Today's weather: Cloudy with sunny period later in the day
The sky this morning is breath taking. A downy softness that blankets over the sun, it manages to be grey and blue and cream all at once. The wind is a gentle whisper, teasing the hairs around my face. As always when the sky is overcast, the colours seem more brilliant, the green richer, cleaner.
It is hard to believe that my time at Durlston is almost over, my year here coming to an end. My thoughts keep returning to all that I have done here, all that I have learned. The year seeming both long and short at once.
It feels as though, with the cooler weather of late, that autumn has truly arrived. The Brambles are filled with blackberries, ripened and richly coloured. Their plumpness too tempting to leave, I taste one, then two and four. I pass Blackthorns, their Sloes even larger than on my last visit; I fancy them as large as plums, but am told that this cannot be accurate, as I will concede that they are like small plums. I am told that the larger they are, the sweeter the products made from them.
The Sycamore and Field Maple are preparing to change to their autumnal dress, slowly drawing back their leaves’ green chlorophyll, preserving energy for winter, and creating brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red. Did you know that humans cannot actually see yellow, but that our brains, which do see red, green and blue, perceive the lack of blue in the colour combination and inform us that what we are seeing is indeed yellow.
The park’s Buddleia, still coloured in rich grape-tinted flowers are alive with Honeybees in search of the last of the nectar and pollen before their winter rest. I realise that I did not hear many birds this morning, but upon enquiry, Katie, on her morning ramble, encountered two Redstarts and a Willow Warbler sit in the hedge near Boy’s Brigade. She informs me that in the night she heard the melodious calls of a Tawny Owl. “Beautiful”.
Today's diary written by Rosaline McGraffin