It's 'smart Jackdaw sheltering under the eaves' weather here today!

A 6 Wheatear day is always a good day! These were from a walk around just half of Cardiff Bay this morning - 4 together on the Barrage end of the Ely embankment, & 2 together near Gloworks.

Other Bay birds from this morning's walk: still a few young Great crested grebes about; and 3, possibly 4 Common sandpipers: 2 flew together up the Ely, 1 foraged along the embankment near the Wheatears, then on my return walk 1 sat with Goosanders near the sailing centre

I've spent quite a lot of time recently looking at Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), searching for leafmines, so for this week's #WildflowerHour #fruits challenge, I decided to focus on this one plant. It can look quite blah in summer but really comes into its own in the autumn.

This just gets better ... An email this morning through the iRecord system from Gavin Broad of NHM: 'The mummy was indeed caused by an Aleiodes. However, the wasp which emerged is a Gelis sp. (probably Gelis areator), which has parasitized the Aleiodes.'

A wildlife-filled walk today ... Let's start with these two stunning creatures, enjoying the sunshine in a fenced off area, hopefully safe from the gazillion local dogs. First foxes I've seen this year. 🦊🦊💚

At Cosmeston's outer tree plantation I bumped into fellow birder Wendy, who'd seen a Whinchat, Stonechat & Redstart. But, as we watched, more birds kept appearing. Final total = 4 Whinchat, 2 Redstart, plus lots of local species. Distant for my camera but magic to see!

Moth-ers, do these look like moth eggs? On Melilot. Seems an odd place to lay eggs as the plant had virtually no leaves left on it so I'm not sure what the larvae are going to eat.

Today, before the rain: one of the many Red admirals currently migrating had paused to refuel; a pair of humbugs snoozed on the wind-chopped River Ely as a lone Turnstone pottered along the river's edge; a lacewing larva carried its rubbish on its back, as some like to do.

Wonderful to see 7 species of butterfly today, though only the Meadow browns were plentiful. Two Red admirals & 1 Painted lady were nice. Sadly, no photo of the Small copper. Dragon numbers also good with lots of Common darters & several Migrant hawkers, 2 of which posed well.

Mystery! On 9/9 a tiny wasp appeared in the jar with these. It looks like an Ormyrid, poss Ormyrus nitidulus, but I'm reading 1) Coleophora trifolii has no known parasites & 2) Ormyrids associate with gall-forming flies or other wasps.

This is my kind of fence!!! Except for the non-local male birders who actively avoided me (because what could a woman birder possibly know about the birds in her patch?!), it was very chatty at Cosmeston today : 2 Whinchats & 3 Stonechats sitting on a fence together! 💚💚💚💚💚

Just got back to looking at the rest of today's images and realised there were actually 3 Whinchats, as well as the 3 Stonechats.

At Roath Park lake today: a Shoveler (the only shot from 30 where its head wasn't underwater!) and a juvenile Coot giving itself a pedicure. :-)

This is why I love leafhoppers. Just look at this stunning little creature (also known as Typhlocyba quercus)!

At the moment NO ONE in either political party is remotely serious about nature recovery, climate change, sustainable food systems, food security or the fate of rural economies

It was lovely to see one of the foxes again this morning. And the colours were beginning to look wonderfully autumnal, especially around these butterflies, a tired-looking Speckled wood, and one of two pristine Small coppers.

So many people here have OCD! The penarth clifftop edge which belongs to the Vale Council 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇺🇦 is routinely cut by locals. There's a guy there now cutting grass under the outer fence. Who's to blame if he falls?

It was very chatty in the coastal fields today, with at least 8 Stonechats and 3 Whinchats - I write 'at least' 'cause they were popping up everywhere and it was hard to keep track.

During today's walk I noted a definite movement of pipits, both flying over & on the ground, presumably Meadow pipits. Also, someone had put seed down near Cogan Wood & I caught this Nuthatch & Marsh tit feasting (earliest I've seen Marsh tits - usually winter sightings here).