A hazy start to the day, with a thick blanket of mist muffling sounds and softening the edges of the dark silhouettes of trees and scrub as they loom out of the mist.
Dry grass stems are beaded with droplets of dew, while here and there, flowers add splashes of colour to the soft bronze and gold of Tor Grass on the downs. A fluffy yellow mound of late-flowering Ladies Bedstraw is in bloom along the top of the Lighthouse Field along with a few flowers of dark purple Greater Knapweed. Golden yellow Ragwort (and the more ‘dainty’ Hoary Ragwort) provide a late nectar source, along with a few scattered Ox-eye Daisies.
Yellow-flowered dandelions still in bloom include Rough Hawkbit (a single flower on a hairy stem) and Bristly Ox-tongue, with it’s branched stems, multiple flowers and prickles on every part of the plant.
Overhead, Swallows and House Martins swirl and dance, feeding on the countless tiny insects which fill the still and humid air. In a nearby hedgerow, a pair of Stonechats pop out as I approach, with a ‘charm’ of crimson and yellow Goldfinches feeding on the Teasel and Woolly Thistle heads growing along the path edges.
Near the Quarr, a pair of Roe Deer (their coats starting to look a little shaggy as they acquire their winter pelage), watch me approach, before bounding away
A little clearer along the cliffs, where Golden Samphire is still in flower among the dry seedheads of Thrift. A Peregrine Falcon scans for prey from her perch near the Observation Point, as a Raven ‘cronks’ from somewhere overhead.
The woodland paths crunch pleasingly underfoot, covered in places with drifts of Sycamore, Ash and Horse Chestnut leaves. Along the woodland path, Snowberries gleam bright white out of the gloom, with the screech of a Jay echoing among the trees.