Just outside the Centre both a Blackbird and Whitethroat were alarmed calling at a Magpie sat atop the Blackthorn. When the Magpie took flight both smaller birds followed in pursuit.
Around the corner within a shadowy spot I turned an ice cold slab of Purbeck Limestone which not surprisingly had nothing underneath! Nearby an unidentified juvenile Bush Cricket had perch upon Horseshoe Vetch. I then saw another Magpie terrorising a pair of Blackbirds.
I approached the goat plot hoping to observed insects in this suntrap but surprisingly a breeze ruffled the grass making it less favourable. Few flowers were seen in there other Stinking Iris & Bulbous Buttercup. However, on the other side of the wall beside the mile marker a pair of Speckled Wood performed a pirouetting dance. Fresh leaved Holm Oak showed signs of encroachment into the grassland.
On the sea I observed a Greater Black Backed Gull being carried by the current. In then observed the passage of Gannets heading west in the following numbers 1+4+5+6+1! Kidney Vetch was amongst the “mortar like vegetation” ground out of the natural stone steps rock outcrop. A pair of Rock Pipits venture for food amongst the ant hills and Thirft. As soon as I entered the gully mouth at its lowest point as suspected I found butterflies benefitting from the shelter. I saw plenty of Small Blues and I believe Adonis Blues and a Gatekeeper. I saw my first Honeysuckle flower open as it climbed through scrub. Two male Great Tits were foraging and defining their territories about the scrub. Up above a Carrion Crow took off near the rock escapement and glided until after it had dropped its “payload”! As I progressed upwards through the gully bottom I heard a bird set up from the ground beyond the bush in front of me. I shortly saw both a Song Thrush and a Green Woodpecker but which had I flushed?
Unfortunately our partners, City Cruises (Poole) have had to cancel tonight’s Durlston Bird Boat Trip due to a strong easterly wind having been forecast. Sorry for any inconvenience.