A pleasantly cool and damp morning, had the Buddleia leaves outside the off dripping and being dripped upon. Said plant had been pruned back for the replacement of windows and has grown by sixty centimetres in months! The sweet scent that met my nose was either that of Hawthorn or Elder blossom, the former I thought. A male Blackbird flew in land and hopper along a dry stone wall before disappearing into scrub cover. In Skipworth Meadow I was surprised to see a few stem of Bladder Campion in flower. Within a Bulbous Buttercup flower laid a docile fly Sawfly which I was able to pick up and identify as Tenthredinidae arcuate whose larvae feed on Red Clover.
Beside the Small Copse I saw what appeared to be Sloes, however, the host shrub had no thorns. A Sycamore had flowers which were converting into seed masts whilst an unseen Carrion Crow “cawed” from above. In Taskers Meadow I found path side Common Spotted Orchid spikes, however, a better show was in the Paddock. At first I thought I saw the rump of a rabbit bounce amongst the tall grass, however, after the appearance of a Roe Doe, I thought perhaps I had disturbed a fawn. In an attempt to distract me the Doe bounded stopped, waited then disappeared into tree cover. Leaving the Paddock I heard distant sheep and picked up the scent of a Fox. Back in Skipworth I encountered a good fifty plus caterpillars yellow with black spots which I believed were the larvae of Large White Caterpillars. I also noted the cocoon of Six Spot Burnet Moth on grass stems, two per stem in some cases!
Entering Saxon, where the cattle are now grazing the entire field, I heard the sound of at least five Skylarks over the Meadows. Adders Tongue fern were still present despite the cattle, fortunately there are better plants to graze! In came a Swallow descending to sweep low over the sward then disappear. Whilst standing staring through my binoculars one cow approach me to sniff then lick my elbow. A gang of six calves gradually edged towards me, however, one more confident beast got behind me to chase me only to skid to a halt as soon as I turned around. Upon the boundary with Ox Eye Meadow I caught site of a pair of Bullfinches beside a wall. In Ox Eye its namesake Ox Eye Daises as well as Yellow Rattle were in good show. A tall independent vetch (not needing to climb another plant) was revealed to be Sainfoin with its pink flowers with veins shown in a spike. Again I discovered a Broomrape flowers which was most likely Common Broomrape having plenty of vetches to parasitise.