Exquisite though this 6 spot burnet moth is, the real star of my day spent on the Mendips was watching a skylark ascend from the ground. It was towards the end of three hours on a bug safari with my friend Higgy. We were on Dracott Sleights reserve, a place I first visited in May when this calcareous grassland was alive with blue butterflies. Today, after a week of torrential rain, although it was dry, the day was cool and blustery. Not great for butterfly watching. Sporadic bursts of sunshine worked their magic and lifted many meadow brown and a few common blue butterflies onto the wing, only for their disappearance as the cloud came over again. A good day though enriched by the skylark as it flew higher and higher in full song. So high in fact it was almost out of sight. Its song however remained strong and clear despite its distance from me and the blustery wind. After three minutes or more rising and rising, he began the slow parachute fall back to earth until when the right moment arrived, down he came at speed and out of sight. Silence. We'd been rooted to the spot for over 5 minutes, hardly daring to breath and transfixed. The natural world is very good at doing that to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment