As the sun starts to break through a sky filled with shoals of dappled cloud, the meadows gleam in shades of gold and bronze as I walked in through the meadows.
Around me, the air is filled with a whirling kaleidoscope of butterflies, with Marbled Whites now by far the most numerous species, closely followed by Large and Small Skippers, whirring between flowers in a blur of orange and brown wings, while Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers weave among the first of the Bramble flowers along the hedgerows.
Large and Small whites ‘pinball’ through the air, their chaotic, floppy flight very different to the purposeful, steady flight of a Painted Lady, cruising from flower to flower in a large patch of Greater Knapweed near Tilly Whim. All around, the grasses are filled with the ‘song’ of Meadow and Field Grasshoppers.
Near the top of the Lighthouse Field, a Woolly Thistle is covered not just with spines and white ‘wool’, but also hundreds of tiny aphids, being farmed by Yellow Meadow Ants (and ‘milked’ for their Honeydew), as several 6-Spot Ladybirds attempt to ‘rustle’ the flock. Around them, 6 or 7 hoverflies circle, along with the first Common Wasp I’ve seen here this year.
The downland is looking beautiful at the moment, with pink Wild Thyme carpeting anthills, the tiny, star-shaped flowers of Squinancywort forming pools of pink and white, alongside Birdsfoot Trefoil, Yellow-wort, Centaury, Pyramidal Orchid, Ladies Bedstraw and Wild Parsnip, to name just a few things in bloom.
On the short turf of the Milepost Slope, Bastard Toadflax is in bloom – a cascade of white flowers on trailing stems. metallic green Thick-kneed Flower Beetle perches on the white dome of a Wild Carrot, alongside a mating pair of Soldier Beetles.
The cliffs are already feeling much quieter, with just a handful of Guillemots left on the upper ledge and a scattering (along with 2 Razorbills) on the water below the cliffs.
The keening of a Kestrel rings out through the air, along with the ‘cronk’ of a Raven.