Happy Birthday to the great Sir David Attenborough who is 99 today!
Around the car park I hear a Blackcap, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Wren and Chiffchaff. I head to a Reservoir copse where I and the other Dorset Council Level 4 Apprentices were learning Dry-stone Walling – admiring the grounders that we had put in. Within these copses the canopy is mostly of Ash, Sycamore and Holm Oak, most of the ground flora is Ivy, Stinking Iris, as well as Lords and Ladies, also spotted are native Bluebells (looking like they have seen better days), also spotted was Early-purple Orchids and further away from the Dry-stone wall is the less showy orchid – Common Twayblade.
I decide to move on to the castle, I thought I may of heard a Swift in the distance (I’ve heard them in town), and I saw Cow Parsley, Green Alkanet and Nettles. Passing the Castle one can hear a Raven and Song Thrush, and a Robin is seen. Down to the viewpoint many Guillemots and darker Razorbills are spotted as well as, many Feral Pigeons, Wood Pigeons, Fulmars, Jackdaws, Herring Gulls, Shags, and a very loud Wren hidden within a Tamarisk tree below the viewpoint to the right.
Moving on a Lesser Black-back Gull is spotted, the sound of a Blue Tit and Great Tit can be heard, and a Raven is spotted perched on top of a Tamarisk tree above the viewpoint. Further down, when I stopped to look at the Guillemot cliff cave and I stop to compare the size between two corvid species as there were 2x Raven and many a Jackdaw – the Raven dwarfs the Jackdaws many times! From the Diagonal path and back up to the Learning Centre, I hear and see a Whitethroat and spot 3x Swallows.
Merlin App detected: Blackcap, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Robin, Blue Tit, Wood Pigeon, Chiffchaff, Wren, Raven, Great Tit, and Whitethroat. Also detected but I cannot verify is a Red Crossbill (which I did not see or hear), and a Common Ringed Plover (which is more of a wetland habitat bird). Furthermore, a Swift was detected in the office – unlikely – though I thought I heard one earlier which Merlin did not detect!