A fantastic autumn morning to be out and about, with clear blue skies, and just the gentlest breeze. A veil of mist slips down the shoulders of Round Down and pools in the Gully, quickly burning away, leaving a sparkling carpet of dew behind.
Out to the new land this morning, where as the sun creeps across the scrub on the old quarry site, birds are starting to emerge. A pair of Robins are having a ‘sing-off’ from either side of the track, punctuated by the sharp ‘ticks’ of a Wren. A Song Thrush taps open a snail on a flat Rock, startled into abandoning her breakfast as I approach. A pair of Stonechats emerge from a patch of flowering Gorse, with the repetitive squeaking of Great Tits, fluttering Blue Tits, Chaffinch and a handsome male Bullfinch – looking magnificent in the ruddy morning sunshine also seen or heard
Lots of flocks of Goldfinches rippling across the dead, dry heads of Teasel, Thistle and Burdock. Overhead, Wood Pigeons clatter by, with a Green Woodpecker bobbing along above the meadows.
Lots of fragments of the lovely, liquid song of Skylarks as they pass overhead – instantly recognisable even the shortest of fragments, with a few Linnets also on their way through.
Once again, Redwing are also on the move, with many more heard last night as I returned home just before midnight – their high pitched ‘seeps’ a constant accompaniment to any late night walk around Swanage at this time of year.
A Sparrowhawk hugs the contours of the Gully scrub as she hunts for breakfast, with Peregrine and Kestrel also on the wing.
A Raven ‘cronks’ from the top of the Mile Marker, with Great Black-backed Gull, Shag and Oystercatcher passing the Gully.
A few Red Admirals on the wing, along with swarms of Winter Gnats as the sunshine quickly warms the air after a chilly night.
Still in bloom, Yarrow, Bristly Ox-tongue, Knapweed, Old Man’s Beard and Scarlet Pimpernel, however even more colour from seeds and berries, including those of Stinking Iris and Spindle.