After last night’s very heavy short burst of rain (13.5mm, approx. ½ inch) there were numerous puddles across the Country Park, making keeping my feet dry a nigh on impossible task!
With the sun appearing to be having a lie in, it was a very dull and dark start to my walk, which made differentiating between the bird species even more difficult than usual.
Below the cliffs about 50 Auks were bobbing, eventually I was able to spot 5 Razorbills amongst all the others, which were Guillemots, on this occasion it was their actions of tapping bills rather than shape or colour that distinguished them apart.
On the cliffs, the breeding ledge was again chocks with Guillemots while a Herring Gull perched on an outcrop and 3 Fulmars soared magnificently in and out and around.
The sound of a Great Tit calling ‘teacher-teacher’ came from the downland scrub, while the Tamarisk was providing a perch for a Stonechat.
Walking further west the squeaky call of Bullfinches alerted me to their presence, seeing them proved very difficult as a shaft od superb gold sunlight was now piercing the sky making a very stark and dramatic contrast between the sky and the shadows – so I couldn’t see the brightly coloured birds amongst the twigs of Blackthorn!!
However, a little further along the sounds of ‘tick’ and ‘chittt’ from the rambling mass of Traveller’s Joy, and I was able to enjoy watching a small flock of Long-tailed Tits as they searched for morsels of food, a constant requirement oat this time of yar for most small birds.
A few berries still to be discovered including the Haws (dull red on the Hawthorns), European Spindle (bright pink and orange inside), Japanese Spindle (dull pink) and Snow Berries (dirty white) on the bushes, as well as the bright orange Stinking Iris.