What a stunning sunrise, shafts of red glowing through the gap between the horizon and the thick cloud layer, the foreground bathed in pinks, turning to gold, sadly as the sun rose it then disappeared to leave a thin strip of light at the far edges of the sea.
On the cliffs the Guillemots were occupying their larger ledge, only about 100 of them this morning, but these amazing birds all standing upright looking out to sea, the white fronts facing me. Of these, the majority are in their ‘summer breeding’ plumage, having changed their ‘winter’ white face and neck feathers for chocolate brown.
A flock of Feral Pigeons took flight from Tilly Whim Caves closely followed by a chunky grey backed Peregrine Falcon. On this occasion the jinking movements of the Pigeons allowing them to escape the vicious talons.
Splashes of yellow flowers of Gorse along the cliffs and downs providing some additional colour to the park, as were the chestnut brown and white colours of the Hereford Cattle. A quick check that there were still 32 grazing the Lighthouse field doing a good job removing the tough Tor Grass and providing some bare earth habitat for the invertebrates and downland flowers. The downside of checking the cows meant I spent a chilly few minutes mending the water trough, hands deep in the cold water!
Overhead the sudden gentle churr of a Fieldfare was heard, as I looked up 5 of these large thrushes were flying above me, as I watched they dropped into the tops of a Hawthorn tree, providing me the delight of scrutinizing these very smart birds.
As short deviation into the woodland to watch 2 Grey Squirrels, scampering up and around the trunk of an old Holm Oak, the deep furrows in the bark making easy holds for the dexterous rodents.
A Jay flapped across the open glade, a dash of blue, pink and white, while around the edges in the Hazel the flock of Great Tits, Blue Tits and Long-tailed Tits were accompanied by some Goldcrests.