Townsend Reserve & Durlston Country Park
A fine start to the morning: bright sunshine, frost on the grass. Headed down to the coast to visit the Townsend Nature Reserve, a disused quarry on the high ground above Swanage.
One of the old ponies that graze the reserve to keep the scrub under control.
Sheltered hollows and sunny chalk banks provide an ideal habitat for wild flowers and butterflies.
Cowslips and Early Purple Orchids, and the sea in the distance. I had been hoping for a few Green-winged Orchids as well, but found none. (I think I'll have to climb Ballard Down if I want to see Green-winged Orchids. But Ballard Down is very steep. How great is my desire to see Green-winged Orchids? Will it get me up the sides of Ballard Down?)
Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula).
The first buttercups appearing, and bobble-headed Salad Burnet.
From the Townsend Reserve there's a sheltered grassy footpath running behind houses, where the hawthorn is in blossom and the air full of almond scent.
The first Common Blue butterfly of the year.
Tall stands of Black Mustard (Brassica nigra) reaching for the clouds.
Creeping tendrils of Yellow Vetchling (Lathyrus aphaca) reaching for company.
From here we headed across the hay meadows, a series of rectangular fields bounded by dry stone walls. They have only recently been laid up for hay, so there's not much in flower yet - Pale Flax and Cowslips. Come June the hay meadows are a sea of wild flowers. At this time of year visitors have to keep to the paths so as not to disturb the ground-nesting skylarks, but there are so many paths - paths leading in all directions - that this is not a hardship.
The sun's getting warm!
From the meadows onto rough pasture sloping down to the sea:
The scrub is full of warblers.
Whitethroat (Sylvia communis) above the sea.
From here we followed a track along the high ground, past the lighthouse at Anvil Point, to Durlston Castle; where it was time for tea and cake at the dog-friendly café, sitting in the sunshine with views of Swanage Bay:
Three of the tables on the terrace were occupied. At the next table, a couple with a toddler in a pushchair. Whenever the toddler gurgled with laughter, his dad said, "It's good here, innit?", in a broad Birmingham accent. At the table beyond that, two gentlemen with a Boxer dog with a long waggy tail. The couple with the toddler admired the Boxer. The men with the Boxer admired the toddler. Everyone admired the weather and the view.
Durlston Castle (photo taken last year). For fans of the unnecessary turret. Not really a castle. Built in 1886-87 for Swanage businessman George Burt as a restaurant for visitors to Durlston. Designed by the Weymouth architect G.R. Crickmay.