The sunnydale stream was full this morning, with all of the rain from last night running off from the valley between Durlston and Townsend. Emptying from a tunnel underneath Durlston Road (or over the top during heavy downpours like on Saturday!), it meanders around banks covered in Herb Robert, Feather Moss, and Harts Tongue Fern, and through the stone owl before emptying into the bay.
Towering trunks of Sycamore, Beech, and Lime stand around me, their bare branches reaching high up towards the grey sky. The tuneful chorus of Great Tit, Robin, and Chaffinch dominating the soundscape. A Wren hops around inside the leafy shrub of a Laurel, before disappearing into the evergreen needles of a Yew Tree.
I walk through the Aviary Glade, to the surprise of a group of Woodpigeons on the grass. They flap into a flurry of panic before settling amongst the trees.
At the ‘Pine View’ viewpoint I stop to listen the sea below. To my right, the bright white breast of a Treecreeper draws my eye. It circles up around the trunk of a Holm Oak and then flies back towards the glade.
In the next viewpoint, I clamber over the wall to stand atop the cliff edge. A vast landslide opens up below me, with great spoils of mud and clay slumping and sliding down the slope. A more settled section of land sprouts with Buddleia, Gorse, and Black Pine saplings.
Walking here at dusk you will hear the call of a Tawny Owl that lives somewhere in undercliff woodland. As we approach the shortest day of the year, you can hear the owl much earlier in the day – usually shortly after the Castle close at 4pm.
Yesterday I also spotted a male Pheasant enjoying the Observation Deck next to the Fine Foundation Gallery. On my approach he tried to run through one of the glass panels before taking off down to the coast path below.