Heavy drizzle accompanied my patrol this morning, the ground after 16.1mm of rain in the last 24 hours already becoming muddy and slimy!
Ahead of me a dull brown coloured Roe Deer slowly walked, until reaching a dry-stone all boundary at which she effortlessly bounded over, upon reaching her route I was able to see the slots marks left by her delicate hooves.
Along this section of Blackthorn dominating hedgerow were a number of small browny-green birds, on closer inspection (not easy as each time the binoculars were exposed to the water the lens became covered in droplets of rain!), these all turned out to be Chiffchaffs, moving along the branches as they searched for some breakfast morsels.
A strange heavy breathing, crunching and crashing sounds were coming from the Ivy covered scrub of Ox-eye Meadow, the emerging creature was one of the Hereford Cattle herd enjoying the delights of Ivy leaves.
Across the Park are a variety of bedraggled wildflowers including the delicate pink Herb Robert, found especially along the hedgerows and wall edges, the much robust Rough Hawkbit scattered around the meadows and the hardy white flowerheads of Yarrow on the downs. The odd ground level purple flowers turned out to be very short Lesser Knapweed.
A yaffle of a Green Woodpecker greeted me as I opened up the Castle so the preparations for today’s wedding could take place. Across my path bounded a Grey Squirrel as it headed for the Holm Oak trunk.
The wet weather encouraging the molluscs to emerge, some large Black Slugs (Arion Ater) and some Leopard Slugs both out on the grass. The snails also taking advantage of the conditions with the ‘Trapdoor’ Snail, Spiral Snail (Cochlicella acuta) and Lapidary Snail, along with Garden Snail and Brown-lipped Snails.
Scattered around the site are some patches of Parasol mushrooms, of Field Mushrooms and Horse Mushrooms.
With a completely flat sea there was surprisingly no sign of any gulls let alone the Sabine’s Gull that has been a round for most of the last week.