A photo taken in extremis, one handed, whilst grappling the dog to the ground with the other. There had been a great deal of snarling unpleasantness between fox cub and dog before I managed to throw myself onto the dog as the cub desperately tried to find the hole back onto the cliff. All ended well. And this was the first fox cub sighting of the year.

A truly magnificent male Broad Bodied Chaser passing the time in the sun whilst waiting for a passing female.

These horns are ridiculous. A Green Longhorn Moth. It was a breezy morning and the horns were being blown all around the place. Iridescent in the sunlight:

We planted Alder Buckthorn trees last year to support Brimstone Butterflies who specialise on these trees for their caterpillars. This year they are looking slightly more leafy and resilient:

Last year they were stripped of foliage by Brimstone caterpillars which was good but also not good because they hadn’t yet had a chance to establish themselves as trees. There are no caterpillars  this year, but if you look on the underside of the leaves:

Everything is just all so much later this year.

The news from the strip is that the third dosage of seed has now been applied. Wood pigeon, Stock Dove, Linnet and Grey Partridge are regular visitors:

But the increased bird activity hasn’t escaped the notice of the Sparrowhawk:

The meadows are magnificent in their buttercup-edness at the moment:

The Kidney Vetch is coming into flower, with the hope that the Small Blue Butterflies might not be far behind:

And one particular Hawthorn bush has exquisite shades of pink in amongst the white blossom that might cause you to lose yourself in the wondrous beauty of it all and simply marvel at the magnificence of May: