I saw some drab looking grass snakes, but also some that were bright green. At least, I presumed they were grass snakes!! Any comment?
Well for the moment i don’t envisage green finches disappearing but it is another mystery as to why their numbers have declined.
Grass snakes, as with so many things are variable in colour, i’m told that when getting ready to shed their skin, they often look very dark.
Gwennol - swallow (first attempt at photo, it’s high on a tv arial, i will certainly try to do better).
Llaeth y gaseg - Cuckoo flower.
Llaeth y gaseg - also known as Lady’s smock.
Tegeirian. sp - orchid species!
(Knowing little about most things and even less about plants, walking with a friend this morning produced something uncertain but interesting, the above spotted leaves were abundant in one small area and i was struck with curiosity as to their identity. So far the best match i can find is some species of Orchid (looking forward to flowering time).
rhywogaethau - species.
Cheers J.P.