First on my agenda as I set out this morning was to check on our colony of Honeybees, passing a singing Bullfinch and a fantastic bloom of the purple Tufted Vetch on the way. The bees were all buzzing away happily, already returning home to their hive in the bollard, with full pollen baskets and stomachs full of nectar.
In the meadows, vast numbers of butterflies had clearly beaten me out of bed. Gatekeeper numbers seem to be catching up with Marbled Whites and Meadow browns, which seem to be everywhere at the moment. I also saw a good amount of Smaller Skippers, Lulworth Skippers and one Wall Brown.
I headed down towards the cliffs through the long grass, spotting all kinds of wildflowers; Knapweeds, Agrimony, Red Bartsia, Field Scabious, Selfheal and the pesky Ragwort which is about to come into flower, ready to be pulled – is that time of year already? Lots of Woolly Thistles tower above the other plants, with their large nodding flower heads, covered in a Fibonacci spiral of spines and florets.
Towards the coast the grass turf grows shorter and so do the flowers, I spotted Wild Thyme, Eyebright and Common Restharrow. All of which were visited by Six-spot burnets, Cardinal Beetles, Buff-tailed Bumblebees, or a mix of all three! At this time of year, this is also a prime location for spotting Glowworms, though not in the daytime of course!
Looking out to sea, there weren’t too many boats about the water just yet; a ferry, yacht and a police rib speeding past. Not quite the heights of the Royal Navy’s flagship; HMS Ocean passing back towards Portland early yesterday. A low-flying Shag headed east towards Durlston head and the nattering of Jackdaws further along the cliffs.
Sadly our Guillemots have all nearly left the cliff ledges now to spend the next 9 months or so out at sea. Though I think the last few chicks are dragging their heels to brave the 50ft plunge down to the water! At this point I realised my mistake of wearing shorts in long grass earlier - I flicked off 7 tiny larvae sized Ticks from crawling up my legs - not this time you little rascals!