A wet morning, with continual drizzle as I trudged across the meadows to check the Hereford herd of cows and the water supply.
Overhead a fly past of Swallows swooping northwards before veering west. Perhaps deciding to hang around for a while longer before making their way south to Africa.
Whilst inspecting the water trough, a Skylark emerged from the longer grass, a short uttering of song before landing again. As I looked through my water covered binoculars I could see a Yellow-lipped Snail clinging onto one of the stems of Tall Fescue – I got closer just to check!
A twittering from above provided views of the Linnets, while silhouettes of Pied Wagtails could be seen looping across the sky.
A scattering of flowers spotted included the purple tops of Lesser Knapweed, very low to the ground but adding colour.
Some yellow heads of Lady’s Bedstraw on the downland slopes, along with Rough Hawkbit in the fields and the usual long-flowered Bristly Ox-tongue.
Flitting along the hedgerow the bright flash of Goldfinches, making this an easy bird to identify on this dull day.
Along the dry-stone wall, a Wheatear moved, the white rump moving up and up as took off and then landed on the lumps of rock. Once static, the dark mask could be seen along with the sandy coloured front.
The mooing of the cows accompanied me as I left the meadow, and as I did a Roe Deer trotted across the path. This ginger coloured male had small antlers and a dirty rump.