My first sight of the day was a friendly Robin flitting about one of the picnic tables. As I make my way towards the gully I see three sail boats that look as though they are racing each other across the water, although they were easily overtaken by a Shag and two Greater Black-backed Gulls. Surrounding the path, Wild Carrot, Wild Parsnip, Agrimony, Selfheal and Bird’s-foot Trefoil all catch my eye. A magnificent Woolly Thistle stands proud, complete with two accompanying Buff-tailed Bumblebees.
A patch of feathers scattered on the ground allude to a tasty meal for a Peregrine Falcon. If the weather was calmer the field would’ve been awash with butterflies but this morning I only spot a few Meadow Browns, a Large White and a Marbled White (all common sights on the butterfly transect.)
A murder of Crows shelter from the wind on the slope and I hear something scamper into the scrub to my right – my guess is a Fox as I’ve often seen one in that spot before. I look up and notice a silhouette on the power lines that looks different from the Pigeon beside it and as I approach it floats of and hovers against the cloudy sky. It was, of course, a Kestrel!
I sit for a few minutes on a rocky outcrop, a favourite site for me and many visitors I know. Everything seems still and quiet at first but then I hear a Grasshopper chirping behind me but every time I turn around to look it stops as if we’re playing a variety of Granny’s Footsteps. There are patches of Wild Thyme and the unusual looking Yellow-wort around me and I hear a lone Stonechat across the gully. Out to sea, another sail boat rocks forwards and back as it traverses the swells of the waves.
On my way back I spot a Blackberry that looks good enough to eat! A little further on I think I spot another one for a moment before I realise it is actually one of my favourite animals on the park, the adorable Bloody-nosed Beetle busy on its own morning round.