What a beautifully still calm sense to the start of the day! Silence draw across the park with only the faint rustle of swathes of grass. On the path a group of about 30 Mining Bees were surfacing like miniature volcanoes. A Whitethroat sang from above the Hawthorn bush even it’s song was slightly muted.
I turned as a flash of two Rabbits charged across Lighthouse Field. On Lighthouse Road Kidney Vetch a bulbous flower head with bright yellow flowers shaped like a kidney was prominent along the tarmac edge, while above it swayed Quaking Grass. A Stonechat followed me most of the way down singing from high on the Hawthorn and Elder, I’m not sure if it was warning me off, saying hello or using me as a game of ‘peek a boo’. The bright yellow stamen and purple flowers of the Deadly Nightshade were shining bright in the morning sunshine. As I followed the bends down the road to my absolute delight a spotted the spectacular Bee Orchid, it truly is a wonderful sight.
As I walked up over round down the wind suddenly picked up and the silence was broken by the distant rumble of an aeroplane. Admiring our stunning coastline my attention was drawn to the Herefords resting peacefully a few fields away, when I noticed one Hereford the wrong side of the electric fence! 20 minutes later, electric fence fixed and the heffer back to where she was supposed to be I carried on my walk. The downs are now covered in Kidney Vetch, Bird-foot Trefoil and Milkwort as well as the slender Pyramidal Orchid.
Two Roe Deer peered their heads above the long grass, with such acute hearing they always spot you first! A fantastic array of butterflies today with 7 Common Blue, 5 Speckled Wood, 2 Wall and 12 Meadow Brown seen. I finished my walk by wondering through the meadows a lovely mix of heights, depths, tones and textures, it would make a beautiful watercolour painting, if only I could paint!!