Clay sticking to shoes and slippery grass a rock day!
Another Roe Deer appearance today, this time on the cliff top coast path. It observed me from a grassy slope before disappearing into scrub cover.
With its upright posture I knew it was a Kestrel upon the overhead wires across the gully and not a recent Woodpigeon. Its eager eyes scanned the grassland below, for small mammals. I heard the high pitch vocals of an unidentified Small Mammal which hid between low Blackthorn scrub and the dry stone wall on the cliff top. Having checked on the Badger latrine I can confirm beetle have been in their diet!
Today the Bloody Nosed Beetle I found was indeed life less and was carrying several mites. Upon a grass blade I spotted a sleek fresh Burnet Moth part way through emergence, thus at its most vulnerable. Surprisingly a Meadow Brown fluttered in the damp beside the mile markers. Furthermore, Bumblebees were on the wing visiting coastal cliff top flowers of Wood Sage. Upon a nearby Dwarf Mallow flower I saw a huddled pair of very bedraggled unidentified Bees (possibly Bee Killers). Equally wet was an inquisitives ruffled Robin. Our rain gauge cup was close to over flowering containing 23mm of rain fall!
Herring Gulls calls echoed from below whilst a few were seen on the wing. I believed that most were monitoring exposed temporary rock pools for rich pickings. One Great Black Backed Gull passed the cliff top a head height whilst another was content upon Tilly Whim wave cut platform. About five Shags put in an appearance travelling “up and down” the coast, whilst a pair dove close to the raft of thirty Guillemots. The latter birds were predominantly in preening mode which involved rolling and revealing their white breasts. Gradually the Jackdaws gathered near the observation point such that near thirty had accumulated.
A cliff top Teasel had a ring flowers only on the head giving it a monk like tonsure! A stem of Carrot Broomrape hid beside the timeline steps with last year’s stems nearby.