A much warmer start to the day, though still cold enough to dust the meadows with frost, making the grass crunch pleasingly underfoot and bramble leaves sparkle as the sun rises.
A stunning ‘skyscape’ overhead, with patches of violet and blue creating a lovely ‘mother of pearl’ effect above a ruddy sunrise. Waves are tinged with red, as they lap gently against the cliffs, where Guillemots are crowded onto the ledges, with more whirring in and out to sea on their little, flickering wings. A pair of Great Black-backed Gulls glide in lazy arcs, with several Shags flapping by just above the waves.
A Peregrine Falcon slides by, just below the clifftop, it’s slate-grey body well-camouflaged against the sea, with a train of Brent Geese out on the brightening horizon.
At Tilly Whim, a few patches of Sea Aster are still in bloom – it’s purple petals standing out among the grey rocks and bronze-coloured grass.
A Raven circles above the Castle, as the volunteers gather for this mornings parkrun, making us all look up as he shatters the peace with a harsh “Cronk”. Nearby, the shrieks of a Jay echo out of the Holm Oak woodland, with a Robin hopping in and out of the feet of the crowd.
Out of the wind on Caravan Terrace, a large extended family of Long-tailed Tits are feeding among the tangle of silver Old Man’s Beard, whistling and squeaking to each other and rotating through 180 degrees as they feed. Dunnocks and Blackbirds scuffle among the leaf litter, with Chaffinches, Bullfinches, Blue and Great Tits also ‘fuelling up’.
In the woodland most of the leaves are now down, opening up patches of blue sky among the canopy (and meaning our Apprentice Tom can spend a little less time clearing paths!). The bright orange seeds of Stinking Iris look magnificent among the bare woodland floor, while the Aviary Glade is carpeted with a multi-coloured mosaic of fallen Sycamore, Ash and Hazel leaves.
A Treecreeper scuttles up the trunk of a Monterey Cypress along the woodchip path with a Magpie swaggering along the path ahead of me.