Warbling notes ring out across Sunnydale with Robins, Great Tit and Wrens chiming into the medley of birdsong. A female Blackbird scampers through the leaf mulch carrying a Snail in its beak. It hops onto a log, and then I hear a ‘clack clack clack’ as it hammers the snail into the wood, attempting to break into its shell.
The showy Rhododendron flowers have fallen and the remaining purple petals line the stream bank. Further along, a pretty display of yellow flowers adorn the St Johns Wort - both native Hypercium perforatum and introduced Hypercium hidcote varieties. The air is filled with the sweet scent of Privet blossom whose clusters of small, creamy-white, trumpet-shaped flowers attract a variety of small insects.
As I’m wondering up through the woodland I come across the clearing under the canopy of a large Beech tree. Ahead of me I catch a glimpse of a Fox dashing away into the undergrowth. It’s fur much more grey than the usual reddish brown.
The whirring of Crickets can be heard in glades as I approach the Castle. Here, many more flowers are beginning to blossom, with Willowherb, Bristly Ox-Tongue, Hemp Agrimony, Wood Sorrel, and Creeping Thistle creating a mosaic of pinks, yellows, and reds.
On the water below the clifftop, a lone Shag preens its feathers surrounded by around 200 Guillemots and Razorbills. The Shag noticeably the odd one out with its completely black plumage and long gangly neck. The difference between the Auks is harder to notice, with the Razorbills fewer in number, with darker black feathers and with a broader pointed bill.
Towards Tilly whim I find myself following the same friendly Meadow Pipit I saw here on Tuesday. Knapweed, Agrimony, and Ragwort have all flowered and provide a fresh crop of nectar for the Marbled White, Meadow Brown, and Gatekeeper butterflies.