A great morning to be out and about, with a strong northerly breeze making bright green Hawthorns sway and dance and sending clouds scudding across patches of bright blue sky.
The cliffs are bustling with activity, with a feeding flock of over 50 Herring Gulls circling the water below the Observation Point. As I looked over the edge, I looked straight into the huge black eye of a Raven, perched just a few feet below me on the cliff edge, giving a fantastic view of the largest UK member of the Corvid family, as it called to it’s partner passing by.
Nearby, a pair of Jackdaws tussle and squabble over some tasty scrap of food, tumbling down the precarious slope as they fight, quickly attracting 3, then 4, then 5 more into the fray.
Guillemots and Razorbills growl to each other as they bob and bathe on the waves with many more crowded onto the ledges or hurrying in and out on flickering wings. As I watched them, a pair of Swifts – sickle-shaped silhouettes – chase and whirl as they pass by.
On a low rock platform near the waves, a Shag preens and I was surprised to see, sat next to him, a juvenile Kittiwake (or Tarrock) – an unusual sighting at Durlston, especially given the dramatic decline in Dorset’s last remaining colony near Blacker’s Hole.
Despite the wind, last night’s guided boat trip (our first of the season) was very successful, with great views of 4 Puffins near Dancing Ledge and a Gannet passing directly over the boat amongst the highlights – for dates and details of future trips, check out the Events page on our website.
Plenty of flowers to enjoy, with 5 of the strange green orchid, Common Twayblade found in a quiet wooded corner, along with Early Spider Orchids galore and hundreds of Green-winged Orchids.
Stopping to chat to our parkrun team below the Castle, I was amazed by the speed of growth of a patch of Black Mustard, now peeping over the top of the wall – it must have grown 6 inches in just the last week!