A wonderfully foggy start to the day, with visibility less than 100 meters, making the silhouettes of Blackthorn and Hawthorn loom, like hunched figures, ominously out of the fog. A pale, silvery sun is just about visible above the sea, with the Gully entirely filled with a deep pool of mist.
While enjoying the stillness at the top of the Lighthouse Field, broken only by the gentle munching of the cattle, the ‘chuckle’ of a Green Woodpecker, bursting out of the fog just behind me almost makes me jump out of my skin!
Invisible overhead, the ‘seeps’ of Redwing, as they head through, with a few of the distinctive notes of a Skylark also heard.
In the Gully scrub, the calls and songs of Bullfinches, Chaffinches, Wren, Song Thrush, Blackbird and Robin, although rather muted this morning – perhaps birds are taking advantage of the fog to have a lie-in!
Stopping to chat to our cleaner, Rosa in the Car Parks, she dived to the rescue of an Arion ater slug, which was making it’s way very slowly across the Zebra Crossing (very sensible when you are not too quick on your foot!). After carefully sliding him/her onto a Holm Oak leaf, she left him/her on (hopefully!) the correct side of the road (imagine how annoying it would be if she got it wrong!).
A few early plants of Winter Heliotrope are starting to bloom. Although not much to look at at the moment, with rather scruffy-looking pink flowers, this will be a real treat for the nose in January, with dense masses of flowers giving off a lovely marzipan smell.
A Jay ruffles through the branches of a Holm Oak in the Car Parks, sending twigs and leaves tumbling to the ground, while nearby the bright orange and pink berries of Spindle add a splash of colour to the winter woods.