Posted in Nature, Uncategorized, tagged mosses, Nature on April 25, 2014| 2 Comments »
Gold and green moss…
It has been a while now since I added to my moss identification project. But I have “found” a new one right in front of me, as I look through the kitchen window while washing up the dishes.
I noticed it when the sun shone on it one day after (more…)
Posted in Gardening, Nature, tagged Gardening, Nature, Spring on April 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Characterful old lion’s head beside a Cardiff street…
Cardiff is a very green city and alongside every street in the suburbs there are plants aplenty. These pictures were taken on a single long road a fortnight ago.
Of course the trees and shrubs have all moved on even more into spring since then… (more…)
Posted in Nature, Uncategorized on April 22, 2014| 2 Comments »
Neatly pecked eggshell…
My most viewed post in the last week has been, strangely, one from August 21, 2011, about an eggshell on the lawn.
I don’t know why that has become topical, but I do know a similar eggshell arrived outside our back door a week or two ago. One minute it wasn’t there and the next when I looked outside the door again, there it was. So these are (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged Cardiff, Nature, Spring, Trees on April 20, 2014| 6 Comments »
Llandaff Fields, Cardiff, on April 9, 1014 – horse chestnut…
On the way to visit the hornbeam I am following, I had to cross Llandaff Fields, in a different direction from previous visits. And as it was a glorious Spring day, I couldn’t help taking hundreds of pictures of OTHER trees.
There are enough here for (more…)
Posted in Garden shows, Gardening, tagged Bute, Cardiff, Gardening on April 17, 2014| 6 Comments »
A trio of metal bees for £17.50 from Patio and Terrace… http://www.patioandterrace.co.uk
On Sunday we went to the Cardiff RHS Flower Show in Bute Park. It was a glorious Spring day and it felt great to be out and about. In previous years (click here for 2012 and 2013) I took a lot of flower pictures, but this time I seem to have taken far more of the outside trade stalls.
First there were the insects… (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged hornbeam, Nature, Spring, Trees on April 11, 2014| 11 Comments »
Green leaves on the hornbeam
At last it seems like Spring – although there is still a slight nip in the air. I went for a wonderful morning walk in the fields to visit the hornbeam I have been following for Loose and Leafy.
The first time I visited, I walked across muddy rugby pitches; the second time I walked up along a steep main road; the third time I took a bus and it went the “wrong” way. This time I got it right, starting at a slightly different entrance to the fields and sticking to the footpaths.
I was relieved to find (more…)
Posted in Art & Design, Science, Uncategorized, Words, tagged Nature, science, shiny things, Words on April 8, 2014| 26 Comments »
Rainbow colours in a spider web caused by diffraction of light – from Earth Science Picture of the Day
Please indulge me while I share some shiny things with you.
I always get like this in Spring, when the sun grows stronger and nature has a certain sheen to it.
I think it’s a woman thing, a gatherer trait inherited from our Stone Age forebears, who must have spent their whole lives looking for bright, shiny berries to pick and eat.
And in many species it’s the male who displays and the female who appreciates it. Apparently not in humans, but diamonds are still a girl’s best friend. So here I am exploring both sparklies and more subtle lustres – as I look at the words iridescence, opalescence and pearlescence. (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged hornbeam, Nature, Spring, Trees on April 3, 2014| 18 Comments »
My hornbeam in late February…
I didn’t plan to post another Loose and Leafy tree following update so soon after the last, but I got the urge to go and visit my hornbeam again and the resulting pictures don’t warrant a major posting, so I will get it off my chest before moving on to a “proper” visit on another day.
I had been slightly worried that the tree might be felled, after spotting men with chainsaws on my last visit to Llandaff Fields… (more…)
The Squirrelbasket 