This morning I was greeted by a glorious sunrise and the keen smiling face of our new colleague Doug! We had the inevitable Carrion Crows about the car park, with increasing numbers of Daisies appearing in the grass verge. From Blackthorn scrub called a Chaffinch whilst a tribe of four Great Tits “discussed” something rather enthusiastically.
From the Brady bench we saw five adventurous surfers in Durlston bay. Nearby I spied some standing dead wood amongst the Wych Elm stems which will need be felled. At the castle entrance some nine Daffodils were now in flower. The castle bird feeder was visited by Blue Tits and a Dunnock. Only a Blackbird put in an appearance at caravan terrace. A Raven flew past us calling near the “Noon” bench.
A pot marker buoy caught our attention as it bobbed in and out of view in the swell. Off Durlston Head at least six Gannets circled over the sea whilst others flew past in both directions. Doug spotted a Gannet actually diving! It was also a good morning for Shags some flying high at our eye level. Again the birds passed in both directions along the cliff. Some five Fulmars performed their Cliffside flights, whilst a raft of twenty five Guillemots rode the swell below. In the cave like ledge another seventy Guillemots took shelter. Whilst sea spray flew resulted from waves crashing into the cliff base, conditions were not right for the blow hole. Conditions were great for temporary saline waterfalls!
As we headed up slope beside the mile marker we saw Hereford Cattle dispersed both above and below the road with some individuals browsing in the depths of the scrub. Only thirty odd Jackdaws appeared today near the gully mouth. At the small copse Doug delighted at a wind sculptured Holm Oak growing at forty five degrees. I observed the leaf laden Holm Oak branches bashing the bare Ash and Sycamore branches in the wind.