Snapshots of the Day: Lost glove

Lost Spiderman glove on the pavement…

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Snapshots of the day: The pink and the white

I have always admired this shrub in a neighbour’s garden – it always looks so healthy and full of blooms. I knew it was a rose but have only just discovered that it is a Japanese rose, Rosa rugosa…

In a garden beside a nearby street there is an excellent arum lily planted in the of a Magnolia tree…

…I always thought these rather funereal and called them arum lilies, but they are also known as call lilies and are a species of Zantedeschia

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Snapshots of the day: Relaxed sparrow hawk

Male sparrow hawk (Accipiter nisus) on the garden fence

For once I was lucky. I often see birds in the garden when I am at the kitchen sink but don’t have my camera to hand. This time a male sparrow hawk was sleepily preening itself on our highest fence and didn’t seem to be in a hurry. Maybe it was satisfied after a good meal. I had time to dash upstairs to get my camera and the magnificent bird stayed for maybe 10 minutes, fluffing up its downy feathers.

Once or twice the hawk looked me straight in the eye

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Snapshots of the day: Same moth but different

I saw this moth on my kitchen window and it stayed there all day, just moving an inch or two down the pane…

I went outside and took this picture of its top side, which i hadn’t expected to be grey-brown

It turns out there was no need for excitement – this is simply the “dark” version of Cydalima perspectalis, the box-tree moth, which I had previously spotted in its paler form here.

This is an invasive species and I have seen far too many examples of this moth lately. At least I no longer have any box trees myself and this particular specimen looks rather worn and missing a few legs. Apparently they are around from late July until mid September, so as this is late October it is probably on the way out…

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Snapshots of the day: Mackerel sky

I don’t get out much these days but noticed this mackerel sky over the New Theatre in the centre of Cardiff recently

The weather has been very changeable for several weeks, so there has been no shortage of this kind of sky in the area of Canton where I live…

…and another one – sorry they are just phone snapshots, nothing particularly composed about them

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Introducing Snapshots of the Day

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) in my Cardiff garden today – slightly out of focus but at last I caught it on camera…

I had considered posting an image every day in 2022 but that’s never going to happen. So I have decided on an occasional item as often as I can manage it. I have missed my chance over the last couple of hectic weeks so before I start this project properly, here is a catch-up of pictures I would have published one-by-one, had I not been too busy…

January 6, 2022: A red dawn today before a cold rain began

January 5, 2022: Frosted moss on the roof

New Year’s Eve, 2021: A festive snowman decoration

Boxing Day, 2021: Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) in the garden

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