My outing yesterday was not primarily a bird finding exercise but true to form it played a big part in the day’s events. The April showers have finally arrived resulting in me keeping a firm eye on the skies throughout the day!
I started at Dancing Ledge looking for orchids and then moved on to Durlston Country Park with the same objective. The day was sunny but you could see the storm clouds building up inland which made for an interesting journey back to Silverlake!
Above Dancing Ledge is a large area of gorse shrubs and trees which looks great for any migrants that find land above the ledge. I spent an hour or so here with a couple of Spotted Flycatcher and a Lesser Whitethroat were the best of the passerines.
A search in the fields for orchids had a few Early Spider Orchids the majority of which had already passed. But a note to self was made to re-visit a week earlier next year.
Butterflies were very thin on the ground with a Common Blue and a few Wall Browns at the base of the wall separating the scrub from the field.
Mid afternoon I moved on to Durlston Country Park and had a walk around the Wildlife trail looking for Early Purple Orchid. I had been told that the Early Spider Orchids had passed but they tend to be later than the Dancing ledge plants.
The fields were loaded with an array of colours, Cowslip being common in some areas.
Another flower that caught my eye in the mass of yellows and white was I believe to be Sainfoin. Most of these fields have Skylark therefore it is important not to venture off the designated paths.
The sun was still shining but the cloud was definitely building up in the area. News of a Barnacle Goose at Silverlake (Thanks Roly!) had me head in the direction of home through monsoon like rain and thunder storms! The Barnie was still there with the heavy rain showers!
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