After some brief but heavy showers, a dry, but misty morning for the early rounds, with the mist gradually clearing to reveal just a hint of sunshine!
Although it doesn’t entirely feel like it this morning, the summer is drawing on, with the palette of colours among our wildflowers starting to change, as the yellows and whites starting to give way to more pinks and purples.
On the downs, fresh, imperial purple Greater Knapweed is starting to bloom – it’s tall stems bobbing in the gentle southerly breeze.
Nearby, the huge, impressive globular flower-heads of Woolly Thistle are starting to open – their ferocious spines arranged according to the Fibonacci sequence (which provides a solution for fitting the maximum number of prickles in the smallest area – nature tends towards efficiency).
The huge pink tinged flowerheads of Wild Carrot are also in bloom, along with yellow Wild Parsnip – both the ‘originals’ of the plants we eat. Along the top of the Lighthouse Field, the wild ‘Snapdragon’ Common Toadflax is in bloom, with fluffy yellow honey-scented Ladies Bedstraw and white Hedge Bedstraw growing nearby.
On the shorter sward, pink Wild Thyme carpets the ground, studded with the tiny pink-white star-shaped flowers of the wonderfully named Squinancywort.
Countless yellow spikes of Agrimony stick up from among the grasses, with Wild Clary, Vipers Bugloss, Rough Hawkbit and Common Centaury just a few of the other plants in flower.
A Stonechat ‘ticks’ from the top of a Gorse bush, with the twittering of Linnets, ‘tutting’ of a Wren and reeling of Skylarks (invisible in the mist!) also heard.
Do take the chance to take a walk along the cliffs, as many of our breeding seabirds are here for just another week or so, before returning to sea. Guillemots are enjoying a few days without parental responsibilities, now that the chicks have left, with smart black and white Razorbills also on the cliff ledges. Fulmars sweep in smooth curves around the clifftop, with an Oystercatcher flapping past just above the waves.