A lovely green, gold and blue Durlston morning, as spring and summer briefly touch hands.
Overhead, fluffy clouds drift through a brightening sky of deep royal blue and the sea murmurs against the cliffs.
In the meadows, foamy blobs of Cuckoo Spit cover the stems of grass and flowers, each containing a tiny, lime green Froghopper larva (with rather charming big, black eyes!). Glossy black Bloody-nose Beetles plod, like clockwork toys along the paths, as Small Heaths, Common Blues and Small Blues flutter along the field edges.
Great ‘swarms’ of newly emerged Common Spotted Orchids are starting to appear - their flowers, in watercolour shades of pink always make me think of Raspberry Ripple ice cream! Darker pink Early Purple Orchids are still in bloom, along with the skeletal remains of Early Spider Orchids. Blue Pale Flax bobs on the breeze, along with Bulbous Buttercups, Sainfoin and the first few Ox-eye Daisies.
Wafts of the sweet scent of Elder drift on the breeze (time to get some cordial on the go!), with the creamy blossom of Hawthorn emerging from a tangle of the glossy, heart-shaped leaves of Bryony and trails of Honeysuckle in the hedgerows.
Skylarks cast their ‘careless rapture’ into the air, with the ‘scratchy’ song of Whitethroats, twittering of Goldfinches and Linnets, fluty warble of Blackcaps and repeated refrains of Song Thrushes filling the air.
On Caravan Terrace, some fine displays of blue-flowered Bugle, along with the reddish leaves of St. John’s Wort and the eye-catching, square-stemmed Figwort (smelling like my sister’s Guinea Pig hutch, when she left it too long to clean out!).
Along the cliffs, Guillemots and Razorbills whir in and out from the ledges, as Fulmars carve up the air in dizzying arcs. Rock Pipits zoom up from the clifftop vegetation, to make showy display flights, parachuting down on spread wings and tail, as a Peregrine streaks past, just below the clifftop.