A rather grey and damp start to the day, so started the morning rounds with a stroll through the woods. Rain patters gently onto the dense canopy of glossy green Holm Oak leaves, as the breeze rustles steadily through the canopy.
The call of a Green Woodpecker, somewhere above Long Meadow echoes through the trees, with a Great Spotted Woodpecker seen in the Aviary Glade, and a brief glimpse of a Treecreeper, scuttling in a spiral up the trunk of a Black Pine.
On fallen logs, Dead Man’s Fingers and Candlesnuff Fungus are in fruit, with a tiny, greenish Goldcrest darting among the leaves of a Bramble patch.
From deep within the woods to the west of the Castle, a pair of Tawny Owls call to each other.
Even in the depths of winter, a few plants can be found in bloom, with some early Winter Heliotrope, with it’s pinkish flowers and smell of marzipan, with Great Periwinkle almost in flower on the Coast Path along with bright yellow Gorse.
At sea, a few Cormorants passing by, as a Fulmar wheels in smooth arcs around the cliffs, with a Red-throated Diver passing by out to sea. Also on the wing, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull and Shag.
A gang of Jackdaws circle Tilly Whim, with a Raven perched on the lower Mile Marker and a Peregrine Falcon, buffeted by the wind, clinging to the rocks below the Observation Point, with a Kestrel seen clinging to the cliff face above Tilly Whim ledge.
Down in the shelter of the Gully, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Robin, Wren and Linnet are feeding among the tangle of Blackthorn and Old Man’s Beard, while further along the downs, a Blackbird chases a rival away from a patch of Cotoneaster.
As I write, a flock of 5 Redwing are working their way along the scrub outside the office window, with a Dunnock foraging through the flower beds just outside.
Increasingly wet and windy, so why not stroll up through the woods and warm up in the Castle with a coffee – last chance for a couple of days, as the Castle will be closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day.