On the Durlston approach road a Magpie flew without camouflage unlike the Green Woodpecker which merged well with the verge! Tracks and footprints betrayed the passage of earlier visitors through the dew coated grass. A golden sun rose between the clouds and cast a reflection upon a still sea.
A score of Goldfinches were around the centre and some briefly perched in the scrub canopy. It was a surprise to see a Grey Squirrel scrambling though the tips of a dense wind shaped Blackthorn clump. Perhaps it had developed a taste for Sloes? Beside a bonfire ash pile both a Dunnock and a Robin landed upon a cut thorn. Upon the wares striations amongst the clay sward illustrated that cut bushes had been dragged that way. A large Rabbit was briefly seen beside the water trough where Swanage Duke of Edinburgh Award Volunteers have their ongoing task. A male Stonechat gave some colour to and an otherwise dark patch of scrub. Another such bird appeared nearby with another Dunnock. Bat like House Martins flew near the Small Copse presumably seeking flying insects as the sun rose. I chose to follow some Deer slots which led me to descend into the gully past the quarr.
Upon the tarmac spent Woolly Thistle seed heads laid beside the bare stem. Nearby were Common Toadflax, Ragwort and Bristly Ox Tongue blooms. Whilst upon the gully slopes the closed yellow flower of Jack Come Out at Noon lived up to its name! At least three Ox Eye Daisies full flowers in the gully. I watched three Roe Deer Doe as they paused on the open, grassy gully floor below the lighthouse. A forth such Deer had progressed the head of the group and appear the other side of a scrub block. The trio decided to scamper up slope and weaved through shrub cover towards Lighthouse Green. I glimpsed one as it passed underneath leafless Sycamore stems.
Underneath the overhead wires a patch of Hard Fern occupied a steep slope not yet colonised by woody vegetation. An Elder above had escaped the Old Man’s Beard tendrils which cloaked all else around. Above this the open grassy glade soon was occupied by one of the Deer on its journey up the gully. Those others were only heard as the brushed through vegetation. In the sky above hung a quarter waning moon. Briefly the tranquillity was briefly disturbed by the noisy passage of “Happy Hooker 2” which headed west on a fishing trip. When a Goldfinch charm split some remained in the scrub / grassland margin and were seen amongst branch tips with Blue Tits and Great Tits. Roadside were a few Katie reported having seen a Ring Ouzel perched in a Hawthorn bush!