What's outside

henddraig · January 1, 2016, 11:36am

Thank you!!! And I can’t claim credit for the pictures, Janet took them. The ones from December 2012 were too out of focus to post, because we were trying to take them in no-time-flat, expecting instant flight if he noticed us!!
so:

Mwy hanes gwiwerod
I should explain that we soon realised that Wiwer was not of a nervous disposition! He would start to run up the garden if the door opened, then stop and look back. He had found that my then dog, a very timid elderly ‘field’ spaniel called Treacle, ran at the sight of him!! If he saw it was her coming out, he turned and ran back to carry on his meal!!
I began to worry about Wiwer’s diet. In fact all of them.
In the wild, round here, they live on the seeds in the cones of assorted conifers, and a few hazel nuts.. I guess fruit from rowan, raspberry, bramble..oh dear I should be putting all these yn Gymraeg.. I’ll put what worried me instead:

All of them were spotted doing acrobatics to eat the fat candle. These do contain seeds, but I wasn’t sure fat was good for them. Also, they nibbled peanuts and were very fond of ‘bird treats’, which are little bits of fat with this or that in them.
I tried. I really did,
We got a special feeder for squirrels, to put whole hazelnuts in, in their shells, suitable for burying for winter. Wiwer and family wanted nothing to to with that!!
I do hope that their disappearance had nothing to do with their diet!!
Last time we saw any of them, they all seemed healthy, happy and quite plump. Of course, we didn’t know it would be the last time, so didn’t take any “Hwyl Fawr!” pictures. The last one I have, that’s any good, is of Wiwer on the wall, just outside the kitchen window (ffenest y gegin) with the damage to his tail not visible.

Hwyl fawr, Wiwer bach!
(I know ‘gwiwer’ is a noun, feminine, but I am sure my Wiwer was, and I hope still is, Tad to his teulu fach!!

seren · January 1, 2016, 12:19pm

Thank you again for the rest of your lovely story! Well. I’m not sure about the diet of the squirrels, but I’m pretty sure wild animals know what is good for them and what is not! So probably if they wanted to eat the fat that was because they needed it.

pippapritchard · January 1, 2016, 1:29pm

Like @ramblingjohn I’ve read & heard that the titw’r Wern & the titw’r Helyg can only be told apart by their call. To avoid the problem of identification I have a friend who calls them Marlow tits! We could call them titw’r Welyg of course. Sounds quite convincing.

ramblingjohn · January 1, 2016, 10:29pm

I started the day thinking i would photograph the same tree around the first of each month through the year.

Derwen 01 January - Oak 01 mis Ionawr. (the light was not good this morning and i’m not pleased with the photo).

The birds did not get fed yesterday as i was in Oxford enjoying myself, thus they were a bit keen to see me this morning, and i couldn’t resit some more photo’s of the Nuthatch which i am getting rather fond of.

Delor y cnau - Nuthatch. (click on image for full size).

Delor y cnau. Hyd 14cm.
Mae ganddo gorff tew, cynffon fer, cefn llwydlas, bol orenbinc, bochau gwyn a llinell ddu trwy’r llygaid.
Gall dringo i fyny ac i lawr boncyffion coed, yn wahanol i’r cnocellod a’r dringwr bach (mae nhw’n mynd i fyny coed yn unig).
Defnyddia’r pig siâp cyllell i dynnu pryfed allan o risgl coeden neu fel morthwyl i agor mes y mae wedi eu rhoi mewn holltau yn y rhisgl.
Mae’r aderyn cyffredin iawn yng nghymru a Lloegr ond on brin yn ne’r Alban ac yn absennol o’r gogledd ac o Iwerddon.
Nytha mewn tyllau yn y coed ac fel rheol bydd yn rhoi mwd o amgylch y fynedfa er mwyn ei chael y maint perffaith.
Dodwy wyau rhwng dechrau Ebrill a chanol mis Mehefin, weithiau dwy nythaid, gyda 6 i 8 wyau Gwyn, gyda smotiau coch.

Nuthatch. Length 14cm.
It has a thick body, short tail, blue-gray back, belly orangpinc, white cheeks and black line through the eye.
It can climb up and down tree trunks, unlike woodpeckers and tree creepers (they only go up trees).
Use the knife-shaped beak to extract insects from tree bark or as a hammer to open acorns that have been put in crevices in the bark.
The bird is very common in England and Wales but on rare in the south of Scotland and is absent from the north and from Ireland.
Nests in holes in trees and normally puts mud around the entrance to form the perfect size.

