Bloody Nosed Beetle

We have been looking to see one of these for a long time.

Its a Bloody-nosed Beetle, when they are scared they squirt a bloody substance as a defence mechanism. I think this one liked me because he didn't squirt any blood. Find out more - http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/bloody-nosed-beetle

We explored this stream before stopping at the pub for a drink and bag of crisps.

Bank Holiday Walk

We went for a walk up the common and the first thing we saw was a horse scratching its bum on a barbed wire fence, it looked painful, he must have had a big itch.

We went looking for Lizards and eventually we found one, they are really difficult to see

We recorded the sightings on iSpot but my book must have been out of date because the scientific name i used was wrong. My book said it was called Lacerta vivipara but someone told me this had changed to Zootoca vivipara.

I also found some more bugs which i wasn't sure about and people on iSpot identified them for me.

Aphodius

Clausilia (Clausilia) bidentata

Silpha tristis

We had a break from bug hunting to have a picnic and so some rock climbing

After lunch we found this

Its a Green Tiger Beetle and it is a fast predator. The Tiger in its name doesn't come from its colour though it is named that because it is ferocious.

Lastly i crossed something off my list which i should have crossed off a long time ago because you can see it everywhere, you have probably got them in your garden.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Dawn Chorus Walk

We went out for a Dawn Chorus walk this morning and saw quite a lot of birds. Linnet, Yellowhammer, Raven, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Cole Tit, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Wren, Black Cap, Whitethroat.



We also found a couple of Beetles that i have never seen before. We used iSpot to identify them. You can put pictures on of what you have seen and experts will help you try and identify it. It is really good, you should take a look http://www.ispot.org.uk/

Anyway, we found a Bee Fly which i wrote about last year....

And a Black Oil Beetle, which looked blue in the sun. I have never seen them before but looked on the Buglife website and they are doing a survey on them so i filled out an observation form.

Learn more about oil beetles - http://www.buglife.org.uk/getinvolved/surveys/Oil+Beetle+Hunt

This is my Oil Beetle -

Then we found another beetle which had horns on it......

This is a Minotaur Beetle and was my favourite. The horns are for fighting with other beetles.

Find out more - http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/minotaur-beetle

Off the list was Beetle

Minotaur Beetle (Typhaeus typhoeus)

Parc Slip Reptile walk

We went to Parc Slip for a walk with Rose from the Wildlife Trust for South and West Wales. We have been trying to see an Adder for a while now and quite a few people have said that they would try and help us.

The walk around the reserve was good and the sun even came up by the time we finished. Rose showed us 5 Grass Snakes, one of them was huge, this was the first time i had seen them alive (i saw a dead one last year).

We found an Adders skin, when adders are growing the old skin comes off, its called slough. We took some home and had a look at it under the microscope

Adder skin under the microscope.

We saw quite a few small mammals, a common shrew a water shrew and a Bank Vole. A vole is on the list so that was my first tick of the day.

We were nearly at the end of the walk and we still hadn't seen an adder then Rose spotted this

It was my first ever Adder and i was surprised by how big it was. It was sitting on a bank warming up in the sun.

Off the list -

Bank Vole (Clethrionomys glareolus)
A small mammal with a blunt nose. Mostly active at night, eats buds fruits and seeds. Favourite food of birds of prey.

Adder (Vipera berus)
Also known as the viper. It is the only poisonous British snake. Its venom can cause swelling and fever but does not usually kill humans. If you get bitten by an adder you should go to hospital and maybe they will give you some anti venom. It sounds scary but adders are shy and try to keep away from people. They are active in night and day and like to eat voles, mice, lizards and frogs. One meal vole or mouse eaten by an adder means that it doesn't have to eat again for a week. It kills its prey with a bite from its fangs that inject venom. Baby adders are born live and once born they are independent, the mother doesn't look after them at all. Identification of an adder is by the black zig zag pattern down its back and a dark v shape on its head. Adders are cool.

After this we went to Rhoose point by Cardiff for a walk along the beach. We found some fossils in the cliff.

 

These fossils are Gryphea which are shellfish that used to live in the sea. They are also called devils toenails because they look a bit like a scabby toenail.

Glamorgan Heritage Coast Walk

We went out on a walk with the Glamorgan Heritage Coast Rangers. The walk was really fun and we learnt quite a lot. We saw our first orange tip butterfly and managed to tick another two plants off the list.

 On our way to the Heritage Coast Centre we saw our first Bluebells of the year.

The lanes were full of the yellow flowers of Lesser Cellandine.

 

 We saw wild cabbage which is quite rare in wales.

Three young ravens were sat in the nest waiting for their lunch.

It can be quite scary on top of the cliffs, especially when it is windy.

 

The Rangers pointed out lots of wildlife and i managed to see two plants from the list.

Scrophularia nodosa - Figwort

The flowers for this plant grow on square stems.

 

 Gromwell is mentioned in the book but it doesn't say which type, there are more than one. This is the first type of gromwell i have seen, its purple gromwell and is very rare, especially in wales.

Lithospermum purpuro-caeruleum - Purple Gromwel

River

Went to the river this morning to check if the Brook Lamprey had started spawning. There was no sign of Lamprey but i did pick out some fresh otter tracks and quite a few spraints, looks like Mr Otter has been busy.....

A pile of sand with a spraint (poo) in the middle. The spraint does smell of hay meadow, i know because i smelled it. You can also see where the otter scratched the sand.

Here you can see the otter print, you can just make out its five toes.

Another spraint point on a rock. Otters like to poo on rocks because this is how they mark their territory, Pooing on a rock makes sure the smelly poo doesn't get washed away by the river.

Another fresh spraint point, you can see the otter has scrapped the sand into a pile then pooed on top.

Another spraint, experts look through the spraint and can identify what the otter has been eating by the types of bone found in the poo.


Then i had a surprise, I found a pool with a plant called Starwort in it and guess what, Starwort is on the list. Off the list -

Callitriche stagnalis - Common Water Star Wort

Camoflague

Insects are cool but the problem is that everything eats them. If you are going to be an insect and survive you need to be able to hide. This is Lesley my Leaf Insect, she really does look like a leaf. She has the perfect camoflague. Leaf insects are not found in thw wild in Britain. They live in tropical forests around the world.