Oh you lucky things you get to join me as I empty some dog bins this morning! First bin is the walling centre bin, as I head out butterflies already started to make an appearance. Marble White and Gate Keepers being the most plentiful. Overhead Swallows dance above the light house field darting in directions in pursuit of breakfast. First bin emptied, off over the top of light house field.
The plum-coloured Red Clover and straw yellow Lady’s Bedstraw clamber over the tops of large ant hills. The tall flowering stems of Agrimony stand guard along the edges of the ant hills. Several Wild Carrot flowers have shiny orange Solider Beetles sitting on them.
The low hum of a Wasp pulls my attention to a Bulbous Thistle where the Wasp seems to be feeding on something in a hollowed-out part of the flower. A blur of red at a Six Spotted Burnet Moth passes by. A Marbled White Butterfly sits atop a pale purple Field Scabious gently swaying in the light breeze.
While emptying the Saxon bin a Kestrel hovers silently over the meadow, while a Pheasant calls cutting through the quiet of the morning. Hawksbeard pokes through a large patch of Fleabane which has not yet flowered. One last bin and we are done!
A quick walk down to the castle, passing chattering Goldfinch in the branches of an Ash Tree. The Buddleia outside the castle is alive with butterfly, Small White and Peacock Butterflies smothering the plant.