puddleshark

A walk up through the nature reserve at Durlston to see the cowslips in flower, listen to the skylarks singing above the meadows by the sea.

I thought there might be Early Purple Orchids in flower at the Townsend Reserve, in among the banks and hollows of the old quarry workings, but I always forget how cold it is up on the high ground above Swanage. No orchids in flower there yet. It is still cowslip and violet season.

The path through the scrub from the Townsend Reserve to Durlston Meadows.

The Old Man's Beard (Clematis vitalba) scrambling up enthusiastically.

If it can't find any other vegetation to cling onto, it wraps itself round itself.

Durlston Meadows, and in the distance the sea. There are step stiles built into the dry stone walls beside the gates, so you can clamber over without opening the gates, if you are feeling active. Or if you wish to prove to yourself that you are not too old to climb over step stiles. Not as many cowslips in the meadows this year. The grass is much longer than usual, and the meadow wild flowers are struggling to compete. Looks like it was too wet a winter to leave the cattle out grazing.

Pale Flax.

In sheltered corners of the meadows, hawthorn blossom appearing, and the air full of the sweet, slightly sickly scent.

The dry stone walls on the meadows are a work of art.

Someone had very kindly built a stone bench in the lea of one of the dry stone walls, and I sat there out of the cool east wind, in the warm sunshine, drinking coffee. A very peaceful place. No sound of traffic. Just the skylarks singing high above the meadows, wrens trilling from hidden crannies in the hedges, whitethroats singing scratchy bursts of song from perches in the thorn bushes.