A beautiful morning, with blue skies scuffed with trails of high cloud. As I walked in through the meadows, the air is full of the hiss and chirp of countless thousands of grasshoppers and Bush Crickets.
The hedgerows are covered with a tangle of yellow-flowered Old Man’s Beard, which is swarming with Buff-tailed Bumble Bees, hoverflies and Red Admiral butterflies, with hundreds of dark brown Gatekeepers fluttering along almost every hedge.
Painted Ladies are also much in evidence this morning, with 7 seen during the morning rounds, with Marbled Whites, Small Blues and Large Whites also seen.
As the summer turns, the meadows are in their last few glorious weeks before they are cut for hay. Their last, spectacular display features the yellow flowers of Rough Hawkbit, shining up from the grass like little suns, purple Knapweed, lilac Field Scabious, pink and white Wild Carrot and the dense flowerheads of Yarrow.
Below them, Common Restharrow tangles around their stems, while patches of fluffy yellow Autumn Ladies Tresses add a lovely honey scent to the air.
The downland is also looking lovely, with Wild Thyme carpeting the hills of Yellow Meadow Ants, the ‘dusty’ looking flowers of Red Bartsia lining the paths, with Woolly Thistles towering above them – their huge spiked flowerheads themselves covered with aphids – their Ant guardians on one flower contending with a 6-spot Ladybird, intent on devouring their ‘flock’.
Above the Lighthouse, a Kestrel screeches as she hangs in the air, scanning for prey, as a few Swallows tumble and swirl above the Gully, as they hunt for insects.
Returning to the Centre, a charming ‘charm’ of Goldfinches weave in and out of the branches of a Sallow, their crimson and gold plumage looking spectacular in the bright morning sun.