Some early blue sky a pleasant change from late, encouraging a plume of Gatekeeper butterflies to rise from the flower-covered Bramble bush.
As I wandered towards and across the downland, the sky darkened to a dark grey and a few spots of rain descended from above, but mostly avoiding our corner of Swanage!!
A Kestrel swooped and then hovered before moving on to try for breakfast elsewhere, another was perched in the top of an Elder.
The flowers looking marvellous at present with hundreds of white heads of Wild Carrot, Field Bindweed and Yarrow. Interspersed are the purples of both species of Knapweed – Greater and Lesser (Black), their leaves a different shape, which alongside the generally more compact flower of the Black allow easy recognition.
A carpet of the thick almost woody tendrils of Restharrow showing off its pink and white petals, while the clumped whitish flowers of Squinancywort add more interest.
Lots of yellow flowers to spot as well including the delicately fragranced Lady’s Bedstraw, Agrimony, Black Medic, Bird’s-foot Trefoil and Rough Hawkbit, alongside the much paler Common Toadflax and one of my favourites the Hop Trefoil – a little yellow ball.
Taking nectar from the glorious purple flower of a Woolly Thistle was a Buff-tailed Bumble Bee, and on another a Red-tailed Bumble Bee, while lower a Carder Bee on the Dwarf or Stemless Thistle – which is also called the Picnic Thistle, as it is often only found when sitting down to enjoy a picnic!
As a sat on a stone to survey the gully, a superb view of Grey Bush-cricket as it landed on my boot, I had already spotted a male Dark-Bush-cricket (with only 5 legs – missing one back one) and a female Great Green Bush-cricket.
Flitting around the Pear Tree a group of Tits, including a number of young Great Tits, Blue Tits and some Long-tailed Tits, while Common Whitethroats and Stonechats also called from the area.