After being woken by pounding rain, and leaving home thoroughly waterproofed, I was amazed to make it up the hill and through the early rounds without getting wet!
Although dry, a rather misty start to the day, with wind-sculpted Blackthorn (almost ready to flower), looming out of the mist on the downs as the fog rolls slowly down Round Down.
The grey morning brightened by an increasingly loud and varied chorus of birdsong. The punchy, insistent song of a Robin rings out across the Dell, along with a somewhat faltering Chaffinch song (a series of accelerating notes, a little like a bouncing ping-pong ball!). The sweet notes of Blackbird and Dunnock provide a pleasing counterpoint, with the piercing calls of a Goldcrest heard from the woodland nearby.
Less musical, the shriek of a Jay rings out from withing the Castle woodland, with a ‘cronk’ from a Raven, passing over the Observation Point.
On Caravan Terrace more Primroses have opened – a delicate pale yellow, alongside fresh leaves of Cleavers and St. John’s Wort.
Under the cover of the trees, miniature jungles of broad green Ramson leaves are spreading fast, along with Cow Parsley, Wood Sage, Cuckoo Pint and Dog Violet leaves.
Here and there, ‘pools’ of Lesser Celandine flowers are starting to appear, though the flowers are still furled – like many flowers, the plant closes it’s petals until the sun shines.
Guillemots, and a 9 Razorbills bob on the water below the ledges (which are crammed with Guillemots, as breeding season approaches).
Above them, Fulmars wheel and swerve, as a pair of ‘loved up’ Great Black-backed Gulls preen each other on a rocky outcrop nearby as a Shag carries a beakful of Kelp back to the cliffs.