A beautiful summer morning, with a strong ENE breeze rushing through the meadows and sending waves rippling through the tall grasses. Off the cliffs, ‘white horses’ gallop across a blue sea.
Just outside the centre, a pair of Greenfinches dart along the top of a hedgerow – their golden green plumage echoing the colours of the meadow below them. Nearby a Stonechat ‘chats’ (the sound of two pebbles being tapped together), with a few Swallows swooping and twittering overhead.
The meadows themselves are looking fantastic – a colourful tapestry of wildflowers framed by vibrant green hedgerows.
The golden grasses are dappled with thousands of bright pink Pyramidal Orchids, with the tall, Imperial Purple flowers of Great Knapweed swaying above them. In Centenary meadow, swathes of tall pink Sainfoin are also in bloom, while among the grasses below, the curious, pale orange flowers of Common Broomrape can be found.
Dense patches of Yellow Rattle can be found in most of the meadows – this semi-parasite weakens the surrounding grasses, creating space for other wildflowers. Newly in bloom is the bright purple Tufted Vetch, along with the jewel-like Grass Vetchling.
A wide variety of grasses are also in bloom – their variety of flowers less colourful, but just as fascinating as those of other flowering plants. The tiny Quaking Grass is living up to it’s name this morning, with its intricately patterned flower-heads bobbing in the breeze. At the other extreme, Tall Fescue towers almost as high as my shoulders, with shiny green Meadow Barley and golden Tor Grass forming pools of colour.
Along the cliffs, Guillemots and Razorbills are still on the ledges, although numbers are starting to thin out as the chicks start to leave. Fulmars wheel smoothly above them, with a Great Black-backed Gull bobbing on the water just below the ledges.
Further out to sea, a few Gannets cruise by, as Rock Pipits skitter along the clifftop.
Returning along the Diagonal Path, a Green Woodpecker ‘chuckles’ as it bobs it’s way across Goat Plot.