Wildflower stroll in Durlston Country Park

After the excitement of  “Meet a Moth” day, we set off for a walk in the meadows around Durlston Country Park.  This has to be one of the best places in the UK for spotting wildlife, a 280 acre countryside paradise consisting of sea-cliffs, coastal limestone downland, haymeadows, hedgerows and woodland. At this time of year it is glorious, stuffed with birds, rare and unusual plants, butterflies and if you are lucky there are dolphins, whales and basking sharks to be spotted out to sea.

N knew which fields are home to the rare Early Spider Orchid and had seen them on a previous walk, but sadly it was too late in the season and the flowers were all finished. This was barely a dissapointment given the beauty of the meadows, decked out in the brilliant deep blue of Chalk Milkwort and fat, hairy clusters of Kidney Vetch.

The day was hot, but a cool sea breeze and a bit of atmospheric haze kept us from shrivelling up as we walked along the clifftops, watching guillimots on their nests and Kittiwakes zooming about below us on stiff wings. This pair of herring gulls were disarmingly affectionate, displaying to each other within a few feet of us. At one point the male coughed up a nice bit of fish for his mate, but rather ungallantly changed his mind and ate it himself… charming!

On the cliffs nearby we found some Houndstongue, it’s deep red flowers only just beginning to open.

Working our way inland we came across white drifts of Sea Campion.

Into one of the meadows now, where we spotted this brilliant green beetle eating buttercup pollen. It’s name, Cryptocephalus aureolus, seems bigger than the insect its-self.

Crossing some cow pasture, the short fine turf revealed tiny, delicate flowers of Eyebright. Each is only a couple of millimetres across.

Eyebright wasn’t the only thing that the short, grazed turf revealed. As we scoured the meadow for any sign of Early Spider Orchids, an even rarer flower came to light. This tiny Early English Gentian studded the turf with lavender stars, and though my picture is out of focus I still wanted to share this lovely little flower.

We did find some orchids eventually, in a meadow shining yellow with tall waving buttercups and filled with birdsong. But that I will save for another post…

Meet A Moth!

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to be in Durlston for the “Meet a Moth” morning,  a short educational event hosted by Durlston Country Park. We arrived at the visitor centre just in time to see Park Ranger Katie Black open the moth trap which had been set up the previous night. The trap contains a bright fluorescent light to attract the moths and a number of egg boxes for the moths to use as shelter once they are in there.  The moths are not harmed, and the Rangers get to record numbers and species of moth to be found in the area.

I didn’t do so well at photographing the beautiful smaller moths, plus I neglected to bring a notebook to record what I had learned, but there were one or two that were striking enough (and big enough!) to stick in my mind and record well on camera.

This incredibly handsome Arctia villica, or Cream Spot Tiger Moth got an admiring “oooooh” when revealed, and was obligingly docile while we admired it’s fine antennae and cream, buff, black and crimson markings.

This Spilosoma Lubricipeda, or White Ermine Moth was not quite so obliging, and upon examination it feigned death by falling onto the floor and refusing to move, a ruse commonly employed by this moth. After being gently retrieved it sat calmly enough for me to get a picture.  I think it looks like some grand character from a fairy tale, wrapped in a fur cloak.

This Phlogophora Meticulosa, or Angle Shades Moth is a handsome and cryptic beast, apparently they are extremely common but due to having such excellent camouflage it often goes unseen.

Now we come to the scene stealer of the day – a beast that drew disbelieving gasps when it came to light. Hyles Livornica, or the Striped Hawk Moth is a rare immigrant species, and with a wingspan of six to eight centemetres it is a big moth as well.

Hopefully the above picture of this moth perching on the warden’s hand gives you some sense of scale. She said that she couldn’t part her fingers, the moth’s grip was so strong.

We were lucky enough to observe it vibrate it’s wings in preperation for flight. While a butterfly will bask in sunshine, a nocturnal moth will use this technique to warm it’s body enough to fly – you can see how blurred it’s wings are in the picture. This close up view gives it quite an owlish aspect I think. When it finally took to the air it’s size was quite startling – I’d like to see the bat with the courage to take it on.

Stale oatcakes and black headed gulls

A couple of weekends ago I went to visit friends on the south coast; on our last day we made up a picnic and headed for Studland bay. We only had a couple of hours and the weather turned a little stormy. However, I’ve always loved the bleakness of a stormy beach and before the rain got too bad we discovered that stale oatcakes are considered a delicacy by black headed gulls.

These small, dainty gulls are beautiful flyers and it diddn’t take long before we had several competing to snatch oatcakes out of the air. I wouldn’t even consider feeding a larger or more aggressive gull such as the herring gull; these birds can become a nuisance in holiday areas where they will attack tourists for their food. This shyer, smaller bird is wary of humans however and we felt quite safe sharing our food with them. It also meant an opportunity to photograph them in flight and close up. Their flight is fast, spectacular and unpredictable; the vast majority of photos from that day show blurred, empty air.

Bucket ‘n’ spade weekend

It’s been a wildly busy week with the launch of the shop, but in a couple of hours time I’ll be jumping on a train to the south coast to visit some friends who live there. I can’t wait to get onto the beach even though the weather will probably be decidedly autumnal. I need the rest, the exercise, the fresh air; I need to be outside. My friends live in Swanage, and every time I’ve walked along the cliff tops there I’ve seen peregrine falcons, so there’ll hopefully even be a bit of nature watching in store. Bliss! Plus, I get to beachcomb. I’m hoping to find some beautiful driftwood to craft with. I never switch off when it comes to finding new materials – never.

Ha ha ha, naughty sea

The joys of sandcastle making

My friend’s three year old and I got absorbed in a bit of digging in the sand last weekend. We built sandcastles on a grand scale, dug moats and made little sandcastles near the tideline to watch them being washed away. While doing this she invented a rhyme to shout at the encroaching waves every time they got one of our sandcastles…

Ha ha ha, naughty sea,

Ha ha ha you won’t get me!

…which was accompanied by much posturing and brandishing of spades.

She’ll make a pirate yet.