A quick check on the Cows, now grazing in South Field and Field 34 – just by the Learning Centre – as I did so a Sparrowhawk was swooping across the grey sky ahead of me, a flap, flap, glide movement as it went.
The churring of Great Tits as they moved along the Privet hedge, interspersed by the blasting call of a Wren, which was tucked low down in the fork of an Elder.
Lots of berries, the dark red of the Hawthorn haws seem most numerous, but the purple Sloe still on some of the Blackthorns, along with on the Privet, its smaller black fruits.
In the woods the silky white berries of Snowberry showing on these bushes, many of the leaves now dropped off.
The Hazel coppice and small plantation in the woods was being used by a flock of Goldcrests, their high pitched calls piercing the air as they flitted amongst the yellow leaves and bare twigs of these clumps.
Along the path the wooden edges are home to fungi, with the Turkey Tail fairly common along with a few blobs of Yellow Brain Fungus. Also at the base of a pollarded Ash tree a spectacular Bracket fungus is growing.
The tall bright green leaves of Harts-tongue Fern, providing a splash of colour, the duller fronds of Soft Shield Fern also easy to find, while Male Fern and Scaly Male Fern are fairly scarce so required some searching for.
Over Durlston Bay the Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls were extremely vocal, calling loudly as they circled around.