A damp start today made for a more gloomy walk through the woodland this morning. The pitter patter of raindrops can be heard all around as they fall through the canopy. Out to sea, the dull outline of Bournemouth can just be made out past Old Harry Rocks, whilst the Isle of Wight is hidden from view altogether.
It’s nice to see patches of green sprouting up along the new play trail – Horsetails, Wood Dock, and Nightshade all competing with one another as they race upwards towards the sunlight. A Common Carder Bee hums as it visits every little flower of a Hemp nettle, before taking flight off into the sky. Throughout the woodland beautiful purple flowers crown the scatterings of Stinking Iris – a very attractive flower for a peculiar smelling plant.
I glance over the freshly fruiting tips of the Apple Tree, losing count of all the green little apples beginning to take shape. I find a White-lipped Snail making its way back from the tip of one branch, having gone for ‘a number two’ right at the end. Watching it slowly slide back along the branch, I realise how long it must have took it to get here. It must have been a very special trip.
Further down in the woodland, I was lucky to see a pair of Bullfinches hopping between the trees along the woodchip path. The duller grey female following the bright red-chested male in quick succession. Along this path, you can smell the Honey-suckle before you can see it. A few steps further, and the cheery yellow flowers come into view, clambering up the trunk of an Ash Tree.
More beautiful flowers to see down at Sunnydale. Although the bright orange Azaleas have now dropped their petals, white and pink Foxgloves tower up through the undergrowth by the stream, and the Rhododendron by the bridge is in full bloom; adorned with its pretty purple flowers. Wrens hop and chirp between it’s branches, whilst the soundscape is filled with the somewhat belligerent song of a Blackcap.