Where the Early English Gentians aught to have been seen earlier amongst the roadside exposed bedrock were ground hugging: Eyebright, Wild Thyme, Rest Harrow. Also, roadside a few petals clung onto the remains of Kidney Vetch flowers whilst Agrimony was showing good many yellow flower spikes.
I paused to watch a Blackbird foraging at a scrub margin near the upper mile marker. It was a pleasant surprise when a Roe Deer Doe emerged from the cover a little further downslope. In the open landscape she ran for cover between Gorse clumps only to look back before disappearing towards the gully. My meandering led to our second encounter on the gully slope before she descended deep into the gully. Initially seven Swifts flew east, silently past the mile markers. Either they circuited or were followed by a similar number. My final Swift encounter was near the walling centre where the bird flew high overhead heading east.
On the roadside through the gully three stems of Common Toadflax showed “lemon & custard” flowers, with many stems with whorls promising more to come. Alongside were Red Bartsia. A rumble came from the sea and I could just see upon the cloudy horizon the Condor heading for the Channel Islands or beyond. Several fishing pot markers were off shore and a raft of some seventy sea birds, predominantly Guillemots were upon the sea. I counted at least six Razorbills amongst the raft and noted a Shag leaving the water only to perch at the foot of the sea cliff to spread and dry its wings. I saw five Fulmars upon the wing, possibly six suggesting that all three pairs were off the nest. Herring Gulls, Great Black Back Gulls and even Guillemots arrived from the west rounding Anvil Point.
As I descended the gully steps I noted Golden Samphire flowers had begun to emerge like miniature suns. Thrift still provide a show upon the cliff tops whilst no sign of Sea Campion any more. However, in the castle garden the white flower of the Bladder Campion is like sea campion upon stilts.
On the gully floor I went in pursuit of a butterfly, whilst I lost sight of it I was rewarded in seeing another that I had suspected it to have been. A Painted Lady rested on exposed soil of an Ant Hill. However, higher up the gully slope Marbled Whites were the dominant butterfly with occasional Meadow Browns.