As I started out on the early patrol the rain was blowing horizontally across the park, with the non-grassed areas turning quickly to slippery mud.
The calling of a Green Woodpecker the most noticeable wildlife activity, the call allowing me to locate the bird perched on the trunk of a Holm Oak tree, looking at first glance like the tip of a broken branch
In the large copse, above the sound of the wind, the high-pitched calls of some Goldcrests could be heard, on searching the needles of the Black Pines a couple were eventually spotted in the dull grey light.
The cattle, their chestnut and white bodies fairly well hidden amongst the Bracken, Ivy and the long ropes of Old Man’s Beard that they were munching through in Saxon field.
The flat back area of field 3 has been cut and Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws were tossing and turning the cut grass as they looked for seeds. A burst of activity from the scrub saw a Blackbird emerge at speed, a sudden call of alarm, as it disappeared into the Blackthorn, it caused a Redwing to move allowing me to see this other species of thrush.
Out on the tops of the downs, the raindrops were feeling like needles as they stabbed into my face, so not long spent here, just a quick peek over the top to see if the slopes had been ‘topped’ by the local farming contractor – unfortunately they haven’t.
A few bedraggled flowers still in bloom including Greater Knapweed, Common Toadflax, Bristley Ox-tongue and White Clover.