Outside the centre, a brief deep whistle was made as the wind passed through the “eye” of a bollard. A light frost glazed the leaves of a Buddleia whilst puddles amongst the deep shade in South Field had coverings of ice. Even in places the Tor Grass beside diagonal path and upon the gully south facing slope was frosty.
Of course a pair of Magpie perused the car park margins whilst a pair of plump Wood Pigeons sat like centuries at the top of the time line. A pair of unidentified birds echoed and at times finished each other`s short songs. Unfortunately, our evergreen Holm Oaks are good at hiding birds, thus I heard the croaks of two Ravens near Durlston Bay. A superb show of Daffodil flowers was a bright welcome outside the castle, whilst the bird feeder was only a quarter full despite being topped up this weekend… pesky Squirrels!
Perhaps not surprisingly it was a quiet morning. Despite the Guillemot cave being empty I saw one such bird flying out to sea from one of the other cliff ledges. Only one Shag flew west passing low over the sea. Three Fulmars gracefully pirouetted off the sea cliffs. Thirty Jackdaws swirled over the castle trees cover whilst a pair of Great Black Back Gulls passed the cliff top.
This morning`s highlight had to be my encounter with a Fox. Initially I spied it sitting at the margin of some Blackthorn and Hawthorn cover a little higher up than the gully rock face. The Fox gazed back at me with pert ears, however, I had the advantage of the sun blazing behind me. I chose to circumnavigate the Fox to avoid disturbing it, however, as I came past the rock face the Fox had relocated to observe my approach! Through binoculars I could see those bright eyes, a white breast and heathy red coat. We both froze and the Fox twitched its ears perhaps to detect my next move. However, the mammal bound off uphill before I moved.
The large Pear tree beside Lighthouse Bridge gate acted as brief perch for a trio of Blue Tits, then the top of it was a broadcast post which was being utilised by a Chaffinch. Again in the adjacent large Sycamore fifteen Jackdaws perched whilst an unseen cock Pheasant called and flapped its wings. Robins were a plenty even within two metres of each other at times.