Another still, silent morning, the stillness broken only by the song of grasshoppers and Bush Crickets, the shrieking of a Peregrine Falcon on the cliffs, the soft coo of Wood Pigeons and the gentle murmur of the sea.
Fruits and berries adorn the hedgerows as the summer draws on, with the dark purple of Sloes contrasting with the translucent, jewel-like red berries of Honeysuckle and shiny crimson berries of Wayfaring Tree. Ropes of Bryony berries are draped across the bushes like strings of beads, with the first of our Blackberries starting to ripen alongside plenty of Elder berries. Among the undergrowth, Bittersweet is covered with tiny red and green ‘tomatoes’ – not edible of course, as the other name for this plant – Woody Nightshade indicates!
On the Timeline, a Wall Lizard, only the length of my index finger skitters across the path and into a dry-stone wall.
Butterflies flutter around Caravan Terrace, with Wall, Large and Small White, Comma and Red Admiral on the wing, feeding on Hemp Agrimony. Below, Sandwich Terns take dizzying dives into Durlston Bay.
The curious, ‘dusty’ yellow flowers of Ploughman’s Spikenard are in flower along the clifftop, along with Red Bartsia, Common Restharrow, Birdsfoot Trefoil and Field Scabious.
In the Lighthouse Field, 3 Willow Warblers sit atop Wild Parsnip plants, with Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler also seen or heard this morning.
A Badger’s latrine is full of Sloe stones – there’s probably not much else for them to eat with the ground so dry, but I wonder if they ‘shrivel up’ their mouths like they do mine!
Swallows (including this year’s young, which lack the distinctive tail streamers of the adults) circle and call overhead. Still in small numbers, with less than a hundred seen this morning – by the end of September, we will be seeing thousands moving through each day.
Our bird ringing studies continue – this data, collected by thousands of trained volunteers around the UK is essential to our understanding of migration. Their highlight this morning, a Pied Wagtail ringed, weighed, sexed and safely released.