My arrival is again greeted by a hidden cackle, the laughter of a Green Woodpecker, and in the distance a constant whirr of bird song signalled that the parks bird ringers were in. The draw of the cliff and the sea are too strong and I head across the car parks to the Diagonal Path, passing the variety of ‘City Of London’ posts, painted black, that were brought back to Durlston during Victorian times by George Burt, riding in the ship as ballast!
As I start my meander down the path the sound of a mass of Hoverflies on the wing overpower with volume, zipping around the leaves of a Sycamore, battalions of them, dodging one another, and me! The bubble popping call of Goldfinch pass overhead, landing on the top of the same Sycamore tree. Gatekeeper and Marbled White butterflies glide along the edges of the path, one already poised on a leaf but as soon as I pass, its wings snap shut. Yachts head East toward the Isle Of Wight in a procession of buffering sails and clinking masts as fishing boats chug toward the West, a fisherman dragging his line in the boats wake, tugging his hook and weight back to the surface as the rod bends. The sun is low and lends a golden glaze over the sea, the rising pinks and blues of the sky merging with the wisps of brilliant white cloud, spears of colour colliding with the dark hulk of the Isle Of Wight in the distance.
Then I hear the shrill of a Peregrine Falcon from the Mile Marker but struggle to locate it, eventually seeing her head peeking over the very top at me, her tail hanging tightly to the metalwork of the mast. We are locked in a moment of me studying her whilst she checked me out. After 3 minutes she takes to the wing and darts into the Gully before resurfacing and heading East below the cliffs, scattering Jackdaws in its wake! On the ground, growing out of the Lighthouse Fields short grass, were clumps of Lady’s Bedstraw as well as Lesser Centaury and thick clumps of Eyebright.
Sweeping back past the Learning Centre I call into Grillo who is bird ringing in the wildlife garden. So far he has caught and rung 60 Willow Warbler, 4 Garden Warbler, a few Reed and Sedge Warbler, Robin, Whitethroat and Blackcap as well as one Pied Flycatcher.