With gentle hop and scratching step, ye furballs pass on by
If only I could catch ye up, I’d cook ye in a pie
But nae, you dwell in sanctuary, protected from my malice
Instead tonight it’s neeps, tatties and puddin chief: The Haggis
A thick haze hung just above the park today, the dense low cloud looming heavy and threatening to close in from all sides. There was no sign of sunrise, just a steady gathering of ambient light that stirred the calls of Robins and Chaffinches from the undergrowth.
I stepped into the Wildlife Area for a short consultation with the Bird Ringers. It’s still early days, though they reported a Tawny Owl that had been sounding before I arrived. And I thought I got up early.
Rabbits and Grey Squirrels were loping and scuttling about the grass outside the Learning Centre, with a Song Thrush in clear voice about the Blackthorn. Moving on to the Small Copse I paused to regard a fallen Elder, it’s dry rotted limbs cracked, broken and coated with Common Orange Lichen.
Above the Gulley I trekked past our happily grazing Hereford Cattle, patches of Tor Grass flattened in radial patterns where they had bedded down for the night. Blackbirds sang as Magpies hopped and fluttered between the gently shifting mountains of mammalian matter.
Shifting lower down the slope my boots found purchase next to leaves of Ribwort Plantain, and I traced the cattle’s well worn paths past chirping Wrens to the base of the Tilly Whim Caves. A clacking call drew my eyes to a small bird perched beside the Wild Apple Tree. Its location, white collar and vocals clearly tipped it off as a Stonechat. Seaward A few Shags past by heading East, with the odd Herring Gull soaring ever so gently in the skies above. Bobbing atop the calm waters a mass of Guillemots took things easy, the odd bird taking off or landing, but most remained at rest.
Don’t forget to get geared up for Burns Night tonight folks:
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that
Robert Burns