My early patrol was made through thick fog, so little in the way of distant sightings more in the way of sounds, including the various songs and calls of the Great Tit. From the ‘squeaky bike pump’ to the ‘teacher-teacher- teacher-teach’ these calls filled the air especially around the gully. As I found these different birds in the trees, there was a very obvious difference in colours, from pale to bright yellow and the width of the chests bands also varied.
The sight of a Chaffinch, the colours not possible to see in the greyness, as it perched on the branch of a lichen covered Ash.
Near the top of a large Sycamore tree two Jackdaws were perched, chattering to each other, until a Carrion Crow landed adjacent scattering the smaller corvids. Across the lower gully area, a flash of white enabled me to get a good look at a Jay as it flew over.
The scrub is now coming more and more to life as the Blackthorn blossom is beginning – in the more sheltered spots – to open out to show off the delicate petals. Some other flowering trees to note are the Cherry Plum and the at least one of the Wild Apples, which are now in bloom.
On the Hazels catkins is beginning to dangle, the soft covering of pussy willow starting to cover the Willow and down on the slopes of Durlston Bay an Alder is showing its strange clusters – a tree I’ve not noticed here before.
Along the cliffs the Guillemot ledge is bare, as was the sea, with no auks of any description to be seen on the grey churning water.
From near Tilly Whim the song of a Rock Pipit emerged, the bird eventually spotted as it landed on the rock edge.
Around the corner, the Blow-hole was blowing, as the sea rolled in a huge spurt of water was ejected upwards through the small hole, making a loud whoosh as it did so, the resulting spray wafting back out to sea.
Across the sodden meadows some Dandelions and Daisies are both out, although this morning most were three-quarters closed up against the elements as was the Greater Periwinkles near the globe and the Lesser Celendines in the car park.