Gaps in the woodland canopy have become filled with yellow blossom as Ragwort has bloomed in every opening, emerging high above thicket of undergrowth, its sunny flowers attracting a host of Bees, Flies, and Wasps. The latter of which fly to and from their nest buried in the soil next to the nearby hammock.
Fleabane has also started to flower, though it grows lower down, and competes against the Bramble, Privet, and Old Man’s Beard for space and sunlight. Also intertwining through, you can see Honeysuckle and Bittersweet; which has revealed it’s delicate purple flowers with long central yellow stamens.
I pause below a great drooping Buddleia where I can hear the high-pitched squeaking of a Tree Creeper calling continuously from within. Every so often a Wren also chimes in. A Red Admiral enjoys the long-spiked trusses of sweet-scented flowers. It flutters between them, and the rose-pink Hemp-agrimony.
Woodpigeons appear to coo from every direction at Sunnydale, and I can see a couple of them bickering high up in a Lime tree. Following a short physical altercation they settle the argument perched two foot from one another, with both of their wings outstretched as a warning to the other. Also in the canopy, a Grey Squirrels sounds loudly from Ash tree, calling out to another Squirrel that can be heard scuttling from the Aviary Glade.
Heading back up the wood-chip path I find myself following a pair of Blackbirds, first the male with his black feathers and second quickly followed by the female with her brown feathers.
I return up through Smithfield and Skipworth meadows, with the whirr of sounding Crickets instantly hitting my ears as I pass through the gate. I spot a small Dark Bush-cricket, amongst a patch Red Clover. Amazing that such a small critter and create such a loud sound. There is a lovely display of purple Tufted Vetch, whose long tendrils twist and turn themselves up through the long grass stems.