I was delighted to see on the centre wall a shiny metallic green beetle which I learnt was a Mint Leaf Beetle. Overhead a Herring Gull duo rode upon an updraft whilst Magpies were searching amongst the verges. An adult Blue Tit entered the bird box and was greeted by the calls from its chicks. A micro moth was active amongst the grassland.
In the wildlife garden the pond was unfortunately mostly suffocated by algal bloom. A quarter of the surface was clear open water, and one Smooth Newt was spotted. Water Mint leaves and some half dozen white Water Lilly buds pierced the surface. Creeping Willow formed a carpet at part of the damp margin. At least one Lady’s Smock stem retained flowers, although Ox Eye Daisy was doing far better. A few spotted leaves suggested Common Spotted Orchids yet to come. I lifted a thin paving slab and sent Red Meadow Ants into a flurry to protect their larvae. Less Ants and a Woodlouse were under an old sign. I smelt Fox musk but found no “evidence”. Wayfaring Tree held seeds in the hedgerow whilst Dog Wood buds were to open. Solid, smooth, upright fronds of Harts Tongue Fern were between scrub.
In Saxon I was pleased to see two Field Scabious blooms. I was surprised to find a dry, spent, empty cocoon of a Six Spot Burnet Moth on a grass stem that had survived a year. Near Small Copse purple / plum leaves showed of fresh Honeysuckle. A palm size cauliflower like umbel was a Wild Carrot flower. Plenty of fresh Agrimony leaves cloak the ground as a Bumble Bee buzzed by.
Yippee, the beautiful tiny Eye Bright was in flower amongst a patch of short downland turf. Could I have heard the briefest snippet of a Green Woodpecker call? A Yellow Hammer was clearly heard but impossible to find near the Measured Mile Markers. There were a pair of Raven which a various point occupied on or the other tops of a marker. One was to be “dive bombed” by a Carrion Crow which also made “trilling calls”. Seen hovering over the Gully was a Kestrel. On the sea cliffs, yellow Kidney Vetch was seen alongside Thrift.