We are at that point in the Durlston year, where the rollercoaster of spring is starting to accelerate into summer, with a headlong tumult of new species appearing almost every day.
Out in the meadows, the first, tall, slender Pale Flax I have seen in bloom this year – it’s delicate blue petals bobbing gently above Bulbous Buttercups, Cowslips and deep pink Early Purple Orchids. Nearby, my eye is caught by the crimson and green flower-heads of Sorrel, with some early Cuckoo Spit (the froth home to a tiny green Froghopper larva) on a stem nearby.
In the hedgerow above, dangly-legged St. Marks Flies swoop above the sweet-smelling flowers of Hawthorn, with several Bee Flies sipping nectar as they hang, almost motionless in the air.
A good morning for butterflies with Walls basking on kerbs, the coast path (and walls!), with several Dingy Skippers fluttering above the downland. Large and Small Whites, Orange Tip and Speckled Wood also seen this morning.
A large female Bloody-nose Beetle munches on a stem of flowering Goose-grass (or Stickyweed), with a Devil’s Coach Horse also seen on the short turf in the Lighthouse Field.
Green-winged Orchid are also in flower. As I stopped to examine one, a burst of song from a Whitethroat made me jump, as Swallows hurtled in off the sea.
On Lighthouse Green, amid a sea of reddish-flowered Salad Burnet and Early Spider Orchids, my first flowering Yellow-wort of the year, while near the Lighthouse, some fine displays of bright yellow Kidney Vetch and purple Thrift.
Near the bottom of the Gully, a Stonechat holds forth from a flowering Apple tree, with a Kestrel seen hurtling by near Tilly Whim.
Along the cliffs, Guillemots, Razorbills, Fulmars, Great Black-backed Gulls, Shags and Rock Pipits all seen or heard.