12 of us met at Durlston Country Park today  under bright skies but it was rather breezy which kept the butterflies out of sight in the meadows.

We ( I mean , I)  were side tracked by a keen Durlston volunteer into the copse by the reservoir in hot pursuit of orchids. Apologies for a bit of wild goose chase and to any of you who got caught in thickets!

Back on track we progressed at a snail’s pace across South Field, such was the array of wild flowers. Most of them were out earlier than one would have expected.  Later we spent another hour or so in both parts of Saxon Field before returning to the Bird Hide in the Learning Centre. All in all, we had a very fruitful visit, walking about ¾ mile in just under 2 hours, though my intention had been to  also get down to the cliff path from Tilly Whim to the Castle which would have ended in a 1.75 mile walk! ( The day before I did a recci and was rewarded with a Bottle Nose Dolphin that followed me along the cliff path – though 200 metres off shore, of course!)

Here are some of the flowers etc in the order we saw them :

Early Purple Orchids,

Common Spotted Orchids.

Bird’s Foot Trefoil

Cowslip

Pale Flax

Horseshoe Vetch

Sainfoin

Tor Grass

Yellow-wort

Yellow Rattle

Corkee Fruited Water Drop-wort

Goats Beard

Rough Hawk’s Beard

Bulbous Buttercups

Southern Marsh Orchid

Green Veined Orchid

Eyebright

Woolly Thistle

Rove Beetle ( Staphylinus Caesareus).

Adder’s Tongue

Crosswort

Early Spider Orchid

Black Medick ( some uncertainty).

Milkwort

Early English Gentian

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We heard a Green Woodpecker and saw ( amongst others) Chaffinch, Chiff Chaff and a Blackcap.

As usual, my list will not be all inclusive