Another glorious morning with very little wind and temperatures already pushing 20 Degrees, and its only just 9am! Upon leaving the Workbase I hear a Mistle Thrush calling from the same location as a few days ago, enticing me out toward the Meadows. A Teasel grows next to the path, well over 6ft, making me look upward to see its full length towering down on me. Actually everything is growing like crazy, the Wild Parsnip also nearing 6ft, the Selfheal are Agrimony are like spears piercing out of the floral carpet. The meadows are full of butterflies, distracting my concentration, the movement attracting my view in all directions. Marbled Whites coast the tops of the flowers, bumping into one another, looking for mates it would seem, as some join one another on a cushioned flower head. The determined and driven flight of Meadow Browns, the Gatekeepers and Small Skippers are in motion, adding a wash of brown blur and darting across the top of the path is a Fritillary, I think a Dark Green due to its size and colour, but I cant be 100% sure, it moves so fast.
A postcard image beholds me as I exit the Downs. A Rabbit, perched upright, ears extended, looking out to middle distance, oblivious to me watching. Butterflies cascade around it, like an image from a Disney movie. Linnet call, distracting the Rabbit from its deep contemplation and off it hops down into the Gully. I stop to take a close view of some Knapweed, admiring its various stages of growth. This plant is one of the most hardy in the meadow and also a favourite of pollinating insects as it’s a source of quality nectar. I take in the pointed bracts with their mini spikes, some of the brown heads are tightly bound in spheres, others have the pinky-purple flowers just peeping from the top, reminding me of anemone, with its tentacles gyrating with the seas current. There is a fully bloomed flower, underneath basks a 7 Spotted Ladybird, taking shelter in the shade, under it’s flowered umbrella above.
Popping into the Bird Hide a comment on the whiteboard makes me chuckle. Someone has written that they saw ‘A murder of Crows (well, 3 anyway)’ and next to it someone has written ‘Attempted Murder?’ Birding humour at it’s finest!