A blustery morning today with a south easterly wind bringing in fresh sea air to awaken the senses. A dash of pink light in the sky to the east adding a splash of colour to the otherwise monotone sky.
The walk was quiet to begin with, wildlife seemingly struggling to come out of their warms nests or burrows to greet the day. Crows, magpies, and jackdaws were out en masse gliding on the wind, tumbling this way and that as the air swirled and twirled across the park.
As I reached the coast the gusts picked up along the ridge and I stood for a moment watching the white-capped waves rumbling towards the cliffs. I spotted a kestrel flying low to the ground just a few metres ahead of me before soaring high and catching the wind, eyeing the ground for a breakfast morsel. None spotted it turned gracefully and drifted away eastwards.
As I made my way down to the castle a rock pipit shuffled around on the grass scratching around for something to eat clearly not happy about the current weather.
After descending to the Tilly Whim caves I stopped to watch a male and female stone chat hopping around amongst the bramble and gorse. The males plumage a welcome burst of colour.
After ascending the rocky steps I made my way to check on whether the guillemots were ‘home’, having not seen any since arriving here at Durlston I had my fingers crossed. To my delight there were plenty huddled together on their ledge, their white bellies gleaming against the grey stone. As I stood watching them white feathers fluttered up from the cliff just below me so I moved forward to look back at the location they seemed to be originating from. Two peregrine falcons sat on a ledge just below where I had been standing, one picking away at a pigeon it had clearly just caught whilst the other patiently waited for its turn.
It was hard to tear myself away from these majestic birds, this being the best sighting I have had of them. Continuing along the coast and turning up towards the castle the tree cover offered welcome shelter and I began to warm up again.