Look! There blooms a fresh new flower
Hark! A Whitethroat’s calling
Too much to see in just an hour
Here! A beetle crawling
Aha! A glimpse of orange blurs
Two Kestrels show their fitness
From all directions wildlife stirs
More than one man can witness
I crossed the Car Park under a layer of altostratus this morning, heading down to the castle past Rough Hawkbit, Ladies Bedstraw and Scarlet Pimpernel. Enchanters Nightshade was flowering on the Timeline and I quickly attended to some housekeeping (including freeing a Large Yellow Underwing moth in the Gallery). before heading down the Coast Path.
Caravan Terrace housed a few Great Tits, as well as layers of Self Heal, Black Medic and Birds Foot Trefoil over the grass. Green Woodpeckers arced between trees, emitting short, strangled calls rather than their usual “yaffles”. Perhaps they’ve caught colds?
Further down I spotted my first Marbled White, fluttering near some White Valerian on the seaward side of the path. Landward, Woody Nightshade still grew in abundance with a single Great Periwinkle flowering at the bottom of the steps leading to the Great Globe.
Whitethroats sung out from the scrub as I continued on, passing a flowering Teasel then spotting a washed out looking Painted Lady and a Small Skipper on the wing. The Guillemot ledge was vacant, though 20 or so birds were floating on the water. A few Rock Pipits were perched along the cliffs. I also spied a Bloody Nosed Beetle Larvae above the Tilly Whim Caves.
Dropping down to the Gulley the butterfly population changed, with more Meadow Browns, as well as a Small Copper, Lulworth Skipper and a Large White or two. A disjointed screech drew my attention and I saw a Kestrel descend to earth, then rise frustrated and flap away. Distracted by this I missed another butterfly, which flapped away before I could identify it. There’s just too much to see these days.