City nature notes: Up on the roof

Great roof garden!

Just a couple of recent city wildlife observations that I have to put somewhere! The other day I noticed this unusual wild “roof garden” among some chimney pots…

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Trying out my new Cyber-shot camera…

Favourite shot so far with my new Sony HX50 camera – a scarlet lily beetle, Lilioceris lilii

All I want is a decent point-and-shoot compact camera that is good at taking pictures of birds from a great distance and flowers and insects in close-up. Plus general views, obviously.

I have great affection for my old Olympus Camedia C-765 Ultra Zoom, which has been with me since August 2004, a good five years before I started this blog. I had long been wondering what

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Tree following 6: A place to meet…

A sprig of hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)…

On my June visit to the old hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) in Llandaff Fields I hoped to see the developing fruits, but I knew they would be high up in the branches, so in advance I picked one from the much smaller roadside hornbeam I pass on the way to work.

Then I chose the one dry day of the week (again – it has rained a lot lately) to visit the fields

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The winter tree – solved but not saved…

The mystery tree on June 3…

Oh dear, I knew this story would end in tears… You will recall the “winter tree” I featured in my last blog post? The one that had no leaves in early May when all around was green? Well I went back this week, a month later, in the hope its leaves would now give me an identification.

As I got nearer my heart sank. It was

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