Once I had a wander
In a woodland wreathed in white
I stood a while to ponder
Beneath the dappled light
A woodland wears so many veils
Dull brown to green and bright
Right now I’ll gaily walk the trails
Of a woodland wreathed in white
I began my day with a double shift on our quarterly visitor surveys. The sounds of Great Tits gave way to Goldfinches as I advanced into the Woodlands, with a few Robins audible as well. I paused to look down at The Dell and saw illuminated in the golden morning light a single gossamer thread of spider silk, stretching between a young Holm Oak sapling and the lichen covered trunk of one of its elder siblings. It was quite a striking visual, someone ought to write a poem about it.
Marching down Long Meadow Blackbirds and Magpies pitted the hedgerow, with a couple of Long Tailed Tits perching in an Ash at the bottom. A few Cowslips were still in flower, as well as abundant Birds Foot Trefoil, Red Clover and some Ground Ivy. The light blue petals of Pale Flax did not show until my second circuit, where I also spied a Wall butterfly.
The Woodlands supported a rich array of white flowers, which I felt went some way to making up for our lack of decent snowdrops earlier in the year. Three Cornered Leek, Cow Parsley and Ramsons were the trio doing most of the heavy lifting in the flower department. I was also delighted to see a Wolfs Milk Slime Mould growing on one of the log borders. It’s not a fungus, it’s a Myxogastrid Amoeba. Know the difference.
I enjoyed a pleasantly lonesome stroll along the Clifftops, the sky above Durlston Bay filled with Herring Gulls soaring on the morning thermals, their forms hanging impossibly still in the sky as if they were pieces of a theatre set suspended by invisible strings. Whitethroats, Guillemots, Jackdaws and Chaffinches could all be heard calling away eagerly, Whilst a single Dunnock contented itself with merely being seen. Speckled Wood and Small Copper butterflies were on the wing, though not in large numbers.
I'm very happy to feature a guest poem in the diary today. Check out the audio files for a piece by local poet Martin Hobdell, coming soon to the Durlston Sound Post.