Across puddles and soggy ground, one Squirrel chases another in hot pursuit into the woodland. It’s even soggier along the play trail where yesterday our Tuesday volunteers dug tirelessly through sopping wet mud and clay to improve the drainage. New ditches cut through the budding Privet and fruiting Stinking Iris, to direct runoff into new pipes under the woodchip. This work is to be continued next week and hopefully have a more playable trail by Easter.
The birds don’t seem to mind the ongoing wet though. Magpies Crows squark from the canopy, and Great Tits and Robins can be heard singing. All the while, the incessant chirping from a noisy Chaffinch, as if frustrated to be spoken over by the other birds.
Another wet morning, with clouds of mist moving through the trees. The unending damp conditions do lend themselves to the growth of fungi; I spot King Alfred’s Cakes, Turkey Tail and Witches Butter along rotting bits of log.
Gentle waves follow the South-Easterly winds and roll into Durlston Bay. Silhouettes of long necks and lofty wings can be spotted from the Listening Seat and determine a couple of Shags passing the point. One comes into land and perches atop the Durlstone rock.
Towards the castle, fresh leaves have dawned with the longer days: Old Man’s Beard adorn woody stalks and clamber up a regenerated Elm. Meadows of Nettle out-compete Goosegrass and of course the vibrant Monbretia leaves which appear almost oversaturated against the drab ground.
Large sections of clay have slipped in the Dell, opening mudslides of bare earth and large fissures in the ground. Two of our Cherry trees have been sent sideways and will need to be re-planted. Great Tits appear to flow in every direction; four, five, six, between the Elms and Buddleia, then a seventh and eighth from the dilapidated walls and back up to the canopy.