A beautiful start to the day, as I walked in to work, with a gentle breeze carrying with it the smell of new mown hay, Wild Thyme and the sea.
Swallows and Martins are starting to gather, with many hundreds circling above Townsend Nature Reserve, while dozens more circle above the pond outside the Learning Centre, hoovering up insects as they build up energy for the long journey ahead.
In the hedgerows, Warblers are also feeding up, with Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in abundance, weaving their way among flowering Old Man’s Beard, while an Elder bush in Skipworth Meadow is covered in Blackcaps, hungrily pulling the ripe berries from the branches.
More migrants feeding on a Buddleia on Caravan Terrace – this time Painted Lady butterflies, with dozens more seen around the Park. An immaculate, vividly coloured Small Copper basks on the short turf below Herren Ground, with Common and Adonis Blue, Red Admiral, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and Large and Small White.
The bushes and hedges are laden with fruit. A Badger’s latrine in the Saxon Field is full of bright purple, seed-filled poo, where they have gorged themselves on Blackberries! Midnight blue Sloes cover the Blackthorn, along with colourful strings of Bryony berries, translucent Honeysuckle berries, looking like tiny rubies in the bright sun and sprays of shiny red Wayfaring Tree Berries.
Still plenty of wildflowers to enjoy, with the rather ‘dusty’ looking Red Bartsia to be found in profusion along many of the path edges, with Fleabane, Autumn Hawkbit, Bristly Ox-tongue and Common Ragwort providing plenty of late nectar. An old quarry in the Saxon Field is full of tiny, intricate Autumn Ladies Tresses – our final orchid of the year – be careful where you tread, as many are only an inch or two tall
Along the cliffs, a Kestrel soars on the thermals, high above flowering Rock Samphire and Sea Aster, with a Peregrine Falcon hurtling along just below the clifftop.