A full moon. Bright white in the sky as it reflects the Sun’s light. Bird song can be heard all around I head towards the woodland; Robin, Chaffinch, and Great Tit. Long-tailed Tits move through the scrub at the top of Long Meadow, and Goldfinch tinkle in flight.
Cawing corvids fill the soundscape as I step under the tree canopy: Jackdaw and Crow. I also catch a flash of brown and blue feathers, where a Jay moves silently out of sight.
The woodchip path is littered with autumn leaf fall - the large palmate Sycamore, compound pinnate Ash, and distinctive lobed Oak. Acorns, arils, and helicopters amongst the mulch. Orange berries line the path where Stinking Iris seed pods have opened.
The damp conditions lend itself to a fungal foray. Fantastic Turkey-tail brackets have formed shelves along the rotting Holm Oak logs, and a brilliant Red Cage Fungus is just collapsing at the Timeline: The amazing structure appearing and disappearing in just a few days. Many flies swarm around it, attracted to its foul smell.
Towards Sunnydale, the Sun reveals itself rising through the clouds above Durlston Bay. It’s light glistens upon the dewy leaves, and casts long shadows through the trees. Silhouettes of Woodpigeon and Swallow aerobatics overhead.
The sound of the sea beckons me down the shore. I clamber down the landslip, carefully navigating the upturned slabs of limestone, and slippery sections of clay. Gorse and Willow browned by the salty air. Horsetail sprouting everywhere, undeterred.
The sound of rumbling pebbles grows as I step past the lordly Pampas Grass, pretty Sea Aster, onto the beach. It’s a high spring tide, pulled by the full Moon’s alignment with the Sun, which gathers a greater gravitational pull on the sea. It’s calming to listen to the waves as they ebb and flow. Various types of Kelp and Wrack along the tideline.