Category: Science & Nature

A Meteoric Run 0

A Meteoric Run

I had a nice run with the Tri Club last night. The run itself was fairly uneventful, just an undulating 10km run with Pete, Graham and Karen. It  was a cool, clear night with plenty of light from the Moon and good views of Jupiter not far from the Moon. On the way back we took a bit of...

Clear Skies at Last – The Moon, Jupiter, Mizar and Alcor 1

Clear Skies at Last – The Moon, Jupiter, Mizar and Alcor

Following the amazing sunset we had yesterday here at Ynyslas I was hopeful that we might finally get a chance to use our new telescope. My optimism was short lived though because as soon as I had I returned from taking a photo of the sunset it started pouring with rain again. They do say that...

Telescope 1

Enough with the Mist, Murk and Miserable Weather

I think it may be our fault. Since Christmas there seems to have been nothing but mist, murk and miserable weather. We’re used to that here in Wales but it has been pretty bad. We’ve barely been able to se Aberdovey across the river, let alone out to the hills and we’ve had no chance...

Red-green Carpet 0

A New Garden Species

Morgan suggested we put the moth trap out last night as it was the first day for ages without any wind. There weren’t loads of moths in it this morning, which is actually nice as it means that going through them is a little more relaxed, but there were 25 moths from 7 different species,...

White Tree Frog 2

Ribbit in Peace

Shem posted on Facebook yesterday about the Ying and Yang of his day. Sitting in a hot tub under the stars with owls and bats flying over head was the plus side, clearing up a mess made by his dog wasn’t so pleasant. The unseasonably hot weather that we’ve been having seems to have put a smile...

Beaded Chestnut 0

Today’s Moths

Yes, at long last I put the moth trap out last night. It was a gorgeous night with light winds, clear skies and temperatures only dropping to 15ºC – are you sure this is Wales at the end of September. There weren’t loads of moths in the trap but there were enough. 66 in total from...

Blueberry Picking 0

Purple Fingers and Muffins

Call them what you will, blueberries, bilberries, blaeberries, whortleberries, whinberries, winberries, windberries, wimberries, myrtle blueberries and lots of other things too such as ground hurts or fraughan depending on where you are. They are either all the same or all very closely related species of the Vaccinium genus and we picked a whole load of...

Double Kidney 0

A Whole Load of Moths

It was a busy night in the moth trap last night. Despite not putting out a sheet, just the trap itself and not investigating it early in the morning there was still 185 moths in the trap, from 36 different species. Seven of which were new garden records as well. 1 x Oligia sp. 1...

Big Butterfly Count 0

Big Butterfly Count

Don’t forget to spend 15 minutes sitting in the sunshine counting butterflies for the Big Butterfly Count. Morgan and I have done it today, but as per usual despite seeing loads before and after, during the 15 minutes we allocated we only saw a few. 1x Large White 2x Green Veined White 2x Small Tortoiseshell...

Wild flowers in the dunes 0

Forage in the Dunes

Morgan and I had a nice little walk through the dunes earlier. We were actually wandering across to the beach to check out what was happening with the RSPB Shear Madness. Unfortunately there wasn’t anyone there so we couldn’t find out more about the Manx Shearwaters or let them know that I often see them when...