What a difference a day makes! After brilliant sunshine and blue skies as I left work last night, I returned this morning into dense fog and drizzle! I was joined this morning by our current artist in residence Alison Summers Bell, who has been living and working here as part of the current Dorset Art Week Exhibition.
Despite the fact that we couldn’t see more than a few metres up, nonetheless the glorious fluid song of Skylarks filled the air above the meadows, barely seeming to pause to catch their breath. From the hedgerows, the scratchy song of Whitethroats rings out, along with the monotonous calls of Chiffchaffs and Great Tits – their volume seemingly turned up by the fog!
The meadows are a glorious riot of colour and form, with this year proving truly exceptional for orchids in particular. In the paddock, a swarm of several hundred Common Spotted Orchids dominates an area just a few yards across, with deeper pink Pyramidal Orchids and some lovely fresh Bee Orchids also in flower.
Centenary meadow is covered with gently bobbing Ox-eye Daisies, above an understorey of Rough Hawkbit, Yellow Rattle, pink-flowered Sainfoin and tangled Yellow Vetchling. Here and there, splashes of blue Pale Flax catch the eye, while the stems of many grasses are covered with Cuckoo Spit, containing the lovely lime green, big-eyed larvae of Froghoppers.
Elder is covered with huge, cream coloured blossoms, smelling to me like Lychees or Muscatel grapes (if fresh, the whole flower-heads are delicious fried in a light batter and served with crunchy brown sugar and mint).
On the downs, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Horseshoe Vetch and Wild Thyme form a colourful carpet in places, while a Woolly Thistle near the Walling Centre houses a thriving Aphid farm, tended by Yellow Meadow Ants.