Not in upland areas of moor and marsh. We certainly have them on Gower, in Yorkshire and here in Scotland.
1 Like
Good. I feared there are no Wild Blueberries around. It’s so cool to go and gather them. We once used to put them into bowl, sprinkle them with some sugar and pured a droplet or two of red wine on. Specific taste. I loved it. There just shouldn’t be too much wine though, really just some droplets of it.
If you’re from Cheshire Rachel you can find lots at Alderley Edge where I take my dog walking. Often see people armed with containers heading for the woods. Lots of blackberries too.
mellt = lightning
This is not my picture but picture of my friend shot in 90s previous century. The story behind this photo is quite exciting and interesting. He told me that if he wanted to do this photo he had to go on the roof of the apartment building where he lived at around 2 am when the storm was in full swing. He had to do quite amount of shots to get one perfect out of them though so that’s why I wanted you to see this photo. Oh, yes, and he added with a bit of a laugh that he was quite frightened aswell out of respect to the forces of nature.
Yup, it’s outside too besides animals, plants and what’s more to it.
The original photo you can (hopefully as he doesn’t have fully public profile) find on this link: Lightning by Robert Brežnik and here’s The whole FB post as published today by him however in Slovene
3 Likes
That mellt is really impressive (now can i do something similar in time (maybe)).
Copyn y gors - Swamp spider.
Slefren gylchog - common jellyfish. (on Harlech beach).
Ysgallen siarl - Carline thistle.
Crwbach haearn - iron prominent. (this was interesting as the welsh name translates as hunch back iron).
Cheers J.P.
4 Likes
I believe you can (if you do not fear powers of nature too much. I admit I am not sure I’d go out there in the middle of the night to do this, especially not on the top of the roof of some high building … 
Thanks Tatjana, i’m not concerned about going out when lightning is about, it’s more about if i can get the camera to work in the dark, think i would need a lot of night photography practice first.
I’m not just learning welsh names of wildlife, i’m also coming across new wildlife i didn’t know about.
Gwelchyn neu Taten fôr - heart urchin.
Also on Harlech beach, i just thought oh sea urchin (nice), but as it was not symmetrical as expected i had to look a bit further and find it’s something new to me.
The two images i hope show the difference on opposite sides, and it seems to have two welsh names.
Cheers J.P.
4 Likes
A small (and slightly out of focus) addition to this wonderful collection of photos, but it’s shows that ‘What’s outside’ can sometimes be immediately outside. 
I was just about to unlock my bike when I noticed this ladybird perched on the saddle - I’m guessing it must be a 22-spot ladybird
4 Likes
I came across this website when I was trying to identify a native plant that’s appeared in my garden that’s very popular with bees. The plant turns out to be Common Figwort, but this NBN website also gives synonyms such as Melyn a Gwanwyn, Dail Duon Bach, Gwenith y Gog etc, so it looks as if it could be a very useful source of names in Cymraeg
https://data.nbn.org.uk/Taxa/NBNSYS0000004078
(…apologies if someone’s already pointed this website out!)
3 Likes
Thanks for the input J.W., the link looks very interesting.
Glesyn cyffredin (gwrywaidd) - Common blue (male), second generation now emerging.
Llyffant y gwair cyffredin - common froghopper.
Siobyn (gwrywaidd) - the vapourer (male).
This species is interesting evolutionary as it is one of a few species where the females have virtually lost their wings and no longer expend energy flying, the caterpillar is rather striking as well. (hope to get photo’s some time).
Cheers J.P.
5 Likes
Dear John, next time you are going to post a pic of a large arachnid, please precede it with a warning for people like me who had nasty experiences with a foreign visitor knocking over their alarm clock when aged 11!! (Previously I rooted for spiders against flies, but since then…ugh!!)
1 Like
take good heart Draig, i have been asked the same elsewhere. (will try to remember).
When time permits i have still been going through my photo’s from Wales last week and have several i cannot identify (thus far) which is all part of the fun. it’s still helping my struggle with welsh language as well (as many things won’t translate clearly).
anyway on the 17th of this month i posted this photo of a moth and little bit about it’s history as a study species.
Gwyfyn brith - peppered moth.
I guess we can say this one is approximately half black/white.
Rather conveniently Wales produced just the examples i needed to expand on what was written.
Gwyfyn Brith - peppered moth,
This one unfortunately is old and faded (lost a lot of wing scales) but i hope it’s obvious that it would have been near totally black when fresh. This is the form that was common a hundred years ago especially in high industry areas.
Gwyfyn Brith - peppered moth.
This is a very light coloured individual which is much more the common to see now so much of polution has stopped and resting on dark surfaces is much less likely.
Now to the welsh name.
Brith - speckled, checking dictionary shows the word can be used to mean speckled.
