A glorious autumn morning, with curls and shoals of feathery cloud adrift in a deep blue sky, some brilliant sunshine sparkling on the sea and just the gentlest breath of wind.
Back home in Swanage late last night and as I stepped out of the car, I had to spend a minute with my eyes closed, listening to the ‘seeps’ of a flock of Redwing passing overhead – what must the neighbours think! A few Redwing still on their way over, though these attractive finches migrate mainly at night.
One of my favourite autumn sights at Durlston, as a 3 or 4 ‘charms’ of Goldfinches flow along the top of the Lighthouse Field – dozens of ‘tinkling’ crimson and gold birds, lapping against stands of Teasel like waves on a beach.
A Green Woodpecker bobs across the Gully, with a Wren tutting sharply at me from a patch of Blackthorn (now covered with wrinkled Sloes) above the Lighthouse Road. A Kestrel hangs in the air – his chestnut coloured back looking fantastic in the ruddy morning sunshine.
A few Goldcrests dart among the branches of a Black Pine in the Car Parks, picking tiny insects from among the needles, as 3 male Great Tits squabble over the hedge below.
A surprisingly late patch of flowering Yarrow in bloom, alongside the vibrant orange seeds of Stinking Iris, intricate silver flowers of Old Man’s Beard and yellow-flowered Gorse.
Down along the Coast Path, a pair of Ravens ‘cronk’ as they flap by just above my head, after having picked a squabble with both a Kestrel and a Peregrine Falcon in quick succession!
On the water below, a string of Guillemots in their attractive patchy black and white winter plumage – without binoculars, the white cheeks making them look a little like their cousins, Puffins.
More Guillemots passing at sea, along with several Shags, a Little Egret and an Oystercatcher.
Returning to the Centre, a Roe Deer leaps out of the hedge just ahead before bounding, loose-limbed across South Field into the shelter of the Copse, with 2 Ring-necked Parakeets from the local colony photographed Julian Sawyer during his walk home down the hill!