DURLSTON CASTLE & VISITOR FACILITIES CLOSED
And still we have no power……amazing what you can’t do easily without that little electric spark!
However out on the Country Park National Nature Reserve the wildlife is taking advantage of a gorgeous sunny morning with a gentle SW wind. The beautiful sound of a Song Thrush singing form the Sycamore, a mixture of flutey and harsh sounds as it practises for the season.
A Blackbirds is in full voice from the White Poplar while all around the chittering calls of Blue Tits, and a few of the numerous Great Tits calls (supposedly these birds have over 80 different distinct calls – no wonder bird sounds can be difficult to recognise sometimes!
Unusually a flock corvids, consisting of 40 or so Carrion Crows, a few Jackdaws and a Raven was making an almighty cacophony of sound around the Small Copse. I spent a while just checking for Rooks as they are the ones supposedly in flocks not crows.
The ‘seeping’ call of a Greenfinch from the Gorse bushes and the flash of white as a Bullfinch moved through the thick Blackthorn scrub.
On the cliffs the Guillemots crushed onto their ledge with 16 Razorbills bobbing on the water and 3 Fulmars in flight.
The highlight though was 2 Adders, two-tone brown, flattened bodies against the rocks soaking up the sunshine.