To welcome in April, a lovely sunny, but chilly morning, the wind blowing in from the east meaning I sheltered behind bushes while enjoying my patrol.
Along the Drove, perched on the topmost twig of a Blackthorn, showing above the newly emerged delicate blossom, was a Blackcap. This male bird showing off his jet black cap, while the rest of his body looked a silvery grey. As I studied, he burst into song, the melodious fruity tune taking over the air waves.
Way up in the sky, a Skylark was also pouring out its song, the bird fluttering against the dark grey backdrop of some clouds, before dropping down a bit, allowing me a better view.
The meadows are now beginning to be carpeted by the yellow hue of the Cowslips, hundreds of these lovely flowers dotted across the fields, with more to come.
From the top of the Hawthorn, a Song Thrush was singing, the speckled buff chest rising and falling as he sang, his beak opening wide to show off the orangy-red inside of the mouth!
On the downs lots of rosettes of the Early Spider Orchids starting to emerge, some spikes just showing the furry brown flowers, but most still curled shut.
A scattering of delicate purple across the turf, marks the flowers of the Hairy Violets while the tiny white flowers of Common Whitlow Grass also spotted.
A Chiffchaff singing from the Elder, while I searched I came across a Willow Warbler in the adjacent Elder (my first of the year, although a couple of other have been spotted).
The Cherry Plum is now a mass of green leaves, just a few of its early blossom flowers still in evidence. Meanwhile the Cherry is ready to burst into blooms and the Blackthorn blossom is beginning to cover the hedges.
Tottering over the ground a few Lesser Bloody-nosed Beetles.
On the cliffs the Guillemots are packed onto the ledges, with more bobbing on the water while Razorbills are in pairs amongst them.