Not quite ‘the calm before the storm’, but nonetheless, not a bad start to the day for the morning rounds. Overhead, the sky is streaked with lines of blue-grey cloud, illuminated with gold above an increasingly turbulent sea.
The wind rising steadily during the morning patrol, with a Bay Tree in the Castle woodland wafting pulses of scent towards me as it bows in the wind, with even taller Holm Oaks and Sycamores bending and dancing.
Sheltered Blackthorn in the Gully is already covered with constellations of white flower buds, while the silver seed heads of Old Man’s Beard below the bridge ripple in the wind echoing the rolling ‘white horses’ in the sea beyond.
Plumes of spray explode against the cliffs at Tilly Whim, where a Kestrel hugs the cliff-face as the wind ruffles his feathers.
Below the cliffs, the water is covered with a ‘bazaar’ of Guillemots, bounced around on the increasingly lively waves, with more on the ledges above them. A few much blacker Razorbills among the group, as both species start to revisit the cliffs, in preparation for breeding season in March.
A few Shags flap by – they always look very ‘prehistoric’ to me, with more elegant Fulmars circling above them and Great Black-backed Gull and Herring Gull also on the wing.
As spring approaches, Primroses are starting to stud the grassland and woodland floor, along with Spring Crocuses and the leaves of Three-cornered Leek, Dog Violets, Herb Robert, Lords and Ladies and Cow Parsley.
In the lee of hedgerows in the meadows, the spectacular crimson and gold of a ‘charm’ of Goldfinches catches my eye, with Great Tits, Blue Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinches, Robins, Wrens and Blackcaps all making the most of the weather to feed up.
Just outside the Learning Centre, a Green Woodpecker bobs across the grassland with a flash of yellow.