Another blustery and wet morning on the top of the hill here at Durlston, the wind gusting and sending water through my ‘waterproofs’!
The herd of Cattle are now in Smithfield & Boys Brigade fields, their mooing easily heard from the car park – I tool a wander round to check the gates were all shut – which they were – thanks. Hopping on the ground amongst the hooves was a single black and white coloured Pied Wagtail, its tail wagging as it walked.
The dark black clouds and early light producing an eery orange-brown glow across the Park, adding more highlight to the dead and dying leaves of the Sycamore, Elm and Oak.
Water and mud galore, with puddles on puddles, but from the clump of Hawthorn a Wren was trilling, Goldfinches tinkling in the Blackthorn and a Stonechat perched on the Gorse – in amongst a splash of bright yellow flowers.
Aiming for the cliffs, I was surprised by almost treading on a largish brown bird, which in flight has roundish wings and slight white streaks. Following it along the path a bit I was able to identify it as a Woodcock, one of our occasional winter visitors brought in by the weather. A beautifully marked bird, the long beak visible as it flew, although difficult to see in the gloom and wet!
Growing from the turf a variety of fungi including Field Blewitts, Parasols, and growing from a rotting branch the white tipped fronds of Candle Snuff fungus alongside King Alfred’s Cakes.
In the darkness last night a Tawny Owl could be heard calling from the top of the Black Pine while below a Fox trotted across the pathway.