A storm is coming
You can feel it in the air
It won’t be long now
I saw a Blackbird scuttling along the tarmac as I exited the Learning Centre this morning, showing impressive resilience to the already oppressive heat. Brambles were flowering throughout the hedgerows, with rich purple Pyramidal Orchids on display beneath. The single millimetre of rain that fell last night has injected new vigour into the park’s plant population, though it’s far from enough.
Amid the still parched grass of one of the car park’s verges a single Wild Carrot proudly displayed itself, a survivor of both drought and mowing. Bristly Ox Tongue and fresh Teasels lined the kerb, with a few wan looking Yorkshire Fog stems barely clinging to life near Long Meadow. They could really use a drink. I began my count of Meadow Browns here, with a total of eleven by the time my walk was done.
Agrimony and Hemp Agrimony were both flashing their colours as I approached the Woodland. Inside, white Privet flowers were abundant and I was extremely pleased to come across the remains of the Branched Oyster Mushroom colony that Kevin had told me about a few days ago. If it’s damp enough for fungi to grow, there’s hope for the rest of the park yet.
The Woodlands were cool and calm. I traversed them quickly, noting a Speckled Wood, a few Chaffinches, a Chiffchaff and a lot of Enchanters Nightshade on my journey. After a brief digression and delegation, I was back on track heading towards the Diagonal Path, passing a splendid pair of Dryad’s Saddle fungi on the way.
The path itself was a veritable butterfly Paradise, with Marbled Whites, Small and Lulworth Skippers as well as a lot of Large Whites. A Dunnock was singing somewhere at the bottom of the path, and I rounded the corner past Tilly Whim to the raucous cackles of Guillemots. I counted around 55 in all on the water with around twice that on the ledge at least. Up at the Observation Point I was politely shushed by a birdwatcher, who had spotted a juvenile Kestrel perched on the cliffs. I watched it preening itself in the morning sun for a few minutes before moving on. There’s lots to do today.