May Bank Holiday, and marked by the gorgeous white May blossom covering the Hawthorns, giving it, its other name of May!
8.3Perched on the top of one of the bushes was a Common Whitethroat, singing loudly, the feathers of its white throat moving in and out as the rattly song was emitted.
Another white flowered shrub is the Wayfaring Tree, a much tighter and harder flower head on slightly furry twigs. Again the branches being used as song posts, with a male Chaffinch (which finishes its song with fast tumbling of notes).
Along the downland there are still some Early Spider Orchids to enjoy, alongside swathes of blue and yellow from Chalk Milkwort and Horseshoe Vetch, a few tiny Early English Gentian poking up amongst as well as Salad Burnet and Bird’s-foot Trefoil.
Butterfly species and number now increasing, with 3 types of blue, the lilac colours of the Common Blue males bounded by a white edge, while on the vivid turquoise of the Adonis Blue I was able to see the black lines through the white edge. Catching my eye in flight were the silvery underwings of the Small Blue.
The striking dark orange and black markings of the Wall Brown one of my favourites, but then so is the stunning colouring and markings of a Small Copper which basked on a stone for me to admire.
On the cliffs 3 Ravens were perched (looking like at least 2 juveniles), while in the sky a strange chase was taking place. A Raven was chasing and harassing a Feral Pigeon, this chase went on for minutes as they moved along the cliffs, the pigeon jinking as the Raven got closer, then out to sea a bit, high, and low, back round and still the Raven looked to be attempting to catch it, within touching distance, eventually the Raven gave up and the pigeon evaded its fate. The Raven not such an adept hunter of Feral Pigeons as a Peregrine!
On the sea two flocks of 200+ Gulls (Herring, Great-Black-backed, Kittiwake), Fulmars and Gannets were feeding on some underwater food, the Gannet diving through, while the others fed on the surface.