I was greeted with a pleasantly warm ambient this morning which deemed my fleece unnecessary. Spring’s usual bright sun was obscured by a thick masking of whispy white cloud which smudged and merged with faint hints of blue, as if an artist had ran her thumb across the canvas of her sky.
Bird calls and song were in abundance, painting the silence with their melody. The Chaffinch chirped to nearby Robins who replied with their beautiful morning ditty. Great tits squeaked amongst the trees as a pair of mischievous Magpies cackled as if in response to an evil plan they had been hatching. The star of the show however, was the loud reverberating song of the mighty Wren, who although small in stature and secretive in appearance, blasts out his tunes loud and proud for all to hear.
Along the mud caked paths towards the meadows Mining Bee’s smuses could be seen, a number of small holes peppering the earth where they had dug down to lay their eggs. A trio of Long tailed tits bobbed up and down in flight, their tails trailing in the wind like a delicate kite ribbon. Although inchoate, the meadows were starting to show glimpses of colour, meadow buttercups shined yellow and pale flax added touches of blue to the green grass. The trumpet heads of Cowslips were showing as were the bright white and yellows of OX eye daisies. All of these species showing evidence of Frog Hopper larva in the form of globules of spit which can be commonly known as Cuckoo spit. Amongst the foliage I stumbled across the deceased body of a Common Shrew which may had been intended as a bird of prey’s meal but never quite got there!
A quick perusal of the coast path for my first look at the seabirds this year, presented me with an insurmountable number of Guillemots with interspersed Razorbills bobbing amongst the waves. Herring and Greater Black backed gulls soared high above me as the delicate, straight winged Fulmars circled daintily from the cliffs. Back towards the castle a Buff tailed worker bee crossed my path on important bee business and an Orange Tip butterfly egg clung to the stem of a Nettle.