A chilly, grey start to the day with a gusty south-westerly wind whipping through the trees and scrub and sending ‘white horses’ chasing across a steely sea.
Despite the rather wintry conditions, birdsong around the park is increasing, as spring approaches, with Song Thrush, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Dunnock and Chaffinch all in good voice today, along with some insistent blasts of song from Robins. High overhead, some fragments of the unmistakable sweet notes of a Skylark.
Not in song, but above the wind, the calls of Green Woodpecker, Raven, Jay and Tawny Owl heard, along with a few (rather half-hearted!) bursts of drumming from a Great Spotted Woodpecker near the Aviaries. Wrens ‘tutt’ at me from the flowering Gorse as I make my way up the Diagonal Path, as Jackdaws ‘yap’ at each other overhead. The harsh ‘cronk’ of a Raven heard in the Lighthouse Field, with the cries of seabirds rising up from the cliffs.
Once again, Guillemots are on the ledges and zooming in and out from the sea, with a few, blacker Razorbills on the water. Further out, a high-flying Cormorant passes by, with a Gannet, Kittiwakes and a Red-throated Diver seen in the distance.
Nearer the cliffs, Shags, Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls are on the wing.
A Rock Pipit hops and skitters along the clifftop, with the sleek, grey silhouette of a Peregrine dashing along just below.
In the shelter of Caravan Terrace, great view of a Bullfinch perched among the branches of a Sycamore, as a family of Long-tailed Tits forage among a tangle of Old Man’s Beard nearby.
Still a few berries to be found among the hedgerows – an important food source, as the winter draws to a close, with Madder, Japanese Spindle and the bright orange seeds of Stinking Iris all seen.