It’s a very different kind of morning than it has been of late, the beautiful mild spring sunshine has turned into an overcast morning after some rain moved through. The car park was slightly more quiet than usual, the wind seemed to be the main sound – I did however manage to hear many a Robin as well as many a Chiffchaff. I head towards the pleasure grounds woodlands, I pass the benches and a hedgerow full of Brambles, Dogwood and Blackthorn, as well as Ivy, Lords and Ladies, and Stinking Iris at ground level.
Entering the woodland, I am greeted with Robins singing and Magpies calling, and the area is full of Holm Oak and to ground level Stinking Iris dominates. I walk on and decide to head down to the old caravan site area – this was once a secondary path to Swanage but was eroded away in the late 1800’s (3 years after it being a track), here there are so many Primroses in bloom. Also, one can get a nice view of Durlston Bay, here many a Herring Gull is flying above me.
I carry on my walk noticing mosses on dry-stone walls which is great for the environment and biodiversity, also spotted was Harts Tongue Fern, and Tamarisk – Rather quiet in terms of bird spotting! Getting to the viewpoint I was negatively stunned to see no Guillemots or Razorbills – of course I stupidly forgot to bring my Binoculars, but there were no Guillemots on the English Channel. 2x Herring Gulls, Fulmars, Shags, many a Jackdaw and a Feral Pigeon were spotted, however, and in the woodland near me I could hear a Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Wren.
Continuing to walk the clifftop trail including the diagonal path, I spotted a Wren, a Meadow Pipit, a Blackbird and a couple of Greenfinches going between the sea of yellow from the European Gorse present both sides of the Diagonal Path.