I worked in a building next to the Surgeons and marked by the Physicians, as both were on our Council ‘The Staff of Hippocrates’ is actually
The Rod of Asclepius by whom, with Apollo, the Hippocratic oath was (is) sworn! The enclosed pic is the simplest version. Some of the fancier versions are much more like your slow worm!
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Wonderful photo here via this Twitter link from Oxford’s Wytham Wood of firecrest while being held in hand for recording purposes: https://twitter.com/biotweeps
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not lots of things appear on a wet day, except on amphibian.
Nid llawer o bethau yn ymddangos ar ddiwrnod gwlyb, ac eithrio un amffibiad.
Llyffant dafadennog - Common toad.
Cheers J.P.
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Oh, John, it’s such a beauty!
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To be honest, @seren, I do think you see him through rose coloured spectacles. Toads are not the prettiest of creatures!! It’s the ‘warty’ nature of their skin which somehow makes them less endearing than, say, frogs!!
I personally like this wartiness very much:) And toads always look very serious and self-confident, which makes them even more fascinating for me.
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Copyn alert (this post may contain critters with eight legs).
Brych y gro - Alder fly.
Cap niwl - Clouded agaric.
Copyn hela - Nursery web spider.
Copyn cranc - Crab spider s.p.
Dalen arian - silverweed.
Picwnen - common wasp.
Mursen las gyffredin (benywaidd) - (female) common blue damselfly.
dau llyffant y gwair coch a du - two froghoppers s.p.
Glwyn blaen oren (gwrywaidd) - (male) orange tip.
Pryf hofran - hover fly (Leucozona lucorum) no English or Welsh name.
Gwibiwr brith - Grizzled skipper.
A rather good day.
Cheers J.P.
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Too pretty to be scary!! But
a nasty, angry looking, pry cop!!!
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Taith gerdded fer heddiw darparu rhai creaduriaid diddorol. - A short ramble today provided some interesting creatures.
Melyn brych (oddi uchod) - speckled yellow (from above).
Melyn brych sydd yn (sy’n) bwydo ar blodau afal - Speckled yellow which is feeding on apple blossom. (rather pleased with this unusual view).
Lindys ar dail bedwen arian - caterpillar on leaf of silver birch.
I suspect this is the larvae of a (Llifbryf y fedwen - Birch sawfly) but cannot be certain.
Mursen fawr dywyll benywaidd - female beautiful demoiselle.
Mursen fawr dywyll gwrywaidd - male beautiful demoiselle.
(lucky ramble).
Cheers J.P.
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Waw, looks like you have had a good couple of days. Great pictures as ever & certainly some creatures in there that I have never knowingly come across before. May your good luck continue!
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John - not only are you lucky in finding the critters and plants you photograph, but you also are very observant to even see them - some of the smaller ones especially!
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Totally agree!! I would never notice the little ones!
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It’s very kind of you to say so, but there is always the problem of wondering what i missed.
Lycogala terrestre (a slime mold).
Gweirloyn bach y waun - small heath.
Mefus gwyllt sy’n blodauo - Wild strawberries which are flowering.
Telor yr helyg - Willow warbler (i think, they are difficult to tell from some other warblers but the song sounded right).
Edit: further discusion suggests this may be a (Llwdfron - Whitethroat). (need a better photo and record the song).
Gwybedyn Mai - Mayfly s.p.
Glesyn y celyn - Holly blue.
Cheers J.P.
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Another fine day out there then! When I saw your bird, I thought it might be a whitethroat.
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I came across these visitors in the house this morning.
It didn’t end well. I spent a long time cleaning up! The plant has probably survived but the pot didn’t.
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Many thanks @pippapritchard, i have added an edit to the post.
I found a recording of the song on the internet which (working from memory) seemed to match,
i was with a group of bird people at one time last weekend and this very subject was being discussed by them.
Now more importantly, i suggest you shut your door when you go out, those ducks are looking for somewhere to nest, or did they smell your cooking.
Cheers J.P.
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Interesting. We have lots of wild strawberries in our yard, and we also grow “tame” ones in a raised bed. The ones in the raised bed have white blossoms like that, but the wild ones all have yellow blossoms.
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Does anyone know of a good website for identifying flying insects? Yesterday I was out walking on the coastal path near Cwmtydu, Ceredigion, with a group of people led by a man who knows a lot about flora and fauna in the area. At one place there were hundreds of a strange flying insect that I’ve never seen before. I asked Howard, the leader, and he said he’d never seen it before either!
Then today I spotted one in my garden. I knew it would be gone by the time I came inside to get my camera so I tried to observe it closely and memorise its features. It was about twice the size of a normal housefly but with similar wings, very black, with a thin dragonfly type abdomen that didn’t protrude very far from under the wings, and the most notable feature is that when it flies it has long back legs dangling down below it.
Any ideas? And any website where I could look for it? I’ve tried googling but not found anything.
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@ramblingjohn is your man for this one. I only know one fly with dangly legs & that is the St Mark’s Fly (gwybedyn Sant Marc). There are probably more but a Google of this one may lead you to similar / familiar species until JP gets here!
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That’s very interesting as it is one of so many things i didn’t know.
It only needs one gene difference for a colour change but that may not be the whole explanation.
Ask @pippapritchard, she continues to amaze me .
and yes i agree.
St Mark’s fly is certainly about at the moment (It may be one of these i photographed on a rock the day we walked towards Conwy (two weeks ago).
Cheers J.P.
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