No sign of the Dolphins that delighted throngs of people on the terrace of the Café on Monday. 10 dolphins heading East, following the Shannon Lifeboat. They were observed as taking great interest in the new water jet engine, something that hasn’t been observed locally before. We even had a report of a Basking Shark and a Sun Fish that day as well, though these were reports and were not verified by a Ranger at the time.
This morning still has a warm glow about it, though the wind has a slight chill rippling through. The sky is blue with sweeping white clouds above the park but over in the West a dark thickset cloud looms, towering up from the horizon. The meadows are starting to be cut and are drying where it fell, ready for the Farmer to bail up. Our Wednesday volunteer parties have been busy pulling the ragwort out of these areas in time for this annual event, so slightly less yellow in the meadows over the past few weeks! A partial bit of South Field, by the Small Copse, hasn’t been cut is still showing Field Scabious, Restharrow, Knapweed, Wild Carrot (the heads of which are turning a rich purple), Yellow Rattle and Agrimony. Meadow Brown butterflies still patrol above, tumbling and bumbling their way across in their unpredictable fashion.
On the top of the Downs Adonis Blue butterflies are showing nicely, drawing me to try and pursue one at rest, but they are too wily and evade me every time I get close. A singular Common Blue skirts about the Tor Grass, a grass typical of Calcareous Grassland and favoured by the Lulworth and Essex Skipper butterflies, whilst Ladies Bedstraw is showing nicely around the quarries and Birdsfoot Trefoil lines the side of the path. Across the Gully, being carried on the Westerly wind was the sound of a squeaky gate, also known as a Bullfinch, as a clattering of Jackdaws patrol in a tightly knitted pack.
On the floor was a big puff of feathers, a fresh Peregrine kill I thought. I was wrong, in fact it was the thistledown from a Wooly Thistle scattered across the path and blowing in the wind, dispersing its seeds for the next generation.