What a difference a day makes! After a beautiful golden start to the day yesterday, I stepped out of the door this morning into howling wind and a spattering of rain.
Up the hill, Holm Oak leaves tumble along the woodland paths and eddy and dance around the viewpoints, while overhead Sycamores, Limes, Ashes and London Planes creak and groan in the wind.
The bright orange starbursts of Stinking Iris seeds are scattered across the woodland floor, while around them the heart-shaped leaves of Dog Violets are starting to appear, along with the spiky leaves of Snowdrops, delicate traceries of Herb Robert and Cow Parsley and dense carpets of Winter Heliotrope, with a few pink, vanilla-scented flowers.
A Blackbird pours his sweet, fluting notes into the air as he improvises from among the branches of a Yew near Solent Road, with Chaffinches, Blue, Great and Coal Tits all seen through the woods, with Bullfinch and Goldcrest among the scrub below Caravan Terrace.
‘White horses’ race across Durlston Bay, with Guillemots and Razorbills flickering past the cliffs, as Fulmars cut through the gusty winds with effortless mastery.
A flock of Feral Pigeons circle in dizzying spirals around the Observation Point, with a Peregrine Falcon, the wind ruffling her feathers.
As I stopped to look down at the entrance to Tilly Whim, thinking about the replacement gates which are being made at the moment, I was treated to the best view I have ever had of a Black Redstart as he flew in to perch on top of the ‘gate’, hopping backwards and forwards with piping calls and flashing his fiery orange feathers.
As I returned up the Diagonal Path, another treat as a Dartford Warbler popped briefly out of the Gorse, before diving back into cover.