A warm morning, with a very pleasant north-westerly breeze rattling through dry grasses on the downs and making the leaves of White Poplar hiss and flash their silvery undersides.
Overhead, a blizzard of Swallows and House Martins (and a few Sand Martins) hurtle along the coast and into the wind, or circle in dizzying, ‘speedway’ spirals above the pond and Learning Centre. Numbers will continue to build over the next weeks and months as they gather and feed up, before setting off in waves.
Among the bushes and scrub, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Grasshopper Warbler are also busy feeding. Along the drove, a large party of Long-tailed Tits hop and skitter along the hedge, with a brightly coloured ‘charm’ of Goldfinches pulling the fluffy seeds from Woolly Thistles.
A Redstart perches among a tangled mass of Honeysuckle and Old Man’s Beard at the bottom of Centenary Meadow, as Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper butterflies feed on the sheltered verge.
A Hawthorn Shield Bug perches on a Bramble leaf, with a Speckled Bush Cricket and numerous Bloody-nose Beetles also seen.
On the short downland turf, our final orchid of the year, Autumn Ladies Tresses is in bloom. It’s lovely scientific name Spiranthes spiralis refers to the spiral of tiny white flowers which circle around the stem.
Also flowering among the shortest grass, bronze Carline Thistles, the ferociously spiky Stemless Thistle, Wild Thyme, Squinancywort, Fairy Flax, Common Restharrow and Birdsfoot Trefoil, to name just a few.
In longer turf, Wild Parsnip, Wild Carrot and the superficially similar, but unrelated Yarrow. A Buff-tailed Bumble Bee feeds on Field Scabious, with Knapweed, Ragwort, Rough Hawkbit and Bristly Ox-tongue also providing late nectar sources.
A quiet morning along the cliffs, although a large crowd of Shags are preening on a flat rock below Durlston Head, with a few Gannets passing by and a Kestrel perched below the Observation Point.