A tide of purple-grey cloud slowly washes it’s way across the sky, propelled by a gentle WSW wind, though patches of bright blue peep out among the gaps (“enough to make a sailor a pair of trousers”, as my Gran used to say!).
Along the cliffs, the sea laps against the cliffs, while along the clifftop, still plenty of colourful flowers to enjoy. Golden Samphire, like little golden suns is in bloom at Tilly Whim, while poking through the wall, the very different Rock Samphire – a fleshy leaved yellow-flowered Umbellifer. Bright purple Sea Aster is also in bloom, with Wild Carrot and Wild Parsnip also in flower among the clifftop vegetation.
A Gannet cruises steadily by out at sea – bright white against a sliver-blue sea, with Shags, Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gull also on the wing. A Kestrel perches on a rocky outcrop near the Observation Point, with a Peregrine Falcon passing by Tilly Whim.
Not a lot of movement overhead this morning, though a few Swallows swirl above the back meadows – this year’s young lacking the long tail streamers of the adults.
A few Tree Pipits also passing overhead, as growing ‘charms’ of Goldfinches feed and twitter below them.
In the scrub and hedgerows, Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, a Garden Warbler and Whitethroats are starting to build in numbers, with a Blackcap in the Gully hungrily stripping the berries from an Elder and a Wheatear perched on a hay bale.
Along the Lighthouse Road, a Bloody-nose Beetle plods slowly across the path in front of me, with several Painted Lady butterflies feeding on Hemp Agrimony along the Diagonal Path. Speckled Woods, Large and Small Whites, Red Admiral and a Common Blue also on the wing despite the lack of sunshine.
A flash of blue and green as a Southern Hawker Dragonfly whirs up the path to the Castle, as the screech of a Jay echoes out of the woods alongside. A Green Woodpecker bobs across the top of Long Meadow ‘yaffling’ as he goes.
The hedgerows are full of Hips, Haws, berries and seeds, with splashes of purple bird poo in the car parks, where something has been gorging on Blackberries.