A perfect winter morning here at Durlston, with a layer of white frost covering the grass making for a slight crispy feel and sound underfoot – not a very heavy frost and not everywhere but a real chill in the air.
The sun rise was quite spectacular with amazing colour changes in the sky through yellows, oranges, pink and reds and blues. As I stood on the coast path looking south east the red sun was rising, a gorgeous mass of incandescent gas, a red orb, the light from it catching the tops of the waves producing pink water.
The only seabirds to be seen were a few Herring Gulls, a juvenile Great Black-backed Gull and a couple of Shags.
A little bit of activity overhead from a small flock of Goldfinches that tinkled as they passed, a single Pied Wagtail calling as it looped across the sky and a few Meadow Pipits watched before they landed on the short turf near the Mile Markers.
Walking on a Peregrine Falcon flew at my eye height providing great views of its black face mask and slate blue back, evidence of its presence was seen earlier from a pile of small downy feathers on a rock outcrop.
The squeaky sound of a Bullfinch (sometimes likened to a bicycle hand pump) came for across the landslip, after a short while of scanning I came across 2 bright pink chests amongst the wispy Wild Clematis, and then spent a little while watching them moving through the scrub.
A Robin perched on the spike yellow flowered twig of the Gorse, just as a Green Woodpecker undulated its way across the sky in front of me, the greens and yellows a catching the light as it moved.
Back through the woodland and climbing up the trunk of a Sycamore was a Treecreeper, the white chest in stark contrast to the delicately marked back - this bird species was the highlight of yesterday’s Guided Bird Walk.