A dry still morning with cloud bloating out the sun making for good bird watching conditions, as the sun wont blind when looking through binoculars. Over head Swallows duck and dive in all directions, there long forked tails and red chins making them identifiable from the House and Sand Martins we have been seeing over the last week. In the hedge by the Learning Centre a lone piece of bright pink Hemp Agrimony can be seen in flower.
Heading out over the top of lighthouse field the scrub is alive with Chiffchaff, they pop out of the scrub like piece of popped popcorn, before disappearing back in. Their constant chatter accompanies me along the whole walk. A Lone Dunnock pops up on top of a Gorse bush before returning to the safety of the spikey bush.
Hawthorn is starting to look very autumnal with the leaves on the tips of its branches starting to fall, leaving the bright red berries as the only things adorning the branches. The light twittering pulls my attention to a flock of Meadow Pipits bobbing across the field over head before coming to land on the path ahead of me, they don’t stay long though after seeing me approach.
Into the top of ten, a hen Pheasant spokes it takes flight over the gully in a snap of its wings, shortly followed by another. Spotting a slightly larger bird then all the Chiffchaff nearby I’m pleased to see a Song Thrush perched atop a tall Hawthorn nearby, soon joined by a rather scraggly looking male Blackbird.
Over hill and starting to head down the other side of 10 some Wild Clary can be seen stilling clinging onto its topmost flowers, the small purple flowers adding some colour to the landscape.
Heading up the light house road, Yarrow can also be seen in flower, the white flower head almost looking a very pale pink in some lights. Further up Yellow Toadflax in also in flower along the verges of the road. Bright yellow flowers with egg yolk orange centres really add a bright pop of colour.