Out to sea a large flock of seabirds, the calling sound of a Sandwich Tern the most obvious sound, wonderful to watch as they dived for fish. Looking forward to tonight’s boat trip with the hope of seeing the young chicks of Cormorants, Shags, Herring Gulls and Great-black Backed Gulls, plus of course Guillemots – some of whose chicks are now getting on for 3 weeks old and almost big enough to leave the cliffs and the area to start their big adventure at sea.
The Black Mustard is providing tall yellow patches of flowers alongside Ground Ivy, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Common Mallow and Green Alkanet.
A myriad of wildlife to be enjoyed across the National Nature Reserve, flowers galore in the meadows, as the tall pale pink spikes of Common Spotted Orchid take pride of place in some, while a few of the brighter more triangular Pyramidal Orchid can also the spotted (many more of these to come)
Ox-eye Daisies scattered with the delicate blue Pale Flax and the more robust pink Sainfoin, one of the many in the vetch and pea family out now. Others include Common Vetch, Grass Vetchling, Hop Trefoil and Black Medic.
This year has been magnificent for the Kidney Vetch on the clifftops, huge swathes of dark yellow, kidney shaped flower heads, it has also been really good for the brighter yellow more delicate Horseshoe Vetch on the downland slopes – hopefully the Small Blue and Adonis Blue caterpillars will appreciate the abundance of their foodplants.
The Thrift, has however not been as good as some years, but still a good amount of this paler pink round tuft along the clifftops.
A quick flash pf a Peregrine as it flew past, while in the woods a Buzzard floated through the trees just above the aviary glade, great to see this large raptor at such close quarters.
A Swift swept overhead.