As I walked past the wildlife area, emerging from between the slatted fence was a Wren, a loud sharp blast from such a small bird always surprises me. As it was perched on the wood I was able to have a really good look at its beautiful and often overlooked plumage. Pale squares within the chestnut with black lines, just lovely and on its head a pronounced pale streak above its eye highlighting its long thin beak.
From around me came the sounds of Bullfinches, the squeaking piping call alerting to their presence. As they landed the smart grey wings could be spotted as was the bright pink chests of the male and the duller pink of the females.
On the ground, in the mud, the footprints of wildlife could be seen, with the double slot marks of Roe Deer, left as they wandered along, while the almost round five-toed prints of the Badger provided evidence of their activity as does the piles of poo left in their latrines, these Badgers part of our vaccination programme against TB.
Above me the large black outline of a Cormorant noted, such a distinctive shape and because it was above land there should be no chance of confusion with the Shags (which fly low above the water), however I still had to check for the white gape and head shape.
One or two flowers are still in bloom, but they really are the oddities at the end of the season, with the pale lemon Common Toadflax, a few yellow tufts of Bristley Ox-tongue, and some more of Ragwort, alongside the odd pink flower of Herb Robert. The plant which still has some in almost full bloom is the Ivy, which will be buzzing with insects if the wind drops and the sun emerges!
A quick check on the Hereford cattle, the two herds have now been brought together for the winter grazing of the downland.
On the wall were Meadow Pipits and a Pied Wagtail trotted across the grass, while from overhead came the calls of a few finches including Linnets and Bramblings.
10.25 : 2 Bottlenose Dolphins passing off Durlston Head going eastwards, a few Gulls over them including 2 Med Gulls.