It was an unusually good morning for Rabbit spotting with several around the Centre but many more active on the gully floor.
With its large, upright stem hugging, shovel shape leaves a Yellow Vetchling was in flower. Above the Mile Markers upon thin soil between the exposed bedrock, some Early English Gentian had reacted to the sunlight and opened up flowers for business. Again upon Lighthouse Green, once I got my eye in, over of score of Bee Orchid stems were seen with several in flower. One lone Bee Orchid flower beside Lighthouse Road a short way below the “cutting” on the inland side. In places some Thrift had started to go over. Next to the Lighthouse walls Bluebell stems held bulging seed pods. Nearby plenty of Wild clary stems exhibited whorls of flowers yet to open. Amazingly these small flowers can pollinate themselves without even opening! Elsewhere I noted the sharp barbed on the rear of a Teasel leaf spine and how water collected where leaf pairs met at the stem.
Not far from the Quarr a Green Woodpecker took to flight ahead of me to disappear down slope. Most amusingly a pair of Swallow briefly perched, then preened, upon the same overhead wire as a calling Chiff Chaff. However, the later followed the former to a second set of wires for reasons unknown to me! I was surprised at the Swallows being repeatedly restful! It had been a while since I had seen a Stonechat but I saw and heard a male below the Lighthouse this morning.
I ventured into the goat plot hoping for a delight of butterflies. Only a pair of Speckled Wood performed a spiralling dance on the treeline margin. Later I was to see many more Speckled Wood on the sunny side of Small Copse. A Goldfinch briefly called in at the Goat Plot and I managed to catch a male Short Winged Conehead Bush-cricket (three spikes on its abdomen tip). Plenty of Adonis Blues and Small Blues were on the wing as well as a Large White and several Silver Y day flower moths.
Submerged below the salty water clinging to the rock was a forest of thick Bootlace Seaweed (Chorda filum). Herring Gulls, Great Black Backed Gulls and Guillemots were briefly noted.