A sunny start to the day for a change, with a stroll up through the woods (now partly open) to start the morning rounds.
Staff, contractors and volunteers have been hard at work over the last few weeks restoring the lovely old Victorian stone bridge near the Aviary Glade, along with adding new paths and sleeper bridges and this morning the stream was in full spate. The rushing water, mingling with a gusty north-easterly bridge made stopping with eyes closed to listen irresistible. The woodland is full of sound, even in the depths of winter, with the harsh shrieks of Jays heard, alongside the ‘tutting’ of Wrens, the insistent song of Robins with the hight-pitched calls of a Goldcrest, heard but not seen, high among the branches of a towering Black Pine.
Recent tree work has improved views of some of the larger trees and Victorian plantings in the woodland, with a magnificent multi-stemmed Beech, Monterey Cypresses, the chain of Black Pines (which gave the area one of it’s Victorian names “Pinecliffe Walk” and Limes all towering overhead. Down among the undergrowth, Bamboo, Snowberry and Japanese Spindle all hint at George Burt’s landscape, which mingled exotic and native plants and the wild nature of Durlston Bay, with touches of formality.
High up on the stem of a Sycamore, a Treecreeper scuttles upwards towards the canopy, where a pair of Grey Squirrels chase among the bare branches.
Water pours down the cliff-face on Caravan Terrace, while from below, in Durlston Bay, the plaintive cry of a passing Oystercatcher rises up, somehow cutting through the wind.
Further round the Head, a few Gannets pass by out in the distance, as a Peregrine Falcon sits poised below the Observation Point, patiently scanning for prey.
A Kestrel hangs in the sky above the Learning Centre as I return – tiny motions of her wingtips and tail allowing her to ‘balance on the wind’.