Another sunny morning, with a fresh breeze carrying with it the scents of Durlston in the summer – the ‘new mown hay’ smell of Sweet Vernal Grass, hints of Honeysuckle and Elderflower and the sea.
The meadows are ablaze with colour. Dark pink Pyramidal Orchids and pale purple Common Spotted Orchids form large ‘swarms’, with patches of golden yellow Birdsfoot Trefoil tangled together with the pink and white ‘trumpets’ of Field Bindweed, along with the tough, tangled stems of Common Restharrow.
Yellow Rattle is starting to live up to it’s name, as it turns from yellow and green to bronze, with Common Mouse-ear, the weird parasitic Common Broomrape, dark blue Selfheal and Black Medick, forming a dense jungle. Above them, Corky-fruited Water Dropwort, Wild Parsnip, Pale Flax, Ox-eye Daisies and Greater Knapweed form a colourful canopy.
A little windy for most butterflies today, although a few Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites are battling the breeze. Lots of Bloody-nose Beetles plod through the grass, with the songs of Field and Meadow Grasshoppers heard in more sheltered corners. The golden chrysalises of Six-spot Burnet Moths are also starting to appear – the beautiful black and red adults should be on the wing very soon.
On a patch of short downland turf, the trailing stems and tiny star-shaped flowers of Bastard Toadflax (or ‘Stars in Grass’) can be found, along with the totally unrelated Common Toadflax. Wild Thyme is also flowering, along with Stemless Thistle, Hop Trefoil and Common Centaury.
Goldfinches, Linnets, Blue and Great Tits, Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, Stonechats and Skylarks all seen or heard around the hedgerows and scrub, with a quick glimpse of a Yellowhammer (‘with head of solid gold’) on the downland ridge.
Guillemots and Razorbills bounce on the waves, with many more on the ledges or on the wing. Their chicks have already started to leave and by the second week of July, they will all be back at sea. Fulmars glide by above them, with Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull and Shag also seen.