“Perhaps the thing we most enjoyed was to climb the great downs above Swanage. On them lay a land of pure delight, close sward, thyme and harebells, little painted snail shells, countless butterflies and bees…and Bee-orchises so uncannily like bees, we were half afraid of them”
- From J.M Falkner, “Holidays in Swanage”
Although written around almost 150 years ago, these words seem a perfect description of the Park this morning, (though the Harebells aren’t quite out yet!). The downs are looking truly spectacular at the moment, covered in great swathes of yellow Kidney Vetch, Horseshoe Vetch and Birdsfoot Trefoil (tinged with crimson, which gives it it’s Dorset name of ‘Bacon and Eggs’.
Wild Thyme covers the anthills in a dense pink carpet, with the shells of Brown-lipped Snails scattered around them, as Bloody-nose Beetles plod between the stems of cucumber-scented Salad Burnet and the extraordinary pink, black and gold flowers of Bee Orchids. A Stonechat darts among the branches of a flowering Elder, with a ‘charm’ of Goldfinches
The meadows are, if anything, even more spectacular, as the wind ripples and hisses through the grass. Thousands of Common Spotted Orchids form huge ‘swarms’, varying from almost white, to Raspberry Ripple pink, to burgundy, as blue Pale Flax petals are torn loose by the breeze, to dance above a sea of Meadow Buttercups, Fairy Flax, Grass Vetchling, Yellow Rattle and the strange brown-pink flowers of Common Broomrape. Pink Sainfoin forms dense ‘pools’ among the grasses, with splashes of white from the wonderfully named Corky-fruited Water Dropwort.
In the hedges, Stinking Iris is covered with lovely purple flowers, with Hogweed just starting to emerge, while bushes are covered with the shiny, heart-shaped leaves of Bryony and orange and white Honeysuckle blossom.
Down on the cliffs, Fulmars swoop and wheel above bobbing Guillemots and Razorbills, with a few Gannets passing at sea.