A wild, windy morning, with Ash, Sycamore and Holm Oaks dancing in the breeze, and a White Poplar near the Learning Centre, flashing the silver leaves which give it it’s name.
In the woodland, dry Holm Oak leaves tumble along the paths (although Holm Oaks shed their leaves throughout the year, the dry weather has led to a heavy fall in the last month).
The wind ripples through the meadow grasses like a sea. Green, shiny Meadow Barley gleams as it shivers in the wind, while in a sheltered corner of the meadows, Upright Brome is almost as tall as me! Tiny, delicate Quaking Grass trembles in the wind, while purple tinged Yorkshire Fog is also starting to flower.
On the downs, coarse clumps of vivid green Tor Grass (the food plant for the Lulworth Skipper) stand out among the gentler greens and gold, while in the meadows, short mown circles of turf reveal where we are trying to slow it’s spread in these areas.
Lots of colourful meadow flowers in bloom at the moment – in the Paddock, hundreds of Common Spotted Orchids form a dense swarm, along with Pyramidal and Bee Orchids. A great year for Meadow Vetchling – a large, straggling yellow-flowered member of the Pea family, with many dense tangles of leaves and flowers. Nearby, it’s smaller, more golden relative Birdsfoot Trefoil is also in bloom.
Ox-eye Daisies sway gracefully, along with a forest of the delicate white Umbellifer Corky-fruited Water Dropwort, dense clouds of pink Sainfoin, stubby Yellow Rattle, Meadow Buttercup and pink Field Bindweed to name just a few.
Wild Thyme forms pools of dark pink among the short downland turf, yellow Common Toadflax (the wild version of a Snapdragon) is on flower along the top of the Lighthouse Field, the pink tinged umbels of Wild Carrot bob among the taller grasses, along with Comfrey, Wild Madder, the hairy, silver leaves of Fleabane and savagely spiky Woolly Thistle.
In the hedges and scrub, Stinking Iris is looking magnificent, with Honeysuckle and Elder adding their sweet scents. Hawthorns are already covered in ripening green ‘Haws’, with the first tiny green Blackberries starting to appear.