A sunny morning stretches across the park, heading down light house road, I’m on a mission to make sure the cows are where we left them yesterday after there great escape. Before I can get that far, I’m faced with side quest in the form of a car parked above the mile markers. Having a quick look round for the owner with no luck, I head back to base to leave a note on the car, though when I get back the owners are there and turn out to be some moth trappers Paul had spoken to the previous day.
Now short on time and on my main mission to find the cows I hot step it to field 6. Three Kestrels can be seen flying between the two-mile markers, calling to each other in their high-pitched screech. Perhaps a couple of youngsters with a parent.
I perch quickly on a stone bench looking out over the gully to finish my breakfast I brought in town this morning. Sitting there I’m surround by Bramble in flower with a couple of Gate Keeper Butterflies fluttering around the bush. Looking out the water is almost completely flat; the only noise is the Kestrels and a passing jet ski.
Heading through to 6 I pass a carpet of Wild Carrot some adorned with Soldier Beetles, Red Clover and Red Bartsia. The tall stems of Agrimony tower over the rest, some yellow flowers still clinging to the stems while sticky seeds waiting to be transported by an unsuspecting animal. The sweet smell of Honey Suckle in flower floats on the light wind over to me, where I spot the plant smothering Blackthorn as it climbs its way up its branches.
In 6 I hunt for the Hereford Cattle eventually finding them surrounding their water trough. Above the Skylarks sing at the tops of there lungs, while on the ground I come across a Field Scabious with a Six-Spot Burnet Moth sat atop its flower. The black wings decorated with the distinctive red spots are iridescent in the morning sun.
Back to the learning centre, where one of the bird ringers rings the bell while I write this to show me and Ben a Dartford Warbler, they had caught this morning, one of only 3-4 ever caught here. A tiny little bird with a lovely long tail and a deep brown colour all over. Believed to be a juvenile looking for somewhere to call home, there usually habitat is heathland and are more commonly found in Arne rather thank here.