A stunning light from the morning sun stretched far across the park this morning, casting shadows behind the various humps and hollows formed by the patches of scrub, ant hills, and old quarry workings. Here in the Lighthouse Field the Cows are doing a fine job of munching away the grassland and stay here until Christmas.
On my way down towards the bridge, countless Crows and Magpies congregate throughout the down. Cawing and cackling whilst they perched atop the patches of scrub and chasing one another as they fly around the telegraph poles. As I passed the old quarr, three hen Pheasants erupted from besides the road, hastily flapping their wings to attain a great height, before gliding down into the gully, and out of sight.
The harmony of Dunnock, Great Tit, and Goldfinch formed the dawn chorus down at the bridge. My eye catches the quick flash of a Redwing diving into the thicket of scrub; covered in a dense blanket of Old Man’s Beard beards!
On the water a single Shag can be seen bathing itself, whilst a few Great Black-backed Gulls patrol westward above the clifftop. The path here seasoned with the amber fronds of Tamarisk, having fallen from the fern-like Mediterranean trees which line this route.
As I walk above the Guillemot’s ledge, a flurry of them dart out from below. They have briefly returned from their winter travels clearly having decided they missed Durlston a little too much! On such a wonderful morning I could see why…
Towards Durlston Head the vast seascape takes my attention. Below a perfectly clear horizon, the sunrise reflects a warm glow dancing upon the ripples of the sea. I head up the steps towards the Great Globe where a robin hops between the railings to fly up and perch somewhere north of the Pacific, amazingly the little bird takes off once again, defying gravity to fly off into space.