After welcoming in April with glorious sunshine, today’s patrol takes place wreathed in low cloud, a damp, cool sou’westerly shivering the scrub of the National Nature Reserve.
Heading out into the gloom, the wildlife pond is quiet, only the rough cries of Carrion Crow, seesawing of Chiffchaff and fluid melody of Robin heard in the distance.
Pausing to take today’s weather readings, the monochromatic mass of Blackthorn wafts in the wind, the pale, tightly-packed blossom stark against the sombre stems. The Yellow Meadow Ants have continued to construct their tiny towers across the cracked surface of the footpath, while a scattering of Lawn Daisies wink from the path edge.
Entering the whispering Holm Oak woodlands, a charm of Goldfinch twitter from the canopy. Descending towards the Clifftop Trail, the Blackcaps are in full voice, their frenetic, bouncing songs clear in territorial intent. The lush, glossy leaves of Lords and Ladies erupt from the trackside, while fresh fronds of Hart’s Tongue Fern emerge from amidst last year’s browning foliage.
Emerging on the open clifftop, the slopes are heavy with flowering Gorse, a welcome splash of colour today. For now, the Tamarisk remains bereft of leaves, bare maroon stems flickering in the sea breeze.
Reaching the cliff edge, I briefly walk into the wind, topping out above Tilly Whim and the Gully, the waves gnawing insatiably at the portland limestone beneath the Lighthouse.
Turning back east, a lone Cormorant rests on the water as a trio of Herring Gull wheel above the old quarrying platform.
The Guillemot ledge is busy this morning, piebald birds crammed onto the precipitous overhang, though a better view of these ‘flying penguins’ is afforded by our recently returned cliffcam in Castle Reception.
Another fifty of these cousins of the Puffin raft on the water below, while yet more power their way out into the English Channel to feed.
I count five Fulmar making their habitual wheeling loops in the air, one of these agile little albatross even approaching to give me a wary assessment.
Our resident Jackdaw hunker down on the grassy ledges, while a flock of Feral Pigeon scatter at my approach.
Making my steady ascent towards the Castle, a flash of movement resolves into a Magpie, picking its way through the trackside drain, before flying off with a beak full of nesting material.
Rising toward the car park, the verges are busy with blooms, as the Three-Cornered Leek, Green Alkanet, Primrose and Bluebells confirm the season despite today’s contrary weather.