A misty start, feeling especially dull with dampened leaves and the latening sunrise. Looking over Skipworth, I can see four of the Cows grazing the sodden ground alongside a single Magpie, and two Pheasants. As I head down towards them, a clattering of Jackdaw rise from the field behind.
The black silhouettes cackle as they move across the grey sky. Clouds obscure the view beyond the old Water Tower by Bon Accord Road, with Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks both hidden from sight.
The rest of the herd is found in field below, with yet more Magpies trapsing around after them, looking out for juicy Earthworms revealed in the cow’s wake. The herd soon begins moving up the hill, possibly on their way to the trough. However, Brian the Bull continues munching away at the grass, happily doing his own thing.
I head on through the Large Copse; the pine needle path a welcome transition from the muddy meadows. Over half of the park’s Black Pine trees are found here, along with a single Monterey Cypress growing horizontally through a dry stone wall.
Flowering Ivy, and crimson Bryony berries attempt to clamber up the tall tree trunks. These plants more successfully smothering the smaller Elders, and young Ash saplings. Lots of small white Fungi emerge on the ground below.
Autumn has set into the hedgerows where the Bracken has died off between the browning Blackthorn and blackening leaf tips of Bramble and Clematis. Blackbirds warble from amongst the vegetation and Long-tailed Tits gather in the branches. Robin and Great Tit sing nearby, and a charm of Goldfinch flutter overhead.
A few late-season flowers can still be found in the Meadows: Greater Knapweed, Field Scabious, Rough Hawksbit, Ragwort, and Hop Trefoil.