A funny start to the day today which found me herding the cows that had been let out of their field by a careless walker who had left the gate open. Scrambling through Large Copse in search of calves hidden amongst the foliage was not what I had envisioned for my diary walk today, but I did get some extra exercise jogging up and down the fields and waving my jacket around to encourage the naughty cows.
Once that was over I managed to look out for some wildlife. On my way out of Taskers Field I saw a Red Admiral tearing past me on some kind of mission. Robins chattered around the edges of the field looking for a juicy worm or two. Swallows ducked and dived overhead, fattening up for their journey across the channel.
Down along the coast path Sea Aster stood out brightly against the drying grass and flowers, a few bright spots of colour before the colours of autumn kick in. The cliffs and skies looked very quiet, the odd Great Black-backed Gull drifting by, Jackdaws and Pigeons performing aerial acrobatics in gusts of wind. Walking past the globe I noticed something huddled at the top of the cliff and, on closer inspection with binoculars, found a Peregrine Falcon huddled against the cool breeze coming off the sea. It sat scanning the coastline, every now and then turning to look in my direction. Eventually it hopped off its perch and with a few strong wing beats took off eastwards.
A variety of Warblers warbled away in the bushed out of view on my way back to the learning centre and my final view was a Chiffchaff hopping around branches by the hide.