A pair of Speckled Wood butterflies danced alongside South Field – Wares dry stone wall. Beside Lighthouse Road the vivid purple and yellow flowers of Bittersweet stood out against the scrub. Elsewhere at the scrub margins Fern fronds with coiled tips resemble sea horses. Fleshy Burdock leaves made me think of Elephants Ears.
Flushes of delicate blue and white Milkwort flowers flourished upon the thin soils overlying bedrock on south facing slopes. A bounty of Thrift flowers decorated the cliff tops whilst many succulent leaves indicated that flowers of salt wind tolerant species were yet to come.
Most unusually it looked like a Nuthatch that sprang up from the Wares scrub to perch sideways on the lower mile marker. Well at least the neighbouring Holm Oaks would be appropriate for said bird. More expected was the view of a Wheatear that rested upon Hawthorn. A pair of Linnets briefly paused on top of Gorse. Many Whitethroats were seen and heard whilst it took longer to discern that it was a Willow Warbler calling near the bridge.
Off shore a Gannet flew west close to the cliffs despite calm conditions. Today I was content have heard Guillemot gargles! A collection of photographers near Tilly Whim suggest that the Fox cubs were active again.
I walked the “desire-line” parallel to the coast path to reach the Lighthouse. The male Stonechat held back upon “chatting” until I got nearer him. During my climb it was easy to see the clump of Early Purple Orchids path side. However, I was surprised at the quantity of Early Spider Orchids sprinkled amongst the trampled path and exposed rocks. Just by the Lighthouse perimeter there were good numbers of upright Wild Clary stems with whorls of blue flowers intersected by pairs of leaves creating a spike.When I peered down into the gully the delicate dangling inflorescence of Sycamore resembled tiny bunches of grapes.
Swallows were encountered near the centre, Lighthouse Green and South Field. In the later the swept back down to grassland level after having negotiated the hedgerow. It was possibly the same pair seen at all locations! A Kestrel was observed riding the thermals off Durlston Bay.