A fantastic sunrise this morning, with a sky streaked with pink and gold, mirrored in a calm sea, fading to a steely blue as the sun rises.
After a chilly night, birds are emerging early to ‘refuel’. Stopping at one end of the Drove, the path is a great place for early morning birding, as Chaffinches, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Robins and Wrens crisscross from one hedge to another, in search of breakfast. Dunnocks and Blackbirds scuttle along the base of the hedge, with the sweet notes of a Song Thrush heard…
“At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.”
(From ‘The Darkling Thrush’ by Thomas Hardy).
Also heard this morning, song from Dunnocks and Great Tits and the calls of Jay, Green Woodpecker, Goldcrest and Rock Pipit, with a blast of sound from a cock Pheasant in 8 Acres making me jump!
Our cattle are happily grazing away in the old quarry field in the north-west corner of the Park – a combination of grazing and cutting will start to benefit short turf species over the next few years.
A few Pied Wagtails passing overhead as I strolled back along the downs.
Down along the cliffs, Fulmars wheel in dizzying curves, with Guillemots, Razorbills, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull and Shag close to the cliffs, with a couple of Gannets further out to sea.
Rock Pipits skitter around the clifftop, with a Peregrine Falcon perched in the usual spot near the Observation Point.
A Roe Deer, in shaggy winter pelage grazes on the slopes of the Gully.