A rather grey and breezy start to the day, though as I write, shards of bright blue sky are revealed among the slabs of grey cloud, promising a brighter day ahead.
Around the meadows, the hedgerows are full of birdsong, with the ‘scratchy’ song of Lesser Whitethroats ringing out from all around me. A swelling chorus includes the sweet, repeated melodies of Song Thrushes, the bright notes of Blackbirds, wheezing calls of Great Tits, the accelerating ‘bouncing ping-pong ball’ song of Chaffinches and insistent song of Robins.
Overhead, Skylarks pour their ‘careless rapture’ into the air as they flutter above their nest sites. To help protect these wonderful birds, please keep you dog on paths, either on a lead or under very close control.
In some of the meadows, a scattering of yellow Cowslips is starting to turn into a tide, trembling in the breeze. Here and there, a few of the delicate, light blue flowers of Pale Flax are starting to appear, with the leaves and first flowers of Common Vetch tangled around their base. A few Ox-eye Daisies are almost in flower – just a hint of what is to come!
Early Spider Orchids are scattered in their thousands across the downland, their flowers starting to fade, but fresh Early Purple and Green-winged Orchids are still opening. On the shortest turf, white flowered Common Mouse Ear (with the lovely, furry leaves which give it it’s name), the purple-red flowerheads of Salad Burnet, dark blue Milkwort and yellow-green Crosswort are all in bloom.
Clifftop flowers are also starting to appear, with the pink flowers of Sea Thrift increasing along the cliff edge, pushing up from the cushions of green leaves where the plant stores water. A few early flowers of Sea Campion can also be seen.
The soft growls of Guillemots rise up from the water, with a few blacker Razorbills dotted among the ‘bazaar’. Fulmars wheel smoothly above them, with the plaintive cry of a passing Oystercatcher echoing off the cliffs. Gannet, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull and Shag also on the wing, with a Peregrine streaking past Tilly Whim.