A shock to the system to have to find a waterproof coat for this morning’s patrol, with the thick grey fog the main feature causing lack of visibility and very wet grass!
As I stood above the gully, just the white May blossom of the Hawthorn to be seen amidst the merk, the sound of birds filled the air around, the low cloud cover seeming to amplify the chorus.
The alarm calls of a couple of Blackbirds, the fluty song of the Song Thrush and the insistent ‘chiff-chaff’ of the Chiffchaff were accompanied by the wheeze of Greenfinch, the tinkle on Goldfinch and the ‘teacher-teacher’ call of the Great Tits.
Around me a wonderful variety of flowers, all dripping with water droplets. The bright yellow Bulbous Buttercups providing a much welcome splash of colour as did the Bird’s-foot Trefoil and the Horseshoe Vetch.
A tall pinkish spike caught my attention amongst the tall Cocksfoot, Oat and Meadow Fescue grasses. On inspection this was Hoary Plantain, an easily overlooked flower, amidst the closely related but more common Ribwort Plantain.
The wet ground drawing the molluscs out, with sliding across one of our stone stiles a range of sizes of the Wall Snail – this snail has a distinctively flattened shell, little like a discus. Others spotted were the Garden Snail, Spiral Snail, Brown-lipped Snail and the Trapdoor Snail, just a few of the 20+species on our species list.
Bounding through the long grass were two Roe Deer, just shape in the distance, while nearer to a Rabbit munched the shorter grass.
The squeak of a Bullfinch heard as it landed on a wall, close enough to see the pink breast and white rump – a stunning male bird. Rock Pipits, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks also added to the bird list.
Clumps of bright blue Green Alkanet, cerise Gladiolus, red Field Poppy and yellow Flag Iris provided more to see.
While yesterday evening Pipistrelle Bats were in flight and a Tawny Owl hooted.