What's outside

Another good series with Iolo.

http://www.s4c.cymru/clic/e_level2.shtml?programme_id=339439484

Heddiw, dydy tywydd ddim yn gwycg - today the weather was not great.

Cleiswyfyn Brown - Brown china mark.

Glesyn cyffredin benywaidd - female common blue (lucky to see this on a flower with lack of sunshine she would not open her wings).

Rhosyn gwyllt - dog rose.

Cheers J.P.

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Is this a repeat? @siaronjames? It didn’t seem well advertised and new series tend to be. The wild life in cities was. Mind, I think I saw an advert for the one on the Arctic the other day and if that is about to be on, it’s a repeat!

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@henddraig I don’t know - it’s not one of ours, so I can’t check the paperwork! :slight_smile:

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While I’m here…
Some cheeky goings-on outside my kitchen window at night. Moths of course have no concept of double glazing - talk about full-frontal! :joy:

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Heddiw, wnes i mynd Rhydychen - Today i went to Oxford.

Cribell felen - Yellow rattle.

Garlleg - Garlic.

Syndod o’r dydd - surprise of the day, chicken of the woods fungus.

Rhawn y gaseg - Mare’s tail.

Cheers J.P.

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I was interested to see your photo of Garlleg as I noticed what appeared to me to be two different varieties of the plant on the river bank (River Tweed). One version (in the background) came into flower about two weeks before these, which I think are Craf y Geifr (Ramsons or Broad leaved garlic). What, if any, is the connection with goats (Geifr)?

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What a mixture of emotions your pictures roused! Rattle, not seen for years, maybe last noticed in York in the 50s! (My lack of observation, not, I think, disappearance of rattle!). Garlic, so pretty and I always liked the smell and was cross with the neighbour who tried to kill off the plants within sight, across three fields, of her home. The really sad thing was that, although the garlic bulbs survived and thrived, she effectively exterminated the primroses! So there I am cheering on garlic and primroses when, ugh!!! We hate Rhawn y gaseg, Mare’s tail, they get everywhere here and tend to shred your fingers unless you wear strong gloves while weeding!
Note difference between us - I would never have considered taking pictures of ‘weeds’ to put on line! But then I’m not a proper naturalist! (I only remember the rattle because we had a project in school to collect and press as many different wild flowers as possible. I won, but clearly never learned their true value!)

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I’m starting to wonder now whether this might be one of the other horsetails (and perhaps more specialised in its requirements?) - it does seem somewhat different in form and a bit higher (about 2ft @ramblingjohn?) than the marestail that was such a pestilential weed years ago in my parents’ garden before they moved (not because of the marestail, but the fact that they’d left it behind was a continual source of rejoicing!).
The RHS says about marestail: The creeping rhizomes of this pernicious plant may go down as deep as 2m (7ft) below the surface, making them hard to remove by digging out (something of an understatement!!).

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Ours are nowhere near as tall as that! Mind, to be fair, I don’t look for them in our wild garden and in the ‘tame’ part, no mare’s tail survives to grow tall, the roots… ugh!!! Cut through with sharp implement, no doubt encouraging spread, like dreaded Japanese knotweed (last seen and glad to be rid of on Gower!)! Mmm… I understand how your folks felt John, about mare’s tails!

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could be worse - fossils (indeed some found in Brymbo near Wrexham) prove that in prehistoric eras horsetails and marestails grew as big as trees!

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Yes, i was using a generic name !!! There is a patch near me (in very wet ground) that grow well over a metre high. (a google search tells me there are 29 known species).
I’m still at a bit of a loss to identify those big spiky leaves we saw yesterday (thistle, artichoke, they look in between).

Yes, i find it an interesting thought that our mare’s/horse tails ancestors were eaten by dinosaurs.

Quote: What, if any, is the connection with goats (Geifr)?
Well i find from the internet that garlic is fed to goats as a way of keeping their internals free of parasites !
The bear is in garlic’s Latin name apparently because bears dig them up to eat the bulbs.
One little walk can prompt so many questions, where will SSIW take us next.
Thanks for all photo’s, comments and interest.

Cheers J.P.

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We are finally having some beautiful weather here! The flowers on my lilac are dying, but this little friend has been visiting. These aren’t the best, but he moves around too fast! I don’t have an identification, sorry - other than pili-pala!

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A lot of people feed garlic to horses and ponies. It has a reputation for being a good fly repellant when fed, and an anthelmintic. I wonder if a goat would actively seek garlic out to eat it (their reputation would say so). Horses generally don’t have access to it on ‘managed’ pasture, so I don’t know if they would. We used to see lots of it when we went swimming in a local natural pool. I miss it!

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Easter tiger swallowtail is the best match i can find.
Britain has only one swallowtail species left in a very small area of east anglia (i have never seen one).

Oh, and camera’s ready folks, we are actually forecast an improvement in the weather this week.

Cheers J.P.

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Happenings here today. Digwyddiadau yma heddiw.

Titw Tomos Las yn aros am ei fam. Blue tit waiting for his mum. He came out at one point but quickly went back in again.

A swarm of bees. Haid o wenyn. This appeared yesterday. It will be interesting to see how long they stay.

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Diolch yn fawr iawn for the id, J.P. I did a bit of Googling and here is what I found -

Mae’r “Eastern Tiger Swallowtail” yn gyffredin yn America ble dw i’n byw. Mae glas ar eu cynffonau nhw gyda’r fenywod, ond dim y bengwrywiaid, Maen nhw’n hedfan yn uchel, a dw i wedi gweld hyn. Wnes i weld llawer o luniau yn eu dangos nhw ar blodau lelog. Maen nhw’n byw dim ond tua ddwy wythnos. Bydda i’n eu joio gweld nhw mwy, yn gwybod bod bywydau mor fyr gyda nhw.

Translation of my Welsh (which is likely full of grammatical errors!): The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is common in America where I live. The females have blue on their tails, but not the males. They fly high, and I have seen this. I saw many pictures showing them on lilac flowers. They live only about two weeks. I will enjoy seeing them more, knowing that they have such short lives.

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Gorgeous! Was that picture pure luck, or were you waiting ages, hoping! :sunny:

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Taken on today’s walk ar lan yr afon: Croeslys (Crosswort)

Llysiau’r cwlwm (Comfrey)

and some very shiny beetles on Dail tafol (Dock). I think they’re eating it … but may be doing something completely different.

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Thank you @henddraig. I’ve been keeping an eye on the box & watching the parents back & forth feeding. I was drawn to it yesterday by lots of twittering so guessed that something was going on. I think they must have fledged though because nothing happening there today.

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Possibly Gastrophysa viridula Look on underside of leaves for groups of yellow eggs.

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dau glesyn gyffredin gyda’i gilydd - two common blues together.

Mursen fawr goch (gwrywaidd) - large red damselfly (male).


Picellwr tinddu (benywaidd) - black tailed skimmer (female).

Cheers J.P.

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