The rain is fine and plentiful! Relentless. Continuous. Driving. Soaking! Out to sea in the Channel a fog horn sounds out. Though I am wearing a long rain jacket there is always one problem when wearing a long rain jacket – the rain only has one place to go, down! That means, though my top is dry, my trousers are soaked! As are my feet! As are binoculars!
Along the side of the castle the pinky-purple flowers of Herb Robert bring much needed colour to the morning patrol. Dropping down to the Globe a very forlorn Jackdaw picks through the grass along the side of the path. He looks at me and we exchange glances, both dripping with drizzle. Growing between the steps going down to the cliffs is some young Bristly Ox-tongue, the leaves a fresh green. Growing up the side of the wall along the cliff is an abundance of Cleavers, the little bristly plant that school kids like to stick on each others backs. Over the wall were the dried up Teasels from last year, brown and crisp.
Gliding along the edges of the cliff, dipping toward the sea before elegantly banking back up were 2 damp Fulmar. Down on the waters surface were a few Guillemot, bathing themselves in noisy little splashes of energy. Breaking through the mornings mist was a potting boat, number 1124, heading towards Anvil Point, picking up his overnight catch. And heading from the east at full steam was a small fishing boat, its rods lined over the cabin, more than likely going towards the Black Bream fishing spots near Dancing Ledge.
Birdlife was pretty low on the ground, or in the air, which might be a better way of describing birds! 4 Herring Gulls bob on the waters surface and out about 100 metres, skirting the mist barrier was a Greater Black-backed Gull. Small groups of Shag head West, close to the breaking waves. And as I come up the Lighthouse Lawn, past the shipping masts, a lone Common Whitethroat sings from the top of some Blackthorn.