Dappled light shimmers through the copse canopy, and a Speckled Wood flutters by. Here, a small display of Common Twayblade Orchid. Each with a pair broad leaves, and a stem adorned in subtle green flowers that look like little people; with heads, arms, and legs.
Early Purple Orchids are also showing nearby amongst the groundcover of Ivy and Wild Arum. More of these flowers are yet to spike, as identified by their basal leaves marked with dark blotches.
Continuous chatter from Blackcap, and solemn tunes from a Robin are heard. A Wren chimes in with its much quicker sequences, and a Great Tit flits through silently. This bird pauses upon the old Poplar, beak clasped shut around some kind of caterpillar, before heading onto to its nest.
In the woodland Dandelion clocks have appeared all around, and await a stronger wind to disperse their seeds far and wide. Ash trees are finally beginning to fill out with leaves, just as the Holm Oaks begin to shed and the Apple blossom petals begin to fall. Pretty Hawthorn blossom and Elderflower clusters.
My walk continues past the Castle and down to the Great Globe. Here the path is lined with the pretty blue Green Alkanet flowers and building swathes of sunny Yellow Mustard. Buttercup, Red Clover and Bird’s Foot Trefoil, where the turf grows shorter.
Along the clifftop, I peer over the dry stone walls and past the Sea Thrift and Campion to see a frenzy of seabird activity. Guillemot, Razorbill, Shag, Herring Gull, and the smaller Common Gull, all diving and picking off Sandeels being driven to the water surface. Raven, Fulmar, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Swift, and Swallow on the wing.