Heading out for a morning patrol and the sun is already feeling warm and its not even 7am yet! On the lawn by the Visitor Centre two Rabbits play, chasing one another in turn. On the ground a female Blackbird really doesn’t seem too bothered about me as it picks through some leaves, making little attempt to hide itself as it scurries for cover under some bramble, peeking its bill out. As I descend down the steps from the road toward the Diagonal Path I double take at the height of some Selfheal, possibly 6”s tall! The path itself is so warm, the sun beating off the hard-standing floor, self contained by the tall grass either side. Clematis Vitalba, known also as Old Mans Beard (though the white has yet to become prominent, so this morning this old mans has a green beard), outstretches itself in huge waves, wafting toward the path. The flora is really competing with each other this month, brought on by the excessive rains of the summer so far. Marbled Whites are in abundance, coasting their way through the vegetation.
Out to sea and 2 gracious yachts buffer by but the noise of their sails are drowned out by the chunky sound of a potting boat pulling up the mornings catch. The two man crew use a mechanical winch to bring up the pots, many secured to the same piece of rope a distance apart. They are only keeping the Lobsters of good size, returning the small ones back to the sea as well as various crabs, checking the size of some with a metal pincer like device. Their motion is so quick I could only make out a Spider Crab of about 10”s being returned, the rest was a mere blur through my binoculars. I can hear jolly banter between the older skipper and his young shipmate. A Herring Gull swoops in and takes one of the smaller crabs but soon drops it when a Great Black Backed Gull, who had patiently been waiting on the water by the boat, shreeks as it dive bombs. On the cliffs and Jackdaws pick their way through the grass and the Golden Samphire and a lone Rock Pipit hops between the rocks before dropping below out of sight. Shags are flying out from the cliffs along the water line, heading out to sea and in the middle distance two Gannets are patrolling with grace.
As I write this the sky is bright blue with puffy clouds suspended and in my head I hear the intro to the show ‘The Simpsons’!