A grey and showery start to the day, with banks of high grey cloud rolling steadily across a steely sky.
A strong south-westerly breeze scours the clifftop, carving intricate patterns of ripples into the sea in Durlston Bay. Overhead, a Peregrine hurtles past – her silhouette all points and angles, looping round to return just feet above the cliff edge.
Meanwhile, a flock of 20 Jackdaws explode into the air in a chaotic, noisy tangling mass of birds, filling the air with their squabbling calls.
Down below, a single, winter plumage Guillemot (dappled black and white) – perhaps a young bird which hasn’t yet bred, or a visitor from further north. Many more Guillemots packed ‘shoulder to shoulder’ on the ledges. Hard to be sure, but the majority are already in their smart, breeding plumage (they change into a ‘little black number’ as breeding season approaches!).
A Shag flaps along just above the sea, with a pair of bright white Gannets out in the distance.
In the woodland, a Treecreeper scuttles up the smooth trunk of a London Plane near Sunnydale, as a Dunnock shuffles, mouse-like through a bank of dry leaves along the Coast Path. Overhead, the harsh shriek of a Jay makes me jump, before it emerges from the dense foliage of a Holm Oak with a flash of blue wing feathers.
A Blackbird is breakfasting in the Aviary Glade, hauling worms from the soft turf. Returning up Long Meadow, a Green Woodpecker ‘chuckles’ as it bobs past, with a family of Long-tailed Tits working their way along the hedgerow.
Splashes of colour in the hedges and scrub – bright yellow Gorse flowers, orange ‘starbursts’ of Stinking Iris berries, and bright pink Spindle berries – starting to open to reveal their pale orange centres.