Some flat, some fat, some wispy
Some stubby and some tall
We stop you going crispy
And cause the rain to fall
A friendly ball of fluffy stuff
Floating fancy free
You’ll want us all back soon enough
Just you wait and see
My front porch forecasting has proved inaccurate, with nothing but blazing sunshine yesterday and today. You’re probably better off with the Met Office, but I’m going to carry on prognosticating anyway. The sky was populated with a few fluffy cumulous clouds, some aspiring to be stratocumulus. One in particular was massing, starting to form the characteristic ‘anvil’ features of a cumulonimbus. Maybe I’ll be proved right after all.
I counted seven Meadow Browns before I made it to the office, as well as a few Marbled Whites. They were the main presence in the air, with the morning being uncannily silent. As I set out towards South Field not a single bird was singing. I spied a couple of Robins fluttering into the hedge but they had nothing to say.
Agrimony spears lanced from the meadows like a line of roundhead pikemen, with Red and White Clover flowers cowering behind. Rows of light brown Yorkshire Fog swayed in the breeze, dry as tinder. Clusters of Yellow Rattle hugged low to earth and fresh Field Scabious was flowering by the gate.
Beyond the Drove I spied a Grizzled Skipper alighting on some vivid purple Knapweed. My ears pricked as the morning silence was finally broken by a particularly gobby Wren, singing loud enough for a dozen other avians. Wrens like to overcompensate, small bird syndrome I think.
I strolled past hedges adorned with Honeysuckle, Six Spot Burnet Moths shimmied through the air, their wings a blur of movement. I caught the ever delightful display of a Skylark as it rose from the ground, stopping to hover much lower than usual. Perhaps it’s the firm breeze?
Up on the downs the dew pond had dried up, though its resident Flag Irises still looked fairly lush. I imagine the Water Boatman I saw in there the other day aren’t pleased with this development. As I made my way towards the Lighthouse, I passed a Roe Deer casually strolling through the scrub, barely paying me any mind. I also witnessed a scuffle between two Kestrels, calling aggressively as they twirled around each other through the air.