I park under an Ash tree as I start my diary walk, the sun is shining after yesterday morning’s heavy and much needed rain, but there is a remarkably cool and almost autumnal feel to the air - at least compared to what we have become used to! As I walk towards the bird hide a Magpie can be heard calling as Goldfinches sing above, and Wrens sing away up in the Holm Oak and Sycamore to the right. Sitting in the bird hide, Wood Pigeons, Blue Tits, Great Tits, and a Robin are observed, and the vegetation surrounding the rather dried up pond are Buddleia, Blackthorn, Hawthorn, and going over Wild Carrot.
Walking on, toward Field 34 I pick up and taste one on the Blackberries on the Brambles – ew! It is rather sour! Into Field 34, Ragwort is spotted as well as much Bracken under a Field Maple. In South Field, a Chaffinch is seen flying into Hawthorn with it’s red berries, vegetation seen was Brown Knapweed, Field Scabious, Bristly Oxtongue, and before going into Lighthouse Field I pass a small copse with it’s Ash, Sycamore, and Hawthorn.
Passing through a gap where there should be a gate, I walk into Lighthouse Field, where more Ragwort is seen. Also spotted were many butterflies, species of Meadow Brown and Common Blue were identified as well as many micro-moths flying as I move amongst the wet, yet still parched grass. In some Brambles and Old Mans Beard, a glimpse of a Whitethroat is spotted before it hides again.
Down onto the lighthouse path, I stop to admire the calmness of the morning – the sound of the English Channel hitting the gully below Tilly Whim, Wood Pigeons flapping away above me, Herring Gulls calling in the distance, the sound of walkers far away, and a light personal plane flying above. As I look further out to sea, I notice a lot of Gulls swirling around out at sea – maybe plenty of food out there for them?
I walk down to the gully bridge where I listen out again, a Wall Brown is spotted on the wall, Wren is heard singing and then calling, a male Blackbird up in a Sycamore, a Jackdaw calls, and the sound of Bush-crickets and Grasshoppers is heard.