A wet, but still start to the day, with the pattering of raindrops forming a percussive accompaniment to the morning rounds.
No chance of ‘making hay while the sun shines’ – while most of the meadows are now cut, the hay will need to dry for a few days, before it is turned and then baled. This not only means that it will keep well, ready to give our cows an extra bite over winter, but also allows the last of the seed to drop out, ready to overwinter and start to germinate next year.
As usual, many areas are left uncut, with Common Knapweed, Yarrow, Ragwort, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Agrimony and Rough Hawkbit all providing nectar for late butterflies, moths and bees.
The field margins are also great late summer habitat, with Greater Willowherb, Woolly Thistle, Burdock and Hemp Agrimony still in bloom, while the dense undergrowth below them provides a home for small mammals, grasshoppers and Bush Crickets.
The close-cropped downland sward is still a tapestry of colourful plants, from the intense pink of Wild Thyme covering many of the anthills, to the pale pink and white stars of Squinancywort or flowing stems and white flowers of Bastard Toadflax (or Stars in Grass).
Along the clifftop, tall Sea Aster (the wild version of the ‘Michaelmas Daisy’ familiar to gardeners and flower arrangers) sways in the gentle breeze, alongside patches of Rock Samphire, clinging precariously to the cliff-face, while patches of bright yellow Golden Samphire can be found along the Coast Path, along with the glossy leaves and dense flower-spikes of Sea Beet.
Most birds are sheltering from the weather, though as I stopped to look at a patch of Enchanters Nightshade near the Castle, I almost jumped out of my skin as a Jay shrieked from just above my head!