After a dry sunrise, with skies dappled with blue and pink, the morning rounds were a mixture of sudden downpours and occasional sunshine, finishing with a fantastic rainbow!
As I walked up the hill, a Roe Deer, grazing on the verge of the entrance road froze and stared as I approached, before leaping over a dry stone wall and bounding off across the meadows.
A good morning for sea-watching – rough weather will often bring many birds closer to shore. Just off Durlston Head, a feeding flock of 30+ Gannets was an impressive sight. The largest resident seabird in the UK, Gannets feed by making knife-like plunge dives into the sea from height and this morning I watched as they disappeared beneath the grey sea, leaving small plumes of water. Meanwhