On the last day of the month, I was grateful for the absence of rain although it was still blustery.
A risen sun was offshore and the Jackdaws, at first, were inland away from the coastal slopes. A score of Woodpigeon separated over the coastal slopes, later I would see fifty of the birds over Long Meadow suggesting the beginning of a migration gathering. Silently, a Raven glided over the coastal downland although it was shortly interacting with a trio of Carrion Crows, in aerial “argy-bargy”. The fact that a Knapweed flower was still showing a healthy bloom might have been attributed to the cow pat at its base. An octet of unidentified flitting birds, in undulating flight, passed over the green. I heard the calls of a Stonechat before reaching the Lighthouse. Strangely the Jackdaws arrived at the Lighthouse around the same time as me. The Jackdaws did not want two Magpies to share the overhead wires perch. One Magpie was unusually seen clinging sideways onto a telegraph pole.
Upon the green there were the flowers of a Common Daisy (head closed), Hawkbit (yellow) and the Knapweeds. Near the cliffs I found four Golden Samphire flowers and eight Sea Aster flowers beside Tilly Whim steps. But none of this before seeing two Pin Cushion Gall upon a wild rose that poked out of a rock exposure. A brief boom, splash and spray occurred as a bigger wave hit the gully mouth. The saline scent was in the air.
High over the goat plot was a Kestrel, whilst at the cliff top a dozen Racing Pigeons rested. Teasel basal leaf rosettes and the solid fronds of Harts Tongue Fern were beside Tilly Whim steps. It took some effort to count, albeit only nine, Guillemots perched in the cliff face cave. Offshore, wrenched from their anchors, drift mats of see weed. Many Jackdaws and Carrion Crows rode an updraft near the observation point, but a Raven was sent away. The bigger black corvid instead flew in arcs off the sea cliffs, perhaps playing at being Fulmar!