It was not a morning of good light conditions, but it was a still morning good for sounds. My greatest surprise was the emergence of a trio of Pheasants from beside the road through the Wares. Certainly, two were Hen Pheasants and unusually they were relatively quiet upon departure apart from their noisy wing beats!
I could not resist checking upon our seabirds and today there was good occupation of the Guillemot cave, such that a near dozen birds had to occupy the sloping boulder surfaces. There was plenty of flight in and out of the neighbouring cliff ledges. Not unusually there was a Great Black Backed Gull perched above the colony and after an anti-clockwise flight pattern a Shag perched upon the ledge beneath them. A second Shag elected to land upon the sea amongst the two score Guillemots. At least one Great Black Back Gull chose to pass by at cliff level heading west whilst other Shags also flew by.
To the west St. Albans Head could be seen but only the occasional lighthouse flash was to be seen through the cloud from Portland Bill. Gradually the Jackdaw numbers increased about Anvil Point Lighthouse complex. The silhouettes of Jackdaws perched upon the black chimney pots might have confused an unfamiliar onlooker into thinking the roof tops were alive!
I was delighted to see, albeit silent, a speckle breasted Song Thrush perched upon a Sycamore below the Lighthouse. Indeed, the buds of many Sycamore were fresh green showing the promise of leaves yet to come. Meanwhile, the Blackthorn and Hawthorn in the gully wore a mixture of Branching Lichen and Old Man’s Beard seed heads. One Dandelion seed clock remained thanks to the cover of Lighthouse Bridge parapet. Old photographs showing said bridge in an open landscape illustrated how it was built upon a horseshoe curve. The dried heads of Knapweed and Burdock were present at Lighthouse Green’s margins. The open grassland of the green itself was being patrol by a duo of Carrion Crow. Blackbirds performed their leaf turning activities under the woody cover whilst Robins were happy to appear at the margins. A Wren briefly skimmed over ant hills as it travelled between cover on the quarried slope of the Wares.