The golden glow of the sun accompanied by a cooling breeze greeted us as we arrived at Durlston this morning! The meadows looked as stunning as ever. The perfect mix of gold, purple and white flowers, like gems amongst the tall grass. Plenty of butterflies were out this morning, including Marbled Whites, Small, Large and Lulworth Skippers, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper. And I’m sure there will be plenty more as the day goes on.
There were plenty of Six-Spot Burnet Moths this morning, loitering around the Thistles and Field Scabious.
From the meadows, we headed down the gully towards the lighthouse. At this point, the finches started to make an appearance. We heard the meek call of a Bullfinch before it flew off back up the meadows. Lots of juvenile Goldfinches, pottering around at the top of the Bramble and Hawthorn. And finally, a company Linnets flew over in a cloud of chattering and peeping.
The sea looked serine this morning. The odd Guillemot, Shag and Herring Gull sat out on the water bobbing on the miniature waves. All seemed peaceful before the ‘cronk’ of an irritated Raven followed by the screeching of a Peregrine interrupted the silence. One bird I didn’t expect to see this morning was a Grey Heron. It appeared to be following the coastline, looking very lost.
Heading back to the castle, the coast path is beautifully bordered by the pink and white flowers of Bindweed. The Rock Pipits were busy hoping from wall to wall, flying just that little bit further away as we walked along and the odd Stonechat peeped out from the hedgerow.
Returning to the learning centre there were plenty of ‘garden birds’ about, pottering around the edge of Longmeadow. A European Robin perched perfectly on the edge of a Blackthorn branch, long enough to get a good photo.