A beautiful summer morning, with just the gentlest of breezes stirring the golden grasses in the meadows and rustling gently through hedgerows covered with the flowers of Bramble and Old Man’s Beard.
On the way into work, on the edge of Townsend Nature Reserve, just north of the Park, I stop to watch a Raven, picking at the remains of a small mammal on the track, only to realise that she was being watched in turn by a young Fox, his fur still looking rather fluffy and his ears and tail out of proportion. After a few moments he realised I was there and darted off into the hedge, startling the Raven into flight.
Heading up into the meadows, Swallows and Swifts swirl overhead, to high to hear, with a Buzzard wheeling in lazy spirals on the thermals.
The meadows and downs are a riot of colour, with Knapweed, Rough Hawkbit, Yarrow, Wild Parsnip, Pyramidal Orchid, Marjoram, Field Scabious, Agrimony, Ragwort and Hoary Ragwort all adding colours to a varied palette.
A patch of Hemp Agrimony on the Diagonal Path is providing nectar to 4 Red Admirals, a Large White, Small White and Meadow Brown, while a Wild Carrot flower nearby is a perfect ‘marriage bed’ for a pair of red and black Soldier Beetles to mate!
Much larger black, shiny Bloody-nose Beetles also to be found in abundance as they plod along like clockwork toys.
Butterflies galore on the wing, with Marbled Whites easily the most numerous, with other species seen this morning including lots of Small Blues in Centenary Meadow, Common Blue in the Lighthouse Field, along with Large, Small and Lulworth Skippers and a Wall basking on a patch of bare ground in the Lighthouse Field.