I arrive for my final morning patrol at Durlston to a firmament of perfect azure and a cool no’westerly reminding me of the relative youth of the season.
As a charm of Goldfinch chime overhead, just a couple of tired-looking Early Purple Orchid remain at the top of Lighthouse Field, to be replaced by lush carpets of flowering Birds-foot Trefoil and Horseshoe Vetch.
Looking offshore beyond the mile markers, the unusually calm sea state has enabled well over thirty Herring Gull to raft up, interspersed with a handful of our resident Guillemots diving for food.
Following the track downhill, fragrant florets of Elderflower have now emerged, as the scratching of Whitethroat drifts from the Gorse scrub, and a female Stonechat chips from atop a bare stem, possibly with an early fledging in tow.
Pausing at Horseshoe Bridge, the Gully echoes with the calls of Chaffinch and Chiffchaff, the burbling of Wood Pigeon a near-constant bassline.
Reaching the Lighthouse, the Green-winged Orchids have been replaced by the delicate blue of Common Milkwort and wide-petalled Common Rock-rose, while the seaward slope is coated in Wild Clary and Sea Thrift, with a scattering of the hot pink flowers and sword-like leafage of Field Gladiolus.
Leaving the Lighthouse Jackdaws to wheel about the Gully and ascending the Clifftop Trail once more, a shivering in the Hawthorn reveals a Grey Squirrel gorging on the fresh emerged blooms.
Entering the Holm Oak woodland, the sun-dappled path is seething with Bluebottles feeding on the residual sweetness of scattered Sycamore flowers, food in turn for the Blackbird, Wren and Blue Tit that call these woods home.