But i remembered for spotted woodpecker ‘fraith’ was used. (is the one letter difference significant).
It appears not. B/fraith in the dictionary is speckled so the woodpecker is speckled in Welsh.
I also remembered ‘siglen fraith’ pied wagtail. (not speckled or spotted).
I came across (in dictionary) 'ceffyl brith ’ piebald horse.
I grew up with idea that pied = piebald = black and white, so here the welsh could directly translate to English.
Not sure this is useful but it’s the sort of question that hangs around in my head until i find such answers that prove welsh is flexible.
Cheers J.P.
3 Likes
- Diolch about my phobia!!
- I’m surprised there are still black speckled moths left!! I remember passing Manchester going north in late evening and noticing it was getting lighter because we were escaping the pollution. It’s not like that anywhere now, really, is it? Or is it still at Port Talbot?
Lili’r Dŵr: Water Lily
I can’t find the Cymraeg for ‘Lilypad’ so, ‘Water Lily’ will have to do.
Edit (9/9/2015): I found Lilypad in a Natur Cymru Documentary.
Deilen Lili - Literally Lily Leaf. (pl. Dail Lili)
Y Lili Fawr: Victoria Water Lily (Victoria amazonica and Victoria cruziana hybrid)
These Lilies are a hybrid of the two species with the largest Lily Pads. They are not native to Florida and must be cultivated. They get up to 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter. I have a fuzzy closeup of a flower inset in the corner. These pictures were taken at Bok Tower Gardens, a hidden gem about 20 minutes from me. It’s about an hour south of Disney World.
Fragrant Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)
These are native to Florida. I couldn’t get close enough to get a shot from directly above. The water here is about 5-6 feet deep.
5 Likes
When i walked around Port talbot it seemed fine to me.
As for the black form of Peppered moth, i assume the gene is still in it’s genome at a low rate and will appear occasionally as it would have done hundreds of years ago indicating there were always places where darker was safer. I have found little on colour genes for lepidoptera (unlike the banded snail) Gormod i dysgu a dim digon o amser. (to much to learn and not enough time).
Dw i’n tybio’n dda i dweud ‘drain lily dwr’ (not perfect but i didn’t find lily pad either).
Anyway, da iawn . water lili’s are not as impressive here.
Lili’r dwr felen. (water lily).
Not the best of photo’s but quite a moment.
Mursen fawr wych - Banded demoiselle assembling.
Llyffant dafadennog - Common toad (very young and small).
Cheers J.P.
5 Likes
Thanks for looking.
I tried to keep only indigenous species in our wild garden, but I love water lilies. Our pond is very small, so I got a dwarf one which is not native. I notice that there are white non-native ones on a loch near here, so do not feel so bad about my choice!! A pic may follow, but please do not hold breath as the rain is back after 2 dry days!!
Gwiber cudd - Adder hidden.
Yep to start with a poor photo (best yet) of this female adder which i have crept up on the last three mornings only for it to slip away as soon as my outline comes into view.
Gwas neidr llachar (gwrywaidd) - southern hawker (male).
Close up of head, wing roots and colour patern .
Ffesant (iar) gyda dau cyw - Pheasant (hen) with two chicks.
Amongst undergrowth it was not easy to get a photo.
Cerddinen/Criafolen gydag aeron - Rowan tree with berries.
Pryf hofran ar blodau’r pannog dywyll - Hover flies on dark mullein flower.
Tonight is a blue moon, now there is a challenge, moon over/beside any structure could be good.
Cheers J.P.
5 Likes
I’ve just realised one reason I never bothered to take a camera on walks!! My dogs ensured that any birds were in the air before I got close!! I’m afraid one of my Cavaliers actually killed and ate birds if she could get them before I stopped her! I was reminded by your pheasant of one who took off just in front of me, leaving about four chicks. Tish got one, Sammy virtuously ‘left’ them and Tricki chased one but lost it through a hedge. I had to forcibly remove Tish’s as she couldn’t swallow the feet, but it’s fate was sealed! I think she learned to catch birds by watching a cat, as she stalked exactly like one!! (Not that she had to stalk the poor pheasant chick!).
Afraid it’s a big problem on wildlife area’s, want people to enjoy the common land but ground nesting birds don’t stay.
Partial success.
For some time i have been seeing an insect (wasp imitator) which does not want to stop for a photo, today was the closest yet (bad photo) and gave me enough information i think for an ID, i’m thinking it is Tenthredo scrophulariae - the figwort sawfly - Llifbryf y gwrnerth.
The challenge now is to get a much better photo of one and the larvae which should be appearing soon.
Shaded broadbar moth (gwyfyn) sorry no welsh name but it is pretty.
Pryf sgorpion - scorpion fly, a much better image than earlier in the year.
Gwas neidr mewnfudwr - imigrant hawker.
Cheers J.P.
4 Likes