The wind rippling through the long grass of the meadows making a lovely sight for the early patrol, the churring of Meadow Grasshoppers accompanying me as I walked around. Peering amongst the plant stems the long wings of the Field Grasshoppers could be noted as well as the empty cocoons of the Six-spot Burnet Moths.
In the hedgerows the glimpses of small birds kept catching the eye, eventually my views were good enough to check the small yellow bodies as Willow Warblers, with an occasional browner bird being a Chiffchaff. A family of Long-tailed Tits chattered to each other ad they flew between the branches of the Blackthorn, some of whose berries are now turning blue.
As we near the middle of August the family groups of Common Whitethroats are showing in the bushes, the slightly tatty parents accompanying the young chicks.
From behind me cam the sound of a Green Woodpecker, the loud yaffle easily recognised, and as the bird flew across in front of me the flight pattern is just so characteristic.
Swooping along the drove were 20+ Swallows, their ability to change direction at such speed always a wonderful sight. While hovering, head perfectly still, was a Kestrel looking for food above the rough grass.
Showers of butterflies fluttering along the Old Man’s Beard and Honeysuckle covered hedge, with the Gatekeeper and the Meadow Brown butterflies most numerous, while Marbled White gently wafted across the fields where Common Blue and Small Heath also flew.
Still time to enjoy the meadow flowers before they are cut for hay – Greater Knapweed, Field Scabious, Agrimony, Wild Carrot, Lesser Knapweed, Red Clover, White Clover, Hop Trefoil, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Tufted Vetch, Fleabane and Red Bartsia just some of the flowers to admire.