Despite brilliant blue skies and bright sunshine, a chilly NNW breeze means that there is a definite autumnal feel to the park this morning.
The hedgerows sparkle with silver tangles of Old Man’s Beard, alongside patches of ruddy Hawthorn berries, ‘dusty’ midnight blue Sloes, the ripening crimson ‘hips’ of Dog Rose (some stems adorned with the wiry red and green galls known as Robin’s Pincushions), while here and there, the translucent, jewel-like berries of Honeysuckle gleam in the sunshine.
Despite the breezy conditions, a large charm of brightly coloured Goldfinches dart among the branches of a berry-covered Elder, with a noisy family of Long-tailed Tits squabbling and chattering among a nearby Blackthorn.
Looking across the Gully to the shoulders of Round Down, a brown head emerges cautiously into a glade, as a Roe Deer picks her way among the patchy scrub.
As I stopped to admire an ‘under construction’ dry-stone wall, a Redstart darts out from a dense patch of scrub in the corner of a meadow, with Blackcaps, Willow Warbler, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Wrens and Robins all seen or heard nearby.
Overhead, a few dozen Woodpigeon clatter by, with Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and a pair of Ravens seen above the Lighthouse Field.
Despite the wind, our bird ringers have persevered with their studies this morning, being rewarded with a Grey Wagtail passing overhead and Whitethroats, Tree Pipits, Sedge Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler all ringed, weighed, recorded and released.
Outside the window as I write, a sheltered Buddleia is attracting lots of Buff-tailed Bumble Bees, a Red Admiral and a Painted Lady. As nectar becomes more scarce, plants currently in flower, such as Fleabane, Ragwort, Bristly Ox-tongue, Knapweed, Woolly Thistle and Wild Carrot are more important than ever for insects.