A fresh overcast morning, with a light breeze. Thankfully the rain stayed at bay the entirety of my walk even with the clouds looking rather threatening. Heading down the steep path towards the cliffs, the sound of Robins singing fills the air as it comes from every direction. Th occasional Robin pops its head out of the scrub, before disappearing back in. The volunteers have done a fantastic job of clearing the edges of the path while I was away and exposing the dry-stone walls. With the walls exposed a Budleigh below the castle can be seen in full bloom, the bright purple flowering fronds swaying in the breeze. The sound of Wren floats up from down in the dell.
Turning the corner the wind picks up the fronds of the Tamerisk sway in the breeze. Fluffy pink flowers can still be seen on some of the branches of the Tamerisk. The bright purple flowers of Sea Aster poke up through the shorter Tamerisk. A neighbouring Stinking Iris has clusters of bright orange berries adorning the top of its stems.
Two Ravens soar past calling to each other as they pass, they are closely followed by a Peregrine Falcon who zooms round Durlston Head and out of sight. Below a Shag flys past arching back towards the cliffs and out of sight at the bottom of the cliff. Further along two Great Black Backed Gulls soar by gracefully, as if patrolling the tops of the cliffs.
Heading up the light house road, either side of the path is lined with Old Mans Beard, with the occasional bright red Rose hip standing out against the dull grey fluffy seed heads of the Old Mans Beard.
Down in the gully two Jackdaws dive bomb an unsuspecting Kestrel, before it takes cover in Sycamore. Over head two more Kestrels hover uninterrupted. A large flock of Swallows zoom past about to start their long journey to there over winter home.