A still, sunny morning, with just a few wisps of cloud adrift high in a bright blue sky. A gentle breeze wanders though the meadows, stirring ripples among the grasses, which are mellowing to shades of bronze and gold. The air is filled with the songs of grasshoppers below and the carolling of Skylarks high above.
Eye-poppingly bright Bush Vetch – an intense purple, scrambles over Brambles, as Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and Red Admirals flutter above it.
The meadows are a glorious palette of colour – from the deep purple of Common Knapweed, to the more delicate lilac flowers of Field Scabious, yellow spikes of Agrimony and thousands of Rough Hawkbit flowers, like little suns. The white umbels of Corky-fruited Water Dropwort are jumbled together with the flat, pink tinged heads of Wild Carrot – many of them covered with mating, brick-red Soldier Beetles.
Pink Pyramidal Orchids form dense ‘swarms’, alongside patches of fluffy yellow honey-scented Ladies Bedstraw.
Glossy red and black Six-spot Burnet Moths flutter among the flowers, along with lots of Marbled Whites and Common Blues, with a Dark Green Fritillary soaring powerfully along a hedgerow.
On the downs, Burdock is almost up to chest height and it’s prickly flowers are starting to turn purple, with the intricate arrangement of prickles on the heads of Woolly Thistle looking especially fine. Other taller plants include yellow Wild Parsnip and fluffy-leaved Great Mullein.
At the other end of the scale, Yellow Meadow Ant hills are carpeted with the tiny purple flowers of Wild Thyme, with white Hedge Bedstraw, Squinancywort and the wild ‘Snapdragon’ Common Toadflax among many others.
A female Kestrel flutters her wings as she hangs in the air above the Lighthouse Field, with a Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly seen near the Wildlife Area.