The strong south-westerly wind was whipping up the sea, producing crashing waves and churning white crests. I could spot nothing as I gazed out across the greyness, being buffeted and sprayed as I stood.
The Guillemots were not on the ledges (obviously deciding that bobbing o the water somewhere further out was more pleasant!).
Heading inland the fields, after the recent rains, have patches of puddle and mud to enjoy. In the hedgerow a Blackbird was calling, this male sporting a bright yellow beak, as it perched on the swaying twigs of a Wayfaring Tree.
As I approached a leaking water trough, a Great Tit was spotted within the thick Bramble scrub, emerging as if to watch, as I delved deep into the mud to find the stopcock to turn off.
Sheltering on the leeward side of the hedge a small flock of Long-tailed Tits, their movement constant as they hopped and flitted from branch to branch of the spiky Hawthorn and rambling Old Man’s Beard.
Across the meadow some brown slimy caps of Field Blewitt showing above the green grass, while a few Field Mushrooms also poking up.
The ticking call of a Robin, and the skulking of a Dunnock spotted as I checked on the progress of the hedgelaying – we have a group of volunteer hedgelayers (from the Planet Purbeck group) laying one of our hedges at the moment as a winter project. So far mostly just preparation but on their next visit the laying will begin in earnest, to produce a better habitat for the wildlife and a more stockproof boundary for the cattle.
Returning along Long Meadow, a splash of pink caught my attention, these being the double globules of the European Spindle berries.