Another spectacular morning, with just the faintest wisp of high cloud, adrift in a clear blue sky and feeling like a scorcher even at 8am!
Butterflies drift, flutter and skip through the meadows, with a good variety of species already on the wing. Marbled Whites, Gatekeepers, Common Blue, Adonis Blue, Large Skipper, Lulworth Skipper, Red Admiral, Wall, Large White and Dark Green Fritillary all seen on the wing this morning including a mating pair of Meadow Browns, performing a complex aerial tryst!
Dragonflies are also plentiful at the moment, with a Southern Hawker whirring along a hedgerow at the top of the Lighthouse Field with an Emperor Dragonfly – one of the largest commonly seen in this country zooming down the hill to the Castle as she hunts for insects in the dappled shade of the Holm Oaks.
A little cooler along the clifftop, with Fulmars wheeling smoothly on the thermals below, with a Peregrine hunting near Tilly Whim, and a Shag passing by, high above the glittering sea.
Inland, a few Willow Warblers dart through the scrub, along with Chifchaffs, Long-tailed Tits and Whitethroats. A Kestrel perches in a Hawthorn in the Saxon Field, with another in the air above the Lighthouse.
An incredible variety of plants in bloom at the moment, with some fine displays of Autumn Gentian in the old quarry in the Saxon Field spotted while hunting for a possible Saw-wort plant – a tiny relative of Knapweeds and Thistles, reported from a guided walk yesterday. Also in flower on the short turf, Fleabane, Eyebright, Centaury among many others.
The clifftop flowers are also looking great at the moment, with Sea Aster and Golden Samphire particularly colourful.