Nature with Nev

I found out some interesting news today. The Thekla Lark has seen its name changed slightly, and rightly so, to Thekla's Lark. although the name change is too late for books which have printed, the Collins Guide have now changed the name on their app. The Thekla Lark is a bird of scrub land, rugged hillsides, mountain areas and even lowland areas in Europe, with a healthy population in both Spain and Mallorca where I have been watching them for many years, and enjoying their antics. For example, the below individual I photographed back in September in Malaga, and it delighted in hiding behind a rock, poking its head out now and then before gaining some confidence and coming out into the open.  Great fun to watch.   Pictures copyright Neville Davies.  

Ganoderma fungus. Saturday 24th November turned out to be a miserable day, so I decided against going down to the coast, and instead took a few hours stroll around the woodlands of Draethen (near Caerphilly). Despite the drizzle, the rain on the last of the canopy leaves made a nice sound and the air smelt nice. Besides it was nice to be out and about looking for fungi. In abundance was Ganoderma which is also known as 'artists fungus' due to it resembling an artists paint easel. Elsewhere I found the usual Candle Snuff fungus and patches of Turkey Tail (so called because the shape of this bracket fungus resembles the tail of a Turkey). I passed several groups of Birch Polypore which as the name suggests grows along the fallen trunks of Birch. This is also a fungus that goes by the name of 'razor strop fungus', as when it matured in times gone past, barbers used to sharpen their razors on the tough flesh. Groups of grey Clouded Agaric protruded through the golden b...

HOW TO IDENTIFY BIRDS CONFIDENTLY!   Saturday 8th December Join author and bird expert Neville Davies on this one day workshop, learning how to identify the birds, what makes a bird, identifying calls, bird signs and much more. We will start by looking at bird feathers, flight, beaks, skulls, feet and eggs and their different uses. Artefacts will be brought along for you to see and hold.  You will learn skills to narrow down the bird you are looking at by use of field guides and clues such as wing bars, eye stripes, colours etc, and importantly, how to eliminate species to the one you are actually looking at. There will be a power point presentation and a question and answer session. We will break for lunch provided by The Three Pools  staff followed by an afternoon in beautiful habitats where we will put our ID skills into practice and also learn the different calls. We will also have the chance of looking at bird signs such as pellets, feather remains, wood ...

One evening this week I arrived home and there was a moth flying around the outside light. It was a particularly cold evening and it surprised me that a moth would be out and about. I managed to get a photo and identified it as a Silver Y. I was surprised to learn that this is actually a migrant species, arriving in great numbers from the Continent in spring and late summer. I found reference to one Entomologist from Essex who caught 7,398 Silver Y attracted to his moth light in a single night. The early migrants give rise to a second generation in the autumn so I am assuming this is one of those? Neither the moths or their caterpillars will survive the British winter, and the first frosts can start to finish them off. What I liked about this species is the characteristic 'y' on the fore wing which can be read either as a Y or the Greek letter gamma (y). At 3.5 -5cm, this small but active moth feeds on the flowers of Clover, Teasel, Buddlea, Heather and Valerian. It certa...

A multitude of birds. Dawn at Goldcliff today was overcast with light drizzle, but I was determined to make the most of it. There was plenty of bird activity and I soon clocked up Crows, Blue Tits, Jackdaws, Wrens, Chaffinches, Blackbirds, Robin, Magpies and a distant Pheasant. A group of Canada Geese flew off as I approached the first hide, and masses of Redwings and Fieldfares adjourned the Hawthorn bushes. A flock of Starlings flew past as did 3 Stock Doves as I walked into the first hide. The first lagoon was quiet save for several Herring Gulls, Mallards and 2 Grey Herons, so I made my way to the next hide, stopping to watch 8 Moorhens, 33 Greylag Geese and numerous Woodpigeons along the way. A strange call from the top end of the reen caught my attention, and I listened to it for some time but the bird would not show. I played the sounds of different crake species on my phone and narrowed the call down to what I had suspected - Spotted Crake. Unfortunately the bird did not...

During a recent walk around the Llangattock area, I took in the beautiful Craig-y-Cilau Nature Reserve, which follows a Limestone escarpment that leads into a wooded area. As I walked along I enjoyed listening to Ravens and Buzzards, and on the escarpment I could make out Aspen and the rare Whitebeam which I had studied closer earlier in the year. However, along the section where I follow a stream downhill, I noticed a bright red colouration to some of the rocks in the water, and upon closer inspection I could see it was a type of algae. The colour really stood out, so I took some photographs to study in my books later at home. I was pleased o find that this was a species of algae called 'Hildenbrandia Rivularis.  Hildenbrandia is a genus of thalloid red alga which comprises twenty six different species. The slow-growing, non-mineralized thalli take a crustose form. It grows at its margins, away from the centre, and is able to quickly repair any gaps arising by regenerati...

Nature with Nev also has two Twitter sites which also show a host of pictures gathered both locally and further afield, covering a whole range of flora and fauna. These sites can be viewed at:    @naturewithnev   and  @ecology_cymru

Hello and welcome to my new blog site ' Nature with Nev '. I will be adding posts covering birds, wildlife, plants, fungi and other things associated with nature including news and views. I hope you enjoy reading my blogs.  Juvenile Short-toed Eagle, Malaga, September 2018 Copyright Neville Davies.