Eye-catching Insects (6): at Aberglasney

Signs of the season ... unidentified insects!

I would love to know what these are! Are they too furry for Hoverflies?

Eye-catching Insects (5): Pollen time

A busy bee at Aberglasney

I am wondering whether this might be a White-Tailed Bumblebee: you can see another photo here (& please click to enlarge) on David's blog.

Perhaps it is a Cuckoo Bumble ... a species without worker bees, that lays its eggs in the nest of other bumbles.

Beautiful Birds (25): Thrush - Mistle or Song?

I wonder if other people have difficulty in distinguishing between the Song thrush and the Mistle thrush! I see that the Song Thrush is now on the RSPB Red Conservation list.

These thrushes were enjoying the worms at Aberglasney. 

Flora (1): In and out the dusky bluebells

Bluebells and Wild Garlic at Aberglasney, the Garden Lost in Time ~ where wild and cultivated flowers blend

Those dusky, dusty bluebells again. We played the bluebell game in nursery school ~ did you?

• Current list of noted wild flowers, 2011

Toadstools and Mushrooms (1): Scarlet Elf Cup

I was looking out for Spring flowers as we walked around the gardens at Aberglasney last weekend ... and my eyes alighted on these curious red circles. I feel they have sprung right out of Wonderland, alongside the caterpillar with his hookah! Five carotenoid pigments are responsible for the stunning colour. 

I have come across these 'fruiting bodies' before, but have never known what they were - other than that they were examples of fungi. This time I was quite happy with my identification of 'Scarlet Elf Cup' aka 'Scarlet Cup Fungus', when I discovered on the Gower Wildlife blog that there are two almost identical saprobic species ... Sarcoscypha austriaca and Sarcoscypha coccinea. 

Slugs devour this fungus during the summer months, and rodents have been known to eat it during winter. I noticed a vole hole almost adjacent to one of the Elf Cups.

You can see a fine illustration here (if you click and scroll down a little) of the coccinea species, by the French pharmacist, Jean Louis Émile Boudier (1828 - 1920).

This shows the proximity of the stream

Kingdom: Fungi  |  Division: Ascomycota  |  Class: Pezizomycetes  |  Order: Pezizales  |
Family: Sarcoscyphaceae  |   Genus: Sarcoscypha   |   Species: S. coccinea / austriaca

Butterflies and Moths (9): a Small Turnaround Trend for the Small Tortoiseshell?

We have heard many reports of the decline in numbers of this beautiful butterfly, (though it may be making a small comeback - see this newspaper report); but judging by a report from North Wales (and here), we weren't alone in seeing (what for us were) record numbers this afternoon in the beautiful gardens at Aberglasney in Carmarthenshire.











Do let me know if you have also seen anything approaching 'swarm' proportions! It was a joy to behold. The Small Tortoiseshells were joined by a sprinkling of Peacocks, Red Admirals and Small Whites. On this note, my thanks to Brian of Devon and Cornwall Viewpoint in the Tamar Valley for informing me that his August observations correspond with my own. You can read Brian's post here.



My thanks to David Gill for taking these photographs for me (on account of my fractured arm...).

• Aberglasney, the official site for the Garden Lost in Time - we highly recommend a visit!
• The NEW garden at Aberglasney