Another warm morning, though a pleasant south-westerly breeze is very welcome during some bright early morning sunshine, though a leaden slab of cloud rolling in from the south-west suggests a greyer day ahead.
A wonderful time of year to discover Durlston’s butterflies, with the air filled with whirling, dancing and fluttering insects, feeding on the variety of summer flowers, or using them to mate!
Marbled Whites are now probably the most numerous species, weaving their way among the taller flowers of Ox-eye Daisies, Knapweed, Wild Carrot and Corky-fruited Water Dropwort in the meadows. Tiny ‘Chamois Leather’ brown Lulworth Skippers blur in motion as they dart across the mown paths, with orange and black Large and Small Skippers also on the wing. Common Blues and Large and Small Whites are buffeted by the breeze, with many dozens of Meadow Browns fluttering along a sheltered hedgerow (along with a few Gatekeepers).
Near the Castle a Dark Green Fritillary glides and soars around the flowers of a Mock Orange, with Speckled Woods dogfighting over patches of dappled shade at the woodland edge.
Grasshoppers and Bush Crickets sing from the depths of the meadow grasses, with a ‘teenage’ Great Green Bush Cricket (still 1 or 2 instars away from her impressive full size) already longer than my little finger, perched on a low Bramble stem in Centenary Meadow.
A great year for Pyramidal Orchids, with many thousands of dark pink flowers scattered across the meadows and downs (including a couple of ‘swarms’ of a dozen each around the car parks!
Lilac Field Scabious flowers bob in the breeze, above huge, honey-scented drifts of Ladies Bedstraw. On the short turf of the downs, Wild Thyme, Kidney Vetch and Squinancywort add splashes of colour.
Guillemots and Razorbills are spending their last week or so around the cliffs, before returning to sea for the winter, with noisy, growling ‘Bazaars’ scattered across the water, as a Peregrine watches impassively from a rocky outcrop near the Observation Point (with a pair of Kestrels quartering the Lighthouse Field).
Out at sea, a Whimbrel passes by, with Fulmars, Shags, Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls also on the wing.