A handful of garden birds in spring

Female blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) eating mahonia berries in the garden this spring

I’m afraid I am growing complacent about the birds in my garden – seen one baby robin in spring and you have seen them all! However, there are always some comparative rarities to be captured on camera.

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2019 tree following 5: Leafy backgrounds

Developing leaves and flowers on the London plane (Platanus × hispanica or Platanus × acerifolia) in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay

The London plane tree in Cardiff’s Mermaid Quay is coming along nicely with the benefit of both rain and sunshine in the last few weeks.

I see it most days as I visit the Tesco store opposite to buy a sandwich for lunch or a few groceries. The changes are small but the leaves are growing bigger and the female flowers are starting their journey to becoming fruit balls.

Here are my pictures from April 29 – I find it difficult to get many of the leaves and flowers into sharp focus as there is such a mass of greenery at different distances from the lens, but here goes…

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Tree following link box for May 2019

Fresh green leaves on the full moon maple (Acer shirasawanum) in my garden in early May

The tree-following link box has now closed for another month. To explore everyone’s updates, please go straight to the bottom of this post.

If you are new to tree following, read all about the idea here. Why not join us? Point us to any tree-related post you would like to share, using the link box published on the 7th of each month and lasting for a week.

Here in Cardiff we have again had a mixture of weather this month and our usual warm south-westerlies have deserted us. It was mild for a while, then we had chill winds from the eastern half of the compass, meaning surprisingly steamy breath in the mornings. Later came more rain and a short spell of sunny and almost warm weather, tempting us to “cast a clout”.

Here are the all-important links from this month’s tree followers…

Frances at Island Threads, off the North West coast of Scotland – hawthorn

Hollis – In the Company of Plants and Rocks – a stand-in this month (out of town)

Flighty’s Plot – Liz’s witch hazel in Lexington, Kentucky, and Mike’s apple tree

Anni Kelsey – Gardens of Delight – trees on the Welsh border

Alison at the Blackberry Garden – the two quinces blossom

Erika Groth in Sweden – aspens

Pat – Squirrelbasket – the London plane of Mermaid Quay

Andrew – Kind Hearts and Corydalis – Oliver the oak

We always love to read your tree news – so thank you to everyone who contributed this month. See you all again on June 7. Why not join us and follow a tree throughout the year? Although we all try to publish every month, we are very forgiving if you post less often.

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News from the world of trees 2019 #2

Here is another round-up of tree news articles from around the world. Click on each of the pictures if you would like to read the full stories.

See the world’s oldest trees by starlight

Beth Moon slept under ancient baobabs and waited out the clouds to photograph Earth’s arboreal beauty at night – they are showcased by National Geographic…

Palace oaks offered to restore Notre Dame

Scone Palace in Scotland has offered to donate its oak trees to help rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris recently ravaged by fire, reports the Courier…

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2019 tree following 4: Green and red

New growth on the London plane tree in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay

We are well into spring here in Cardiff, although there is currently a chill easterly wind and the nights are almost frosty. At least the sun is shining so we should be grateful as there was one particularly wet and miserable week recently.

I could see from a distance that the London plane tree in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay, was slightly tinged with green at last.

But when I visited with my camera on April 10 the sun was very bright, so I couldn’t really tell what I was seeing in detail until I inspected the images later.

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Tree following link box for April 2019

Cherry blossom on a tree in Lloyd George Avenue, Cardiff Bay, in late March

The tree-following link box has now closed for another month. To explore everyone’s updates, please go straight to the bottom of this post.

If you are new to tree following, read all about the idea here.

Spring is a very good time to start, so why not join us? Point us to any tree-related post you would like to share, using the link box published on the 7th of each month and lasting for a week.

Here in Cardiff we have had a mix of weather. For a whole week it was glorious spring, sunny, warm and dry, but then last week it was as cold as winter with sleety rain and some hailstorms.

Here are the all-important links from this month’s tree followers…

Alison at the Blackberry Garden – Quince

Erika Groth in Sweden – aspens

Frances at Island Threads, off the North West coast of Scotland – hawthorn

Flighty’s Plot – Liz’s witch hazel in Lexington, Kentucky, and Mike’s apple tree

Hollis – In the Company of Plants and Rocks – unidentified tree on the University of Wyoming campus – plus snow, pussy willows and some art…

Pat – Squirrelbasket – the London plane of Mermaid Quay

We always love to read your tree news – so thank you to everyone who contributed this month. See you all again on May 7. Why not join us and follow a tree throughout the year? Although we all try to publish every month, we are very forgiving if you post less often.

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The Wharf in early spring

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) on the Wharf beside County Hall in Cardiff Bay

It has been over a year now since I first walked around the Wharf (former Bute East Dock) next to my office at County Hall in Cardiff Bay.

I have visited more or less every month so I have no idea if I will spot anything I haven’t seen before. But I will keep on looking anyway. These pictures were taken at lunchtime on March 26…

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