A lovely fresh wind blowing from the northeast, wisps of white clouds across the blue sky and Swallows swooping, mostly they were coming from the west and heading east.
As I headed off down Long Meadow I was surprised to see the pink flowers of Spindle, a bright pink cross, looking almost stuck on the bushes. This flower is normally blooming much later in the autumn. It seems many of the fruiting plants are earlier than usual, putting lots of effort into providing a legacy after this exceptionally dry year.
The branches of the Apple trees are drooping, weighed down by the abundance of their fruit, hopefully this and the Blackberries covering the Brambles are providing some nourishment for the birds, mammals and insects.
The bright yellow flower of the Fleabane, one of my favourite flowers, still showing, and perched on one was a Common Blue butterfly, wings closed.
A little later a flash of brilliant blue caught my eye, I was then able to admire an Adonis Blue as it basked on the top of a bare limestone rock. This second brood butterfly was smaller than usual, but perfectly formed! The numbers of this second summer brood have been less than in most years.
From the bushes came a movement, I then spent a very frustrating few minutes watching an occasional flash of tail as it moved through the branches, a quick sighting of a ring around the eye, and of a brown back as it moved to another Hawthorn bush. Despite my patience I was unable to identify this ‘slightly different to normal’ bird, other than a Warbler (of which there are hundreds!).
However the sight of 3 Stonechats perched on the top of the bushes, showing off their orange chests, raised my spirits, as did a Wheatear standing very upright on a dry-stone wall.
Scattering as I walked through the grass were some grasshoppers, the long-winged Field Grasshoppers gliding of to another spot, while the short-winged Meadow Grasshoppers had to hop.
A Great Green Bush-cricket gave me a bit of a start, standing as it was on the tall grass just by a gate hook.