A wild start to the day, with the park shrouded in fog, which only got thicker as I walked up through the woods, where a strong south-westerly was blasting through the treetops.
The paths are carpeted with Ash leaves – their fragile stems snapped by the gusts, with the dry brown leaves of Holm Oak tumbling along, or eddying into small, brief vortices. Overhead, the canopy roars and even stouter branches of Beech, Lime and Horse Chestnut sway. Near the ‘white bridge’ in the woods a Plum (probably grown from a visitor’s discarded stone!) is covered with small green fruit.
The wind makes the tall meadow grasses roll like the sea, with shiny green Meadow Barley covered with raindrops, almost glittering, even in the low morning light.
The murk overhead more than made up for by the glorious array of colour in the grassland. The short downland turf is carpeted with yellow and red Birdsfoot Trefoil, candy-striped Common Restharrow, the yellow pom-poms of Hop Trefoil, fluffy yellow Ladies Bedstraw and the similar, but white Hedge Bedstraw.
Yellow-wort is also in bloom – an unusual plant, with joined leaves, pierced by the stem, along with it’s relative, the pink-flowered Centaury.
The flowing stems and tiny white flowers of Bastard Toadflax can be found, along with the pink-tinged flowers of the wonderfully named Squinancywort, the tiny, intricate flowers of Eyebright and the semi-parasite Red Bartsia – a ‘dusty’ pink.
Tall Wild Carrot and Wild Parsnip sway in the wind, along with lilac Field Scabious, Corky-fruited Water Dropwort, Ox-eye Daisies and pink Pyramidal Orchids.
In the hedgerows, Dog Roses are still in bloom, along with sweet scented Honeysuckle.
Unsurprisingly, not too many birds on the wing this morning! A Kestrel clings to the cliffs below the Observation Point – feathers fluffed up against the wind and rain. Below her, Fulmars cut effortlessly through the wind, with a smattering of Guillemots still on the ledges.