A cold and cloudy start to the day, with barely a breath of wind, making the Park feel hushed and still.
Squadrons of Woodpigeon hurtle through the grey skies – dark silhouettes passing with a clattering of wings, seeming startling loud in the still air.
‘Charms’ of Goldfinches also on the move this morning, passing overhead, or feeding on dry seed-heads, their extravagant crimson and gold plumage brightening a grey morning.
Among the trees and scrub, birds are growing more vocal, with the sweet, repeated refrains of Song Thrushes (still a little faltering!) heard all over the Park, with the jazzy rhythms of Dunnocks also heard.
Just off Durlston Head, a raft of 20 Razorbills bob on the waves, while ‘round the head’, around 50 Guillemots straggle across the water (including 6 still in ‘winter’ plumage) – their bubbling growls mingling with the ‘creaky’ calls of 7 Shags.
Further out to sea, 6 Gannets circle, dwarfing a group of passing Guillemots, as Fulmars carve elegant arcs around the cliffs and band Great Black-backed Gulls watch from the clifftop.
Goldcrests, Blue and Great Tits, Robins and Wrens seen and heard along the Woodland Trail, with a Treecreeper shuffling up the speckled trunk of London Plane near the Aviaries.
Around the Aviary Glade, the catkins of Hazel hang completely motionless in the still air, while on the woodland floor around them, fresh leaves of Herb Robert, Cow Parsley and Snowdrop are starting to appear.
Fungi are some of the most colourful living things in the woodland at the moment, with bright yellow Witches Butter and orange Coral Spot Fungus catching my eye, along with muted dark purple Ear Fungus, black King Alfred’s Cakes and the attractive two-toned Many-zoned Polypore.