A cold night last night, transforming the meadows into a crunchy sea of white frost, and freezing some of the puddles, with an irresistible layer of fern-covered ice to crack!
Still air and bright sunshine however means the temperature is rising quickly (though still only just above freezing as I sit down to write). Just outside, a Green Woodpecker probes an anthill, as a Robin skitters along the wall outside.
The ‘cronk’ of a Raven echoes across the Gully, with a Kestrel, hanging above the top of the Lighthouse Field, looking as if he has been painted onto the sky.
A Roe Deer grazes a glade on the slopes of the Gully stopping and staring at me as I pass by on the other side, before disappearing off into the depths of the scrub.
Badgers have been digging up the path through the Large Copse, leaving behind distinctive triangular scuffs, with a flock of Goldcrests flittering among the branches of a Black Pine overhead (with a beautiful, red-crested Firecrest seen near Caravan Terrace).
Goldfinches are out and about early, refuelling after a cold night, with Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock, Blackbird and Song Thrush among the other birds seen or heard among the hedges and scrub.
A Buzzard circles high above the back fields, spiralling steadily upwards on the rising thermals, with a Sparrowhawk glimpsed in a flash of grey as he speeds along the drove.
A jumble of Guillemots crowded onto the ledges, with more flying in and out, with a Peregrine hunting along the clifftop and Rock Pipits hopping along the Coast Path.
Our new exhibition of photographs of the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty opens today at the Castle – do come and have a look!