The spring is most definitely sprung! All over the park, signs of new life are appearing by the day as the turning year transforms the sights, sounds and smells of Durlston!
The meadows are covered with a sea of yellow Cowslips, bobbing gently in the breeze, with dark pink Early Purple Orchids (their leaves spattered with black spots, like ink) scattered among them.
Skylarks soar into the air overhead, filling the sky with song, with the ‘schwee’ of Greenfinches, ‘squeaky bike-pump’ song from Great Tits, accelerating cascades from Chaffinches and the first of the ‘scratchy’ song of a Whitethroat I have heard this year. A Song Thrush calls out his sweet, repeated melody; “That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over, lest you should think he never could recapture the first fine careless rapture!”.
On the downland, more and more blue Hairy Violets are opening each day, with the spikes of the ‘dusty’ blue flowers of Wild Clary pushing up through the long grass near the Gully. Hundreds of the ‘furry’ brown and green flowers of Early Spider Orchids are scattered across the short turf, while the air is filled with the sweet scent of Blackthorn blossom. A Roe Deer grazes in a secluded glade among the Gully scrub.
In the woods, Primroses, Ramsons, Cow Parsley and Green Alkanet are all in bloom, with Wild Cherry also covered in flowers, with Speckled Wood butterflies circling sunny glades, to chase off other males.
On the cliffs, the first China Blue Guillemot egg has been laid, with many more to come over the next week or two. Dozens of Guillemots straggle across the water, along with a few much blacker Razorbills, as Fulmars glide, stiff-winged in sweeping arcs above them.
A Peregrine perches on a rocky outcrop below the Observation Point, turning her head to watch a squabbling gang of Jackdaws pass by.