The cold morning air filled my lungs as I strolled up to Durlston, behind me the gentle breeze carried the sound of Gulls, lapping of waves and House Sparrows up from Swanage Bay.
For the second day in a row, frost lined the Eastern boundary of Taskers field, I had to tap my foot to check my eye weren’t deceiving me. Walking towards large copse there was a lovely sight; my eyes were drawn to the top of the Holm Oaks their leaves rustling gently in the breeze, lowering my eyeline to the white flowers of the Blackthorn trees, then focusing on the deep ridge bark of the Corsican Pine, the ground flora is bright green in the morning sun also highlighting the log lined path.
I stopped at the centre to pick up Joe our residential volunteer who is joining me on the morning patrol. After nearly 3 years working at the park I should have much improved my wildlife ID and be able to help him with his. Asking Joe how is tree ID is I tested him on an Ash tree, he knew it and said the latin sounds like a spell, (Fraxinus Excelsior).
‘The more you look the more you see’ I said as we scanned the ground to find many Early Spider Orchid leaves, Daisies and Dog Violets. The white rump of a Jay flashed across the drove path, and within the bushes we heard/saw Robins, Chiffchaff, Blue tits, Blackbird and Chaffinch. Looking across the meadows was a lovely sight of a lady taking a photo and surrounded by a patch of Cowslips.
From afar we admired a bright yellow Gorse bush and as we neared it the strong smell of coconut from the flowers filled our noses. Within the Gully small birds sung from the dense cover of the gully trees. Looking across the top towards the sea many Yellow Meadow Ant hills protrude above the ground contrasted intensely by the sun.
A quick look along the coast the Guillemot ledge was packed with about 80 bobbing on the water and 6 Razorbills in the mix too. The Jackdaws were busy ferrying nesting material back and forth along the cliffs and above the Peregrine made a beautiful fly past before we headed back to the office.