The wind blows through the trees and brings a chill
But deep inside the woodland all is still
A blustery morning with a solid blanket of grey cloud provided a bracing start to the day. No risk of overheating on my morning patrol. As soon as I started off I caught the distant call of a Green Woodpecker, cutting through the background chorus of Blue Tits, Great Tits and Robins.
Heading over South Field towards Small Copse the calls of the Green Woodpecker continued, louder now. Either I was getting closer or it was following me. The logs lining the path had several growths of Many Zoned Polypore, and the field beyond was ringed by several Carrion Crows and Magpies, perched in the hedgerows.
Centenary Meadow was quiet save for the whistling of the wind and the distant caws of a flock of circling Jackdaws above the cliffs. A Dunnock flitted into one of the hedgerows, silently disappearing amid the branches of a Hawthorn.
Along the Clifftop Trail, The Guillemot raft formed a narrow arc, the birds (around 30) almost single file today. A couple more landed as I observed, a rather undignified flutter bringing them to a stop just above the water’s surface, where they drop rear first into the sea. The Ledge had about 50 birds residing on it, as well as a single Herring Gull, which seemed to me to have quite an air of smugness about it. Greater Black Backed Gulls drifted parallel to the cliffs as I continued on.
Cutting back through the woodland I spotted a few patched of Jelly Ear fungus growing on the branches of a Holme Oak.