Egg laying between early April and mid June, sometimes two broods, with 6 to 8 eggs White, with reddish spots.

Cheers J.P.

henddraig · January 2, 2016, 11:00am

I saw both a red and a grey squirrel on a trip through Hampshire and Sussex as a small child. I’d guess between 1944-1947. Nobody then, I think, knew about the pox virus. When Y Wiwerod Goch were seen no more, it was said the greys were more efficient, better breeders.. it is really quite recently that I started hearing that our poor gwiwerod gochion had been killed by a virus brought in by the greys and to which ours had no resistance.
Derwen 01 January
Like Andrei in War and Peace, we will see the tree become alive.. it is one of my favourite pieces of literature. I look forward to your picture of Tolstoy’s observations!! We have a very small oak in our gardd gwyll but I’d never have thought to take pictures of it!!

ramblingjohn · January 2, 2016, 1:10pm

I’m afraid it’s a similar story with the crayfish (curiously, the introduced species are now fighting for space in London drains).

Here we come to the problem that i am not well read, anyway perhaps your derwen bach is something to practice on with your camera and we could compare progress on here.
I’m hoping to include some of the things that live on oak as well, sort of whole tree plus macro images (time permitting), thus expanding on the little i did last year.

Today was wet again, so ducks in the rain.

Hwyaden Gopog gwrywaidd - Male Tufted duck.

Hwyaden Gopog benywaidd - Female Tufted duck.

Torthau’r Tylwyth teg - Sulpher tuft (direct translation of the Welsh 'the fairies loaves).

And it looks like i have found a slime mould

Edit: to add latest byd o Iolo avaiable now.

Cheers J.P.

ramblingjohn · January 2, 2016, 1:34pm

@Pippa, On the Oxford ramble i picked up a plant stem with something on it i was far from sure about. felly, dw i ddim yn gwybod beth ydy hyn - i don’t know what it is, and replace on the ground, meanwhile i was thinking ’ i have not answered the question, and i know i have seen it before but memory fails me.

This may be the answer, found on the internet.
Every day has the potential for something new that is still a bit of a mystery to science (as is the above photo), Bydda i’n drio dysgu mwy bob dydd - i will try to learn more every day.

Cheers J.P.

pippapritchard · January 2, 2016, 2:32pm

Da iawn ti. That looks like it, & interestingly it is called Hair Ice as I remember saying that if it was cold we’d have just thought it was frost on that stem. I’ll keep a look out. & hoorah for slime mould. I hope you’ll be photographing it every day! Mine is looking down in the dumps now. Shrinking & getting blacker each day.

& just to reassure you that I was taking notes, I was pleased to a) spot these ffwng clust yesterday & b) remember the name in Welsh & English - Jew’s ear.

ramblingjohn · January 2, 2016, 4:32pm

This made me remember another phenomenon where sometimes people would take the ice cube tray out of their fridge to find what looked like an ice hypodermic needle sticking up from the middle of a cube. Needless to say, since then someone has investigated and explained the process, re-creating it in a lab.

Made the school boy error of not marking the spot so will search tomorrow and hopefully carry on getting photo’s, a bit awkward as i shall soon be away for a few days.

Yours looks like it is near ripe, i think you could carefully snip of the stem supporting the upper group in your image and place in a sandwich box with the upper portion of stem resting on the top edge of box (hope that makes sense, and just leave it for a week by which time it will be hard and dry (though easy to crumble for a pile of spores).

Excellent ffwng clust photo, and i need to take note (or plain remmember) a lot more,
mae’r ffwng yn tyfu ar boncyff o hen pren ysgawen dw i’n meddwl - i think the jew’s ear is growing on the old wood trunk of Elder.

pippapritchard · January 2, 2016, 8:19pm

Thank you @ramblingjohn I’ll happily collect it tomorrow. I found another fresh blob today much closer to home so I’ll be keeping my eye on them both / y ddau ohonyn nhw.

dougewart · January 3, 2016, 10:12am

I know nothing about fungi, but found these when out along the river bank with the dogs. It was raining so I didn’t have my usual coat with a camera in the pocket so this was taken on my phone. The branch had probably been washed down and left well up the flood plane (the Tweed was up 20ft on Friday).Hope it is of interest and perhaps someone can tell me what it is. Diolch yn fawr.

henddraig · January 3, 2016, 10:56am

I like that name much better!!

I haven’t looked at our little oak this morning, but quite recently it still had its dead leaves. \if they are still there and if it isn’t raining and if I have the energy to climb up there with the camera, I’ll take its picture!! If it has lost its leaves, it isn’t going to change any time soon, so no hurry!!
p.s. You wouldn’t believe how much effort it takes to go anywhere now!

ramblingjohn · January 3, 2016, 12:01pm

I’m afraid i cannot say to much from the small photo, other than they have cap, stem and it looks like gills, what i can say is there are several fungi that specialise on growing on waterlogged wood, February is usually good for looking at branches lying in streams. thanks for the input.

The same can be seen around here, and conversely i see one Oak with a few new leaves emerging (funny old year).

Oh i can, when i go on a bus holiday with my mother.

It is still raining here so didn’t take long to get wet, didn’t spend long in the woods but will report back later with today’s idea!

Cheers J.P.

tatjana · January 3, 2016, 2:14pm

What’s outside?

A bit sirious and a bit for fun …

… a bird named Peter Prevc

(No enw Cymraig has he yet. )

owainlurch · January 3, 2016, 3:20pm

I remember my father finding quite a magnificent example of that in a bucket of water which had frozen over after a thunderstorm during a cold night. Really puzzled him until we managed to find out more about the phenomenon!

pippapritchard · January 3, 2016, 7:58pm

We had a break in the weather this afternoon so time to harvest slime #1 & see more.
I saw jelly:

Foam? Bad picture, but the tree was foaming!

Then this teeny weeny little pretty:

& I think this may be a puff ball??

ramblingjohn · January 3, 2016, 9:37pm

I’m wondering if you are going for the gentle build up to a surprise here @tatjana
Is it actually you.

Well i had only heard of it occurring on ice cubes so i learnt something today, many thanks.

@pippapritchard

Your jelly spots may be Exidia species.

There must be an explanation for the bubbles.

Your pretty fungus looks like a species of Crepidotus , white gills going brown fairly widely spaced.

Nice puff ball, when young they have those pimples/spines which will fall away as it matures.
May be the Coden fwg / snisyn ybwgan - common puff ball / Devils tobacco pouch.

Awful lot of rain here this morning, i was worried my slime mold may have washed away but some was still there.

Llysnafedd llwydni - Slime mold.

Being impatient i thought i might try a different way of maybe getting some slime molds by collecting some bark samples from dead oaks and will culture for a while in sandwich boxes to see what may appear.

Arbrawf - Experiment.
It is the wrong time of year really but plenty of things are appearing out of season.

Mwsogl - moss. (this looked nice but will need some time with a moss book to find species name).

Duegredyn cefngoch - Rustyback (a new fern to me).

Cheers J.P.

tatjana · January 3, 2016, 10:00pm

No, it’s not me, it’s Peter Prevc as I’ve said. Our Ski jumper who is flying like an eagle. A bit for fun because we never had ski jumper in this topic and he is outside, isn’t he, even high in the sky and he won the Ski Jumping competition today (again). … And yes, it is me posting, - hehe

henddraig · January 4, 2016, 11:03am

Ein ddweren fach ni, baban! (Our little oak, a baby!)
About ten years ago, Janet planted a tiny sapling in ein ardd gwyllt ni (our wild garden)

I tried to hold the camera still, but this is from the back door, which is rather a long way. I hope you can get an idea of size from the way the pampass in front dwarfs it! I will be able to get closer when the weather improves. This really did seem the best picture I managed to get!
To @tatjana Wonderful picture of your Ski jumper. I’d have got a complete blur!! I. at first, thought it might be your husband or son!!

tatjana · January 4, 2016, 1:17pm

Ummm … now to a bit of clarification here (hope it won’t disappoint you too much).

This was not my photo but that from the press. It was published on our news site 24ur.com on url: VIDEO: Janus pred našimi kamerami snel kapo pred zmagovitim Prevcem, Freund upa na pomoč sreče | 24ur.com (last picture in the article) but since these photos vanish so quick from the location they were and if there wouldn’t be it anymore this post would remain empty and the whole thing would be withiut any meaning and purpose. I could do screenshot though but I was bit too late. I also could clearify this earlier in the post also.

For the record, my own picture would be blurry too I believe, however Prevc just flies and flies, and flies so it’s like he would be frozen in the air … it might even work to do clear picture anyway.

Well, sorry, I just wanted to insert something different - a bit siriously and a bit for fun - as I’ve said but if post is not appropriate, then you can delete it (or ask me to delete it).