Tredegar House Park.

Recently I went to Tredegar House Park looking for flora and fungi.I found this growing on a conifer, I think it is a slime mould, not sure what type.At first I presumed it was a rotten egg thrown against the tree.

I saw Sweet Violet.

I was surprised to find Two-Toned Pholiota.

Hoof Fungus

I found this Hoof Fungus in October in a nearby park and I have been observing it ever since.It is growing on a tree stump along with Turkey Tail and there were Stump Puffballs too in the Autumn.A piece of this fungus was found with the 5,300 year old ice mummy discovered in the Alps in 1991,it was part of a fire-starting kit.

Under the covers

Here's another pic of one of my pet rats in the duvet.
Bouncy who is shown here has just been woken by me trying to take a picture of her.

Duck and fungi

this morning I went to beechwood park.

the fungi on the log is lumpy bracket whilst the ducks are mallards.

at times it was pouring down and I was hiding under spruce.

Whilst hiding I found some possible charcoal burner and watched a treecreeper dance up and down trees.

on the way back to the house I popped to a local park, I got some artist bracket

to draw on

the treecreeper

Weston super mare Birnbeck Pier

today I went on the train to weston.

I was heading for sand point in search of a geo cache. 

On the way I passed Birnbeck Pier.

I thought it was amazing.

Altogether I walked over 8 miles, the last mile through marsh.

I FOUND THE CACHE!

This is a fungi I found in Coldra Woods, when I was looking for a Geocache. I dont know what type it is it's not in any of my books, including Roger Phillips guide. There are lots of Fungi growing in Coldra Woods, I recently found the remains of a Giant Puffball, I saw Oyster Mushrooms for the first time there.I have also seen Upright Coral which is quite rare. Coldra Wood is a small wood close to my house, there are lots of different trees there, some of them are very old.Birch,Oak and Beech which are very popular with Fungi, all grow there.

The grey king Cache

I went geocaching today in Allt-yr-yn Nature Reserve.It was a very good cache.
I was lucky to see lots of fungi including; Scarlet Elfcup, Devils Tongue (pictured), Hairy Curtain Crust, Birch Woodwart, Blushing Bracket, lots of Lumpy Bracket, Oyster Mushrooms, Jelly Ear, Common Bonnet, several species of King Alfred's Cakes and Turkey Tail.
There were lots of birds; Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Robins and I heard a Woodpecker. I saw a Birch Tree that had grown back on itself
into a perfect circle which was very unusual.

Bouncy

Here's a picture of Bouncy my pet rat looking rather cute.

Shirenewton Woods

On Sunday I went to Shirenewton woods.
I found Turkeytail, Velvet Shank, lots of Jelly Ear, King Alfred's Cakes,Leafy Brain,Birch Polypore, Birch Woodwart,Birch Mazegill,Oyster Mushroom,Variable Oysterling and Scarlet Elfcup (pictured). There was a stream running through the woods with Hazel trees flowering on it's banks, I saw Wild Garlic and Lesser Celandine shoots coming up.Elsewhere in the wood I saw Snowdrops beginning to grow. There were Yew Trees, lots of Birch, a very old Lime Tree and Holly.

Rhoose Point

Today i went to Rhoose Point 

and found a massive ammonite.

You can see my foot beside it.

We also may have discovered dinosaur footprints, 

as other footprints have been found nearby at Bendrick Rocks Sully.

Castell Coch

On boxing day i went to forest fawr next to castell coch .

It was very cold.

I saw a number of fungi including

lacquered bracket, oak mazegill,

dead man's fingers, candle snuff,

birch polypore,

oak curtain  crust and lumpy bracket. 

The Blorenge

 We went to the Blorenge, a hill overlooking Abergavenny. On the opposite side of the valley is Sugar Loaf which i have also climbed. 

During the walk we found lots of fungi including the meadow waxcap and blue edged pink gill. We also  found lots of other fungi however we did not identify them.

Just before we reached the summit of the hill we passed a group of wild horses.

This is a picture of them.

 

I went APE!!!!!!

On my birthday I went to a place called Go Ape, in the Forest of Dean.

Its lots of platforms ropes zip wires and swings high up in the trees.

This is a picture of me on the Tarzan swing. You had to jump off a high platform and swing across into the cargo net. It made my stomach feel funny as you dropped.

The rules of Go Ape are simple.

1. Longy (Longy is the long rope you have attached to yourself) loves the tree.

2. Always attach your clips the opposite way.

3. Enjoy yourselves.

 

Finally whilst in the woods we also found a Giant Funnel fungi. 

These are my Giant African Land Snails, they are called Apple and Cabbage.There are some British Garden Snails in the picture to show how large they are.I got the snails in mid May from Cardiff Museum, when I got them their shells measured 4.5 c.ms but now the biggest one is 8.2c.ms and the smaller one is 6.5c.ms.Their favourite foods are cucumber and lettuce and they love Cuttlefish bones. They eat Cuttlefish bones for the Calcium which keeps their shells growing, they can grow as large as 20c.ms from head to tail.They are from the rainforests in East Africa especially Kenya and Tanzania but mine seem to be living quite happily in their tank.

This is my dog Wag on a very hot day at Goldcliffe, Newport. She is fourteen
years old but she looks much younger.
Wag likes nice long walks and she is always gobbling up titbits which we give to
her.She particularly likes bones, chicken and other types of meat.In fact she likes most things but does not like lettuce. She likes playing ball with me and my Dad and she likes her friend Ozzy the Border Collie.

Badgers in Wales.

On Saturday 28th June over three hundred people went to the Welsh Assembly building to protest against Badger culling in Wales,including my friends William and Catherine. Farmers believe that Badgers pass T.B on to their cattle, but recent research has found no evidence to support that belief.The Welsh Assembly is planning to trial culling in certain areas even though Badgers are a protected species and are endangered.The good news is that the National Trust will not allow Badger culling on their land. I think Badgers are very beautiful creatures, I think it is very wrong to harm them.

My friends and I went to take part in a river clean up, in Caerphilly South Wales.We wore gloves and used litter pickers to collect the rubbish.We found part of a highchair,part of a freezer,lumps of concrete,bits of metal and wood and lots of plastic.It was good fun to do, but it is a shame that there was so much rubbish in there.
We found Caddis fly larvae (which Dippers like to eat),they make their own shells from sand and dirt.There was a lot of life in the river and this means it is a healthy river.

Graig Wen

We camped at Graig Wen in Snowdonia National Park.This is a picture of the Bridge which crosses the Mawddach Estuary from Fairbourne to Barmouth.
Graig Wen is next to the Mawddach Trail which runs along the estuary.At the campsite there is a car free field, we camped there.There were sheep all around and it felt like wild camping.You could have a fire which was very helpful in keeping the midgies away and good for cooking and light.It was very beautiful and up until the last day we had the field to ourselves.You could always hear Cuckoos from our tent and I saw lots of other wild life including; rabbits,cheeky food pinching squirrels,loads of Herons and Oystercatchers, Sandpipers,bats,Red Kite and a Tawny Owl.They had built a compost loo on the site it was very clean and environmentally friendly.
We visited Snowdon on the way back but didn't climb it, maybe next time, we were at the start of the Watkins Path which is the longest route up to the peak.

Blackvein Risca

this is a gravestone in memory of a pit accident that happened in Risca during the 19th century.
Over 100 men and boys died down the pit.

I am glad i don't have to work in the mines.

this is a video of a steamer at newport station.

candles

This is a picture taken during earth hour, we switched off all the lights and anything else which used electricity. We made a fire and lit lots of candles. If you look carefully you can see my dog Wag lying on the chair.
The Welsh Assembly switched off all the power in their building for the hour.