Most of the bird sounds this morning came from close to the Learning Centre scrub with the usual Great Tits, Black Birds, Magpies and then a Green Woodpecker in the distance. As variety is said to be the spice of life I walked down the diagonal path for a change!
There is a large Holm Oak stump up to 2 feet in diameter below the path. Whilst it was covered with at least three variety of Bracket fungi there was vibrant regrowth from its base! Surprisingly the sheltered woodland was quiet, so only I enjoyed the shelter of an arch formed by Holm Oak branches. Harts Tongue Fern and Broad Buckler Fern gave ground colour whilst mosses and lichens and Ivy decorated tree branches and stems.
Our rising sun was obscured by cloud, however, a distant coaster and rather miniscule fishing vessel, off Durlston Head, were briefly illuminated on what appeared as a purple / plum sea to me! An initial group of seven Jackdaws soon became twenty. Later I observed a Jackdaw “Lighthouse Group” and a “Mile Marker” group merge. It was super to see the Herford Cattle back in the gully (and I can certainly recommend their steaks!), one of which literally had a pair of Jackdaw at its heels.
One hundred Guillemots huddle onto their ledge and occasionally I heard their gargling calls. Whilst no Guillemots rafted upon the swell they did fly further off shore. A trio of Lesser Black Backed Gulls pirouetted off the cliff tops and two Cormorant were seen to head west. Betwixt Lighthouse and Tamarisk a Rock Pipit made an appearance. I headed to the coast path beneath Anvil Point to deliberately look back inland. I noted I could only see the Castle’s Belvedere Room roof above the tree tops. This I compared with a post card from 1901 when the castle’s full outline was viewed in an open landscape!
As I walked back up Lighthouse Road I just missed a Victoria Sponge sized cow pat, then noted how cattle poaching on the cutting sides could benefit bare ground loving insects. I picked up a soggy and mysterious piece of paper which read “A little present from somebody”!