After the rain of the weekend a gorgeous morning with a slight shill in the air and the sun shining weakly through the thin clouds.
Underfoot the effects of over 2” of rain are showing with puddles and slippery mud galore.
Above me the sound of a Raven croaking loudly as it passed, while more discreet was the gentle cooing of the Wood Pigeons from there Holm Oak perches.
A sudden squawk and another of the corvid family was noted, this a brightly coloured Jay, the flash of blue contrasting with the delicate pink and stark white of its body.
A cackle came from the downland, where a Green Woodpecker was in flight, undulating across the sky as it took flight from the top of a Yellow Meadow Ant hill, the sun’s rays catching the yellow and green wings.
Along the edges of some of the meadows patches of dead golden brown fronds of Bracken are to be found, not the favourite plant of the National Nature Reserve as it spreads quickly when not under control, but still adds colour and interest to the Park.
Calling noisily from the Tamarisk was a Goldcrest, this tiniest of birds was flitting amongst wispy fern-like leaves, the gold flash on its head occasionally showing. In the same patch of bushes, was a group of Long-tailed Tits, pale pink, black and white bodies bobbling and turning as they hung often upside down.
A Blue Tit called loudly as I watched a Roe Deer slowly trot along the hedgeline at the bottom of the field, its coat a dull brown.
A few pale pink berries of the Japanese Spindle now showing while the deep red of Hawthorn and the bright orange of Stinking Iris.