Another hot start to the day, with the Park basking beneath a blue sky.
In the meadows, the songs of Grasshopper and Bush Crickets are almost a roar, with a gentle easterly breeze rattling through the dry grasses and herbs.
A Speckled Bush Cricket perches on a Bramble Leaf, with it’s much larger cousin, a magnificent female Great Green Bush Cricket at the edge of on the paths, with Oak Bush Cricket and Bloody-nose Beetle also seen.
Another great morning for butterflies, with a Red Admiral sunbathing on the path just outside the Learning Centre, with Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Large White and Small Tortoiseshell all feeding on the same patch of flowering Buddleia.
A Comma, with beautiful raggedy wings flutters around the gate into Skipworth Meadow, where our resident colony of Honey Bees are already hurrying in and out of the bollard where they are nesting.
Wall butterflies bask on the Coast Path, with Adonis Blue, Common Blue, Small Blue, Small Copper and Marbled White seen on the downland.
Also seen, Clouded Yellow along with a Painted Lady.
A metallic Southern Hawker dragonfly whirs past in the Car Parks, where Fleabane and Common Knapweed are in bloom.
Despite the dry weather, there are still plenty of wildflowers to enjoy on the downs. Tall yellow Ragwort, white and pink Wild Parsnip and tall, spiky Woolly Thistles tower above the sward. Below them, Red Bartsia lines the edge of the paths, with Birdsfoot Trefoil, Eyebright, Common Restharrow and Ladies Bedstraw in bloom on the shorter turf.
A Kestrel shrieks high overhead, with a Buzzard wheeling above the back meadows. Down at Tilly Whim, a Wheatear perches on the wall before zooming off, revealing it’s bright white rump.
In the hedgerows, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Long-tailed Tit, with a pair of Green Woodpeckers on the grass in the Car Parks.