A damp start to the day, with almost 20mm of rain in the last 24 hours. Underfoot, grassy paths squelch underfoot, while streams and sheets of water cover the hard paths, forming a carpet of reflected branches and clouds underfoot.
Just outside the Learning Centre, a pair of Green Woodpeckers ‘chuckle’ to each other as they bob across the Car Parks – their brilliant shades of green, yellow and crimson brightening a dull morning.
The woodland is bursting into life, with fresh new leaves appearing on Privet and Hazel around the woodland floor, while overhead, Sycamore is covered with ‘candles’.
Raindrops patter onto the sea of Ramson leaves, releasing a rich garlic smell, while the sea of green leaves is studded here and there with Primroses.
Near the Aviaries, a few bursts of drumming from a Great Spotted Woodpecker heard, as Blue Tits, Great Tits and Coal Tits chatter from the canopy.
On Caravan Terrace, my eye jumps straight to the brilliant red breast of a Bullfinch, perched up in the scrub, as Dunnocks shuffle along, mouse-like below the brambles.
A Buzzard wheels slowly above Durlston Bay, while ‘round the head’ Great Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls cruise steadily by, while Fulmars carve dizzying arcs around the Observation Point, as they surf the wind.
Down below them, a few Guillemots bob on the waves, with many more crowded onto the ledges above, while others whir in and out from the cliffs on tiny, flickering wings.
A Kestrel perches on the cliff-face at Tilly Whim, as a sleek, grey Peregrine Falcon zooms by, just below the clifftop.
Along the Diagonal Path, Gorse flowers are looking magnificent, their golden petals a lovely reminder of sunshine on a damp grey morning, with a Stonechat popping up briefly to check me out as I pass by.