I set out today headed west through the meadows, the strong winds from yesterday had continued through the night and made for a chilly dull morning. A lone Slug was slowly making its way across the path in front of me which I think set the tone for the walk! The sides of the path was layered with coverings of the Red Bartsia and Clovers, overshadowed by the taller Wild Carrot, Parsnip and fantastic hue of Field Scabious.
At the far end of the park I wandered through the old quarry fields, where reminiscent of its past, I could hear the workings going on in the quarries beyond. Here the soil is thin and flora vastly different to the meadows on the park. Hundreds of Hoary Plantain emerge from the mud at my feet, the Gorse forms thick hedges and the bright pink flowers of Rosebay Willowherb pokes through the top. I caught a quick glimpse of a Wren before it scurried away into the scrub.
I spotted a single butterfly of my walk; a Gatekeeper who was rightly so, patrolling a gate! Earlier this week I had a walked both the east and west Butterfly surveys and counted 637 butterflies between the two with the amount of Gatekeepers topping the list. On the west transect 20 different species were identified – not bad considering the UK has less than 60 species in total!
Towards the downs I found the Hereford Cattle happily grazing away in the field next to the one they are supposed to be in. Frustratingly a gate had been left open and of course ‘the grass is always greener’ so the cows had jumped at the opportunity. A few of the Sunflowers have been munched on, but luckily we have some spares!
As I made my way back to the centre, I stumbled upon Common Shrew laid on the ground, which being fully grown had likely come to a timely demise. Looking down at the ground, I notice the mass of Agrimony seeds collected on my shoelaces. A very effective seed dispersal technique – though much to my annoyance for the next couple months of finding them absolutely everywhere!