I was pleasantly surprised to find that the park’s grass had been tinted with what remained of Jack Frost’s overnight visit. Patches of white interjected the greens with sporadic touches of festive spray paint. The sun watched over us all; a shining orb sitting upon the horizon and drenching the calm sea and the rolling landscape with its gentle warming touch.
Waddling through the car park a rather plump Raven picked through the grass while a Robin skitted through the spindly branches of an Ash. A single Wood Pigeon zoomed through the air, a picture of bravado, above a Green Woodpecker who bobbed up and down above the frozen ground. Upon spying a couple of frozen puddles I indulged in my favourite winter activity of crunching ice under my feet, revelling in the sounds of the cracks and the spider web patterns that developed under my combat boots.
A family of Long tailed tits took refuge in the depths of a Hawthorn bush and a few rouge Goldfinches and Chaffinches danced through the sky above. Down through the zig zag path a legion of around 50 Jackdaws screeched above me while a pair of multi coloured Jays screeched and cackled in competition with the shrill loud call of a Wren, as usual, seen but not heard. The endless sea of green and yellow Gorse was broken up by patches of Old man’s beard that looked vividly like splotches of snow at a quick glance.
A horde of Guillemots floated serenely on the gentle waves in a uniform line, each one taking turns to bob down below the water and disappear from view. A Great Black back stalked the ledges as a Peregrine Falcon perched on a rock and surveyed its territory before taking flight. I was amused by a Feral Pigeon who had odd mutated colouring, a sleek black body with bright white wings and tail.