A very autumnal feel to the early rounds this morning, with a chilly south-westerly wind but some welcome sunshine. The paths are carpeted with fallen leaves in shades of green and gold and the sun sparkles on puddles and pools in the meadows.
The blue skies all over the park are filled with jangling flocks of Goldfinch – their brilliant crimson and gold plumage looking magnificent in the morning sun, with the branches of a Sycamore near Caravan Terrace covered with a flock of 40+, like colourful fruit!
Also passing overhead, Siskin, Redpoll and a few Swallows, though a fairly quiet morning for migrants on passage or preparing to leave.
In the sheltered scrub below the bridge above Durlston Bay, a family of Long-tailed Tits bustle through the scrub, constantly chattering to each other, as they negotiate their way through the tangle of Bryony and Old Man’s Beard. Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Great Tit and Blue Tit are also feeding as the sun gradually warms the scrub.
A few Goldcrests feed among the branches of a Black Pine, with a small flock of Meadow Pipits, with 3 Pied Wagtails breaking their journey on top of the bungalow!
A pair of Ravens flap ponderously by, while out at sea, brilliant white Gannets glide by – chasing whitecaps across a glittering sea. Shags, Great Blacked-gulls and an Oystercatcher also passing by, with a Peregrine Falcon perched on the cliff edge like a gargoyle!
Out of the wind, Ivy blossom is providing a late source of nectar for Red Admiral butterflies, with 3 perched on a patch of Ivy on Caravan Terrace, with a Speckled Wood also on the wing.
A few late plants still in bloom, including Knapweed, Field Scabious and Selfheal, with Rosehips, Hawthorn berries, ropes of Bryony berries and the bright orange seeds of Stinking Iris providing splashes of colour in the hedgerows.
Badgers having been digging up the woodchip path through the woods, leaving behind their characteristic triangular scuffs, with a Roe Deer standing like a statue in the middle of Goat Plot.