A morning walk with no new find causes a slight displeasure
Until we reach the lighthouse green and spy a purple treasure
An overcast morning with a continuous layer of Cirrostratus covering the sky. My companion Ken and I set out towards the meadows past a clutch of Bristly Ox Tongue which was emphatically going to seed. We crossed Boy’s Brigade field, a pleasant mix of yellows from Rough Hawkbit, Birds Foot Trefoil and the odd flowering Fleabane. Still attached to the grasses were an abundance of empty chrysalises, relics of the mass hatching of 5 Spotted Burnets. I miss those things.
The field was almost completely clear of Ragwort thanks to the sterling efforts of our devoted volunteers. It’ll make a fine set of hay bales when cut. The sound of birdsong was conspicuously absent, with nothing meeting my ears but the hoarse croaks of Carrion Crows and the odd trill of a Wood Pidgeon.
The Saxon Field housed a couple of Stonechats clacking away, and a strong showing of Wild Carrot plants as well as my favourite miniature marvel, Eyebright.
Continuing to Hogget Mead through Brian Johnson Meadow, I caught a flash of a Carrion Crow and a Kestrel flitting over the scrub. I don’t think they were tussling, rather they just happened to be going the same way.
The scrubby patches on the downlands had a sporadic coating of Old Man’s Beard, and across to the sea a few Greater Black Backed Gulls wheeled and spiralled through the air. No motor craft to disturb the peace this morning.
Walking down the Lighthouse Field a few scrawny Yellow-Wort trembled in the breeze alongside a few short patches of Ox Eye Daises. The standout sighting was the delicate purple emerging petals of Autumn Gentian.
Back at the Learning Centre a pair of Robins were singing, one with the expected red breast and the other with the dirty brown plumage of a juvenile. Despite appearances, both sang just as sweetly. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.