A bright and very breezy start to the day, with ‘white horses’ galloping across a sparkling sea and a hazy rainbow arcing across a bright blue sky, with scuffs of high cloud.
The ledges are crammed with Guillemots, jostling, preening, and stretching out their necks to check out new arrivals as other birds fly in, whirring on tiny wings.
Fulmars glide in smooth curves around the clifftop, cutting effortlessly through the wind, as Shags battle ponderously along, just above the sea.
A large flock of 150+ Kittiwakes seen just off Durlston Head, with a few bright white Gannets passing by further out to sea.
Down at Tilly Whim, a great view of a Black Redstart darting among the rocks, flashing his rusty red tail and peeping into a low crack in the cliff-face (perhaps checking out it’s nesting potential?).
As I watch a Peregrine Falcon hurtles past – an elegant silhouette against the brightening sky, with a Kestrel wriggling in the air above Goat Plot.
Elsewhere around the Park, the song of Great Tits is becoming more insistent, with a few fragments of song from Chaffinches, as they begin to ‘warm up’ ready for breeding season. A Skylark, blown by the wind above the meadows murmurs a few sweet notes, before disappearing across the fields.
Winter Heliotrope is still in bloom, filling the air with a scent of Marzipan, while in the woods, the new leaves of Snowdrop, Daffodil, Cow Parsley and Cuckoo Pint are emerging.