A wet and windy start to the day, with gusty winds blowing rain in from the west and a curtain of rain blowing in from the sea, lit from behind by some surprisingly bright sunshine. As the clouds tumble away, an ocean of bright blue sky opens up above me, bordered with crenellations of fluffy white cloud.
Above the meadows and downs, the air is filled with the constant jangling of Goldfinches, as they swirl overhead or bob along tangled hedgerows of Old Man’s Beard or stands of dark brown Teasels.
Meadow Pipits are also passing through in good numbers, rising up from the meadows and chattering as they skim by overhead, along with Pied Wagtails and a few Siskin.
Just outside the Learning Centre, the distinctive ‘seep’ of a Redwing as it passes by, along with a few fragments of song from Skylarks.
A pair of Buzzards circle above the back meadows, wailing to each other as they spiral up on the thermals, with a Peregrine hunting along the clifftop and a Kestrel balancing on the air above the Lighthouse.
A Green Woodpecker chuckles as it bobs along down towards the Lighthouse, with a pair of Ravens near the Mile Markers.
A Roe Deer bounds across the slopes of the Gully, while Badgers have been digging up the path through the Copse.
Still a few summer plants in bloom, including a surprising patch of Field Scabious tucked into a quarry hollow in 8 Acres Meadow.