What a fantastic sunrise, for a moment the sky in the east a brilliant deep orange, before quickly changing to a dull pink and then just as suddenly slate grey as a massive raincloud swept across.
Sheltering in amongst the spiky thorns of the Blackthorn was a small flock of Long-tailed Tits, occasionally popping out far enough to be caught by the wind before scuttling back into the branches.
The strong southerly winds attracting me towards the cliff tops, where the rain was coming almost horizontally for a while, once cleared, a Shag was showing off its flying ability, zooming one way then the other, turning suddenly back into the wind – almost as if it was just enjoying itself.
On the water large clumps of seaweed are floating having been removed from the seabed by the force of the water, bobbing around one of these blobs was a group of 6 young Herring Gulls, perhaps food was evident to them.
By the Lighthouse a Skylark took flight from the tufts of dead Tor Grass, the piping sound just heard above the wind, and the white wing feathers showing well.
Amongst the short downland turf a Puffball fungus has emerged while in the woods two Dead Man’s Fingers were spotted amongst the dead branches.
As I went to check the gates that are keeping the cattle in, a flock of 15 Goldfinches tinkled across the sky before landing together in the uppermost branches of a berry laden Hawthorn.
As I watched these delightful birds a slightly larger Blackcap appeared, moving through the tree and into the Old Man’s Beard alongside, the brown cap of this bird catching the now reappearing shaft of sunlight.