Today felt much like yesterday, dull, overcast, not too cold, but the wind has started to pick up a bit. The sun rise was pretty spectacular, a thin seem of reddish orange light sandwiched between sea and cloud.
There are lots of mushroom in the meadows at the moment. The Peticoat Mottlegills are still emerging from the cow pats, there are odd patches of Pale Brittlestem dotted around and on the downs, some huge Field Mushrooms!
I didn’t spot the male Black Redstart that had been spotted at the Lighthouse yesterday but instead a Brambling flew over accompanied by two Chaffinches.
The clifftops were reasonably busy this morning, 3 Greater Black-Backed Gulls, 2 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, 7 Shags, 30+ Herring Gulls lots of Guillemots and lots of Jackdaws! A single Cormorant flew overhead towards Old Harry’s Rocks.
In the Woodland, there are lots of fungi emerging from the log edging, Holme Oak stumps and habitat piles including few species of Stereum fungi and the odd crust and bracket fungus.
As I was walking back up along Longmeadow, a Song Thrush and several Robins darted back into the hedgerow. Overhead, 2 Ravens cronked to each other, much to the displeasure of a Peregrine which decided to mob one of the Ravens.
Up by the Learning centre, lots of Robins and Wrens, busying themselves on the verges of scrub, Blue Tits and Great Tits moving as a flock and the odd Blackbird, Jay and Magpie foraging. I spotted two male Blackbirds which appeared to be winter visitors from mainland Europe. They had darker bills and lacked the bright eye ring of our resident Blackbirds.