Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) on the Wharf in July
Last year I walked around the Wharf (former Bute East Dock) in Cardiff Bay almost every month, but in this my second year working at County Hall I am only an occasional visitor. This is partly because I am no longer following a tree beside the Wharf and also because I fear I will not find anything new this second time around.
I needn’t have worried. The view is constantly changing – although mainly because of construction work rather than the plants I see. Here are the images from my latest visit, in early July…
View from the south end of the Wharf
I walked around the Wharf anticlockwise from the south end behind County Hall. I changed to walking in this direction after the path on the other side was closed off for building work associated with some new apartments. Even though the way is now clear, I still prefer to start with the “wild” side.
Bulrush or reedmace (Typha latifolia)
Turquoise damselfly on surface pond weed
Marsh woundwort (Stachys palustris)
Water lily (Nymphaea)
A view across to Cardiff’s County Hall, where I work
St John’s Wort (Hypericum calycinum) mixed in with mares’ tails (Equisetum arvense)
White goat’s rue (Galega officinalis)
Ever present hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum)
Hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium)
Great willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum)
A thistle of sorts…
…and a thistle of a different sort (some kind of Cirsium)
Woody nightshade (Solanum dulcamara)
Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)
Common coot family (Fulica atra)
Tiny scarlet pimpernel flower (Anagallis arvensis)
City centre in the distance to the north – the tall building on the right is the Bridge Street Exchange of student accommodation, which has won a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors design award
Another view to the city centre, with Stadium House and the struts of the Principality (Millennium) Stadium – the derelict area in the foreground, beside the Wharf, has changed since my last visit – more pictures later in this post
Unidentified yellow plant from the Asteraceae family
One of my favourites – wild carrot (Daucus carota)
A member of the rose family…
…and another…
…and another
This is new – these black benches have been put up in several places around the Wharf – these are beside the old crane
Robust design
A strange disc of plastic like a slice of lemon embedded in a tree stump
Some kind of young maple leaves
Buddleia davidii
The purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) pictured at the top of this post
Is this pink loosestrife?
White melilot (Melilotus alba)
Yellow flag iris (Iris Pseudacorus)
Dry, curled leaves that look like they are made of copper
Young poplar (Populus) leaves
Ducks basking in the sun
Then there is the other side of the Wharf…
The western side of the Wharf is where all the construction work has been going on and it looks a bit unkempt with lots of straggly yellow mustard/brassica
Red valerian (Centranthus ruber)
Purple goat’s rue (Galega officinalis)
Wild barley (Hordeum murinum)
This building site wasn’t there last year…
Big concrete tubes for sewerage groundworks
Masses of red metal
This clump of clover is the only flower in sight on the bare earth
The building site is to the north of the Holiday Inn Express, seen here from across the water
The new Schooner Wharf apartments next to County Hall were under construction last year but now they are for sale
This is the new paving that meant the footpath was closed for months late last year
Back to the well-established south end of the Wharf…
…and the familiar cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) at the back of County Hall
It was good to revisit the Wharf and find something old and something new.
You can find my other blog posts exploring the Wharf here.
The Squirrelbasket 
Several familiar species in this post — and fun to read the common names. The one that stands out is bulrush for Typha latifolia. Here (US), everyone knows it as cattail! (we call some Scirpus spp. bulrush). Some think we should standardize common names, but not me. I enjoy the diversity 🙂
Me, too!
All the best 🙂
So much to see. I find the better I get to know a place the more I find. It fragments into multiple parts instead of just being a ‘vew’. I wouldn’t like to live in a block like the student tower. Do you know what made it so special that it deserved an award?
Lovely to hear from you, Lucy – I must comment on your latest post. I was in a position when I couldn’t when I read it (on a bus, or in work…)
Very happy you are making progress – and getting out and about.
May I add your latest tree post to the link box this month? I know it’s not exactly following one tree but I would love to point everyone in your direction again.
As for the student flats, “RICS judges said the team behind the project – including Watkin Jones and Son, Rio Architects, and Watkin Jones Group – had created a thoughtfully designed project providing a comfortable living environment with common room, study space, a gym, cycle storage, management facilities and roof terrace gardens.”
Still considered ugly, though, and we have far too much student accommodation now – the bubble is bursting.
All the best 🙂
Yes, do add the link. I’ve been following another tree but haven’t been writing posts about it – not able to keep to a timetable at present. But I love this tree so might as well switch mid-year. People might even be able to help id it. Someone suggested to me (from the leaves) that it’s some kind of lime but the bark is so twirly and deep and the whole thing so convoluted it doesn’t seem quite right. I’m not familiar with limes. Just remember one time walking through an avenue of limes and the noise of bees in them was enormous.
(A link for photo of the bark on my other blog https://messageinamilkbottle.blogspot.com/2019/08/tree-and-railing.html )
I was a bit too busy looking at your trees within the tree at first, so didn’t notice the host.
But looking at the leaves now, I am reminded of a poplar of some sort? I think black poplar may have lovely bark like that.
Anyway, good luck with the identification. I would love to see more of this magnificent specimen.
All the very best 🙂
the yellow? Hairy wild lettuce – something like that.
Thank you for giving me a clue 🙂