After a week away from work, so exciting to see the changes wrought by the summer in just a few days.
The meadows are dappled with constellations of pink ‘raspberry ripple’ Common Spotted Orchids in their thousands, along with dozens of immaculate fresh Bee Orchids ‘looking so like bees we were half afraid of them’ to quote a young visitor to Durlston in the 1920’s. The first Pyramidal Orchids are also starting to appear, with tall green Twayblade orchids hidden among the scrub.
A haze of blue-flowered Pale Flax hangs above many of the meadows, with dense patches of ruddy Sorrel and huge drifts of pink-flowered Sainfoin in Centenary meadow.
Also in bloom, the semi-parasitic Yellow Rattle – an important flower in our meadows, as it weakens the surrounding grasses, creating more space for wildflowers, along with Common Broomrape – a true parasite, lacking green chlorophyll, given it a ghostly ‘negative’ appearance.
Here and there, tangling masses of yellow-flowered Meadow Vetchling can be found, along with Common Vetch, Birdsfoot Trefoil and the magnificently-named Corky-fruited Water Dropwort – a delicate member of the Cow Parsley family, growing in the meadows, along with it’s relative, the chunkier pink and white flowered Wild Carrot.
The hedgerows are filled with the vibrant purple and yellow flowers of Bittersweet and the sweet-scented flowers of Honeysuckle along with ‘Mayflower’ or Hawthorn blossom and the tangled stems of Cleavers (also covered in minute white star-shaped flowers).
Whitethroats scratch out their song from within the hedges, while high overhead, Skylarks reel out their breathless, rapturous melodies.
Down along the cliffs, Guillemots and Razorbills bob on the water and flicker in and out from the ledges as they feed hungry chicks, as Fulmars circle smoothly nearby, a Shag flaps ponderously past with a beak full of nesting material, with Herring Gull and Great Black-backed Gull also on the wing.
A Kestrel balances on the wind above the Lighthouse Field, with a flash of motion catching my eye, as a Sparrowhawk rolls over the top of a hedge near the Large Copse.