The park was covered with a foreboding looking sky this morning, filled with brooding, dark clouds that held the landscape hostage with threats of rain. Although the sea’s surface had a calm and gentle façade, the black splodges of clouds’ shadows tinted its surface with a menacingly gloomy blanket.
Along the coast path a solitary Guillemot ventured from the relative safety of the cliff side to skim the water with its frantic wing beats. A pair of Shags coasted so close to the lapping waves that it seemed they were attempting to foil some form of naval radar. The rest of the seascape remained relatively quiet with the occasional Herring gull and Great Black Backed Gull flanking the Jurassic rocks of the coast
Through the fields a variety of bird life could be seen going about their morning business despite the harsh, bitter wind that howled and screamed through the bare skeletal fingers of Hawthorn and Blackthorn. A Robin sung out sweetly while a Wren trumpeted its shrill call from the sequestered depths of scrub. A Green Woodpecker (Or Yaffle if you’re that way inclined) bobbed up and down in its undulating flight while Wood Pigeons, Crows, Ravens, Chaffinches and Great Tits swerved to avoid the legions of Goldfinches that danced and swirled though the sky, with a few rouge Linnets in their ranks.
On the way to the Castle I stopped to reap a juicy Blackberry but was disappointed by the sour taste that lingered from its unripeness. I was, however, rewarded with a view of a multi-coloured Jay hopping through the trees, as well as a Dunnock perched on the mosaic of drystone walls as well as a Pied Wagtail shaking its tail as it strutted along the path. A Buff Tailed Worker bid me good day while in the distance a Song Thrush harped out its tri-call and a number of Black Caps frolicked amongst the scrub and gorse.