puddleshark

Took a walk with C. and her terrier through the meadows above the sea near Acton. Meadow Brown butterflies fluttering among the yellow July grasses. Skylarks singing from the clouds.

Hay meadows full of white lacy flowers of Wild Carrot and yellow-flowered Bristly Ox-tongue.

The path to the sea.

It's quite lonely along the higher paths through the meadows - most walkers descend to follow the cliff path. But it's a lovely landscape of rough pasture and dry stone walls and birdsong. In normal years, the thistles would be full of the humming of bees, but this year bumblebees are scarce. I saw only a handful.

Linnets.

Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) on Red Clover.

Lulworth Skipper (Thymelicus acteon) on Pyramidal Orchid.

But the UK Big Butterfly Count doesn't begin until tomorrow, so none of these count. (Not that the count includes Lulworth Skippers anyway. It's more concerned with recording numbers of garden butterflies).

There might be a terrier in this picture.

There might be a hare in this picture.

Birds seen along the way, but not photographed:
Skylarks fluttering up from the meadows
Ravens against the clouds
A Peregrine Falcon being mobbed by gulls
A pair of Kestrels hunting above the steep slopes of the coombe.