Beside the Centre plenty of bird sound came from the bare Sycamores including Chaffinches, Blue Tit and Great Tit. The frost meant we could walk over ordinarily slushy mud with greater ease thanks to its being frozen hard like toffee! It had been so cold that even the surface of the Wildlife Garden Pond was covered in a sheet of ice. Thistle basal Rosettes glistened with frost.
As we walked across South Field we heard the far off waffle of a Green Woodpecker. Initially the Small Copse was silent, however, it was soon brought to life with the arrival of a pair of Great Tits and Blue Tits moving and chattering amongst the Ash branch tips.
Off shore we saw two fishing vessel further out but no sign of their pot marker buoys. Two Fulmar were seen in flight off the sea cliffs. Whilst the Guillemot cave ledge was empty we saw two linear groups of Guillemots in flight over the water. One group of fourteen left the cliffs whilst Catherine saw another group head inland then swerve out to sea at the last minute. Maybe the presence of two Great Black Backed Gulls on a lower ledge influenced their behaviour. A Cormorant flew out to sea at height towards the golden sun, then a Shag flew round from Durlston Head flying low over the sea hugging the coast.
Yesterday I had seen a solitary Long Tailed Tit in the gully bottom scrub. Today we heard then saw a pair after much patience! On the wares we had witnessed a Chaffinch face off consisting of a chest bump” type aerial performance.
At Lighthouse Bridge it was Catherine who spotted the Firecrest flitting between the dangling climbers of Old Man’s Beard.
Underneath a flat piece of Limestone we found a dead frozen Dor beetle another slab revealexd a Brown Crab Spider curled up in its silk tent.