Well as ever the British will end up saying “it’s been a funny old year”.
A well attended butterfly meet in July and yes it was cloudy with occasional spells of sunshine and not hot, so we would not expect to see the special butterflies people had come in the hope of seeing, never the less it could always turn out to be a day of interest with potential surprises (true for any day).
Just to set the scene: for the last two autumns i have been looking for a fungus that i have seen in the past but failed to find it.
Remember today is July, so i was very surprised when i happened upon what may be interest to other people here, diddorol i bawb arall - interesting to other people!
What we actually have in the photo is two species of fungi - dau rhywogaeth o fwng.
The large one is the very common earth ball Scleroderma citrinum.
Growing around (from the same base) is Boletus parasiticus (much less common/ rare).
Note: from the Latin name the bolete has always been considered a parasite on the earth ball, but modern thinking/observation has called this description into doubt, some people are convinced the relationship is mutual (comensal).
One example of the joy for me that is modern cameras (i tell people it’s like having a new pair of eyes).
Tarianbryf - sheild bug (but which species, this caught my eye on an oak branch, and i have never seen a white sheild bug. when i got home and put the photo on a big screen i notice what i had not seen in the wild. To the right of the bug is the empty case it has just emerged from, like many things they have a kind of external skeleton which they shed as they grow and develop a new one, (or is it an albino!!!) need expert advice on this.
In another thread, some of us have been discussing why this month is called the end of summer in Cymraeg! I keep seeing the evidence and your autumnal fungi are just the latest examples.
Do you know anything about the number of young drudwy (starling) parents usually raise. We have only seen two adults, but we are starting to see more than four young. I said that I thought we are being used as a creche! Mam a Dad see all our feeders, especially the big fat candle, and drop off the kids here for the day!!
Oh, I didn’t eat those from the forest already for years. We grow Cnau collen in our garden and they’re not ripe yet. About end of July, beginning of August they’d be.
What’s outside in Slovenia right now?
Cymylau rhyfedd yn y bore …
Mellt yn y nos …
Dolydd gwyrdd ar fachlud haul …
Bioden blewog bach …
And some updates on our 3 youngsters …
Just a little more nad they’d fly. When they do we know they will leave soon and that Autumn is slowly creeping into our lands … Here they are, tri choegynnod … . .)
Until these, I was suffering hiraeth mawr for Gower, but the only goats we had were tame ones!!
To @tatjana Brilliant storm pictures and the young storks are really doing well!
Tarianbryf - shield bug. (Click on image for full size).
Just an update. i had sent a copy of this image for local knowledgeable persons opinion, i now have the reply that it was further sent on to another person, who then sent it to the Natural history museum, someone there did know its a final instar (last change of shell) sheild bug (not a rarity).
So, very interesting as no one in the chain knew they emerged (heb lliw - without colour).
What will i see in North Wales next week (could be interesting).
O’r diwedd - dim glaw
from bedroom looking north and a bit west
and:
at the back, the hill which forms our wild garden. There is a road there, but you cannot see it for trees, It’s about at the same level as the phone wire! (Where the bird is that I didn’t know I’d photographed!)
@ramblingjohn Only 4 days ago, I saw the first bee I’d seen this year!! Now I suspect this was because the nasturtiums had come out! My cerinthes are now out and the bumble bees are buzzing round happily, but oh, so late in the year! I saw one bumble with a white tail and found it mentioned on Google. Are these rare? I don’t see them often, if ever!
Well, I am noway an entomologist - in fact - if it’s possible - the reverse thereof!! I am learning a lot from you!!
For your (regular) size bumble bee there are three options.
Cacynen gyffredin - Buff tail bumble bee (which looks white to me) .
White tailed bumble bee.
Garden bumble bee.
Most of ours look buff. The one I saw, which I reported to you, was so noticeably different that I looked it up! It really was white!! (Well, its nether regons were!)
I learned something else. I had once seen Cerithe in a catalogue and planted some. I noticed how the bees loved it, so tend to plant it where I want pollinaton. This year wasn’t the same variety and I don’t like it as well, so I looked on Google for varieties and found Cerinthe = Honeywort!
I was surprised to see in Llyfr Adar Iolo Williams that the Spotted Flycatcher is a Gwybedog Mannog & the Pied Flycatcher is a Gwybedog Brith. In the details it says that alternative names are Gwybedwr Brith for the Spotted & Gwybedwr Du a Gwyn for the Pied. These alternatives make much more sense to me!
I have only seen one of those once (on Exmoor), so if you get a photo of one i won’t be jealous honest, i must say you seem to have a magnificent garden. enjoy.
The weather is still dull for July. so not a lot today - heddiw.
Britheg werdd - Dark green fritillary (this was the surprise, as i don’t remember seeing one of these in this area before (therefore it has been sent for a second opinion)).
Janet saw 9 on our bird table/feeders this morning. A neighbour has seen a flock of about 20, so drudwy have found mid-Argyll - or rather re-found as another neighbour, aged about 70, remembers seeing them when she was ‘wee’!! If we get to see 20, or even 10, I may get a picture!
