Just a few fluffy white clouds in the sky and a flat blue sea as I patrolled around the clifftops. The dark fluttering of the wings of a Peacock butterfly catching my eye, as it landed the large white rings spotted for a moment before I was distracted by the much small Gatekeeper, the two-tone brown wings quite different to the Meadow Brown and the silky dark brown of the Ringlet, with these all flying within a few feet it was a great chance to admire (and compare) them.
I amongst the soft fronds of the Tamarisk, a group of Blue Tits, including this years youngsters, their colours much paler than the yellows and blues of the adult.
Above me the silhouette of a Peregrine, wings swept back as it soared overhead, another spotted on a rock outcrop – this one a blue beaked juvenile.
The cliff now bereft of most of the seabirds, although 2 Fulmars circled in and out, a family of Shags stood on a rock, their feet just above the splashing water and in the bright gold sun-dappled strip of sea a single Guillemot was having a wash as another was heard from somewhere (the other 400 or so having already left for the summer at sea).
The speedy wing beats of a Lulworth Skipper, as it skipped through the now browning grasses, resting for a moment to allow me to see its pale wing crescent. Passing by a Large White then the bright almost orange of a Wall Brown, fluttered and landed, the second brood, stunning and freshly emerged, while just above Tilly Whim a Painted Lady. Was soaking up the sunshine.
An interesting selection of some of the taller yellow plants, including Perennial Sow-Thistle, Smooth Sow-thistle, Annual Wall Rocket, Black Mustard and Bristly Ox-tongue.
The noisy crying call of a young Kestrel came from the Mile Markers, as a male arrived.
Overhead 2 Sand Martins speeding across above the Gully, while out to sea 3 Gannets were circling high in the sky – not where I would usually expect to see them!