Ox-eye Daisies have began to flower in the past week or so, and will soon from great swathes across the meadows, turning them from yellow to white as they take precedence over Buttercup, Rattle, and Birds Foot Trefoil.
Yet another salubrious sunny morning, with the sound of the north-easterly wind picking up waves into Durlston Bay. Chiffchaffs appear to chirp from every direction, and you can spot them flowing between the emergent Mayflower blossom.
A Pheasant call rings out from the Small Copse, where some of the Hawthorn flowers are tinted pink. I take a stroll out across the downs to visit the cows and enjoy following a small flock of chatty Goldfinch and a couple of Linnets along the way.
Skylark song fills the air as I ascend to the top of the ridge. Here the panoramic seascape is revealed; the blue stretching from the Isle of Wight to St Aldhelms Head, with some 15 sailing yachts making their way west.
The Herefords appear content as they doze across a carpet of Bulbous Buttercup. One cow completely unphased by brazen Crow collecting fur as nesting material from it’s back.
Towards the sea cliffs, the groundcover turns pink where Stonechat and Meadow Pipit are sighted amongst a pretty display of Sea Thrift. Jackdaws clatter amongst the Tamarisk at Subliminal, and a climber begins to abseil down to the sea.
A much more lively sea-state today with waves breaking to white-water at Tilly Whim. Only yesterday I enjoyed calm dip here with a large 2.5m Atlantic Grey Seal bobbing just metres away.
The scent of the salty sea air turns to foul-smelling guano where the Guillemot colony busy themselves on the cliffs. It’s around now that the first chicks will be hatching, and the parents will double their efforts catching Sandeels and Sprats for food.