About the car park a Chaffinch called, a Robin explored, and Blackbirds were active. It was a Magpie that flew in undulating flight into the wildlife garden. Amongst the verge it was the low flight of Wren that was followed by a machine gun rattle. Entering castle woods, I was greeted by the varied melodies of a Song Thrush. Below fresh Arum leaves poked through an Ivy carpet. A Grey Squirrel was poised frozen upon a Sycamore branch as it stared towards the trunk. Upon my approach it scampered to, then down the trunk before using branches to enter neighbouring Holm Oak cover.
Beside the diagonal path fresh Tor Grass was evident. It was a delight to find two Wasp (or Tiger) Spider egg sacks amongst Gorse flowers. Like trapped, miniature hot air balloons were protecting eggs / spider mites inside. The Hereford Cattle were doing well grazing the grass and revealing the Gorse regrowth in Goat Plot. Some two score Jackdaws erupted on the cliff top after perhaps one too many had joined their settled group. As Guillemots flew out to sea one Shag headed east where it would pass a trio of Fulmars flying close to the cliff face. Whilst some sixty Guillemots were upon the sea, the ledge was bust as four perched on the sloping boulder surface. Amongst this one hundred plus seabirds were at least a dozen Razorbills on the water.
A pair of Ravens flew east along the cliff face soon to return. One hopped about the gate post then coastal drystone wall. I saw one with a pale object in its beak which it worked upon whilst on the ground. It was a Jay that squawked as it travelled between Holm Oak cover beside the Goat Plot.
A male Stonechat called from a Bramble clump below the Lighthouse whilst the Solitary Bee holes near by were dormant. I was delighted to see that my colleagues had moved a gate and added a battery so that our extended grazing area on Lighthouse Field was “live”. However, as there was no sign of cattle activity, I called the herd over to “fresh grazing”. Obediently, they arrived, but I took care to stand off the road as the beasts skidded upon it. The older Hereford Cattle sniffed the ground beyond, where the former gate had been, before plunging into new ground. There was the clear sound of an unseen Skylark about Horseshoe Bridge. As I ascended a well grazed downland sward the sun had risen above the lighthouse and shone between cloud.