Another mild morning, with a dense dome of grey-blue cloud overhead, split by a thin ribbon of brilliant red along the horizon.
After a damp night, the ground is soft and muddy in places – with the woodland and clifftop offering the best mud-free excursions!
A nice patch of the bizarre looking Dead Man’s Fingers found on a Holm Oak log on the Woodland Trail – a tiny, bulbous black and white fungus, which once you ‘get your eye in’ is surprisingly common. Glossy black King Alfred’s Cakes can also be found in abundance on standing trees.
A Buzzard circles above Durlston Bay, gaining height as he rides invisible currents of air upwards, with a Peregrine Falcon swerving ‘round the head’ as I pass by.
A few Guillemots passing by out at sea, with a skein of Brent Geese and a Red-breasted Merganser also carving the way through a featureless grey sea and sky
As I stop at Tilly Whim to watch a Black Redstart skitterring across the ledge, the peace us shattered by a noisy chat between a pair of Ravens on top of the lower milepost.
Moth expert (and our group manager) Dr. Phil Sterling just popped in for a meeting – in honour of his visit, we had put the moth trap on last night, though it didn’t take him too long to complete his list of:
1 Silver-Y moth (!)
As I write a flock of 30+ Jackdaws wheel through a brightening sky, just outside the Learning Centre, with a few calls and songs from Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Chaffinch and Bullfinch heard from the hedgerows.