A much cooler start to the day, with curls of high grey cloud and patches of blue among a sea of leaden grey. Out at sea, a ribbon of bright gold along the horizon, however, the early rounds actually seemed darker at the end than the beginning!
A still grey sea laps against the cliffs, with a raft of Guillemots bobbing on the water off Durlston head – one still in speckled ‘winter’ plumage. Further along the clifftop trail, the ledge is packed with more Guillemots, shuffling, pecking and preening as other whir in and out on tiny, flickering wings.
Further out at sea, 3 gleaming white Gannets cruise westwards, before settling on the water, with 12 Scoter passing by in the distance.
Near the Observation Point, once again, a Great Black-backed Gull occupies a rocky outcrop, with a Peregrine perched a few yards above it, ruffling and fluffing her feathers, while keeping a watchful eye over one shoulder! A flock of Jackdaws squabble and chatter around the Dolphin Watch hut, with a small flock of Feral Pigeon gathered on the short, clifftop turf.
Returning along the Diagonal Path, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits and Stonechats dart among the flowering Gorse, as a Jay tears acorns from the branches of a Holm Oak.
The meadows are very squelchy this morning, with a Roe Deer pausing to stare at me near the Copse, before bounding, loose-limbed into the trees, while Badgers have been digging up the path, leaving characteristic triangular scuffs in the woodchip.
A Green Woodpecker bobs across the Car Parks, as if bounced on a piece of elastic, as a flock of Woodpigeon clatter by, just above my head!
In the corner car park, a Goldcrest weaves among the foliage of a Black Pine, as a Magpie swaggers across the tarmac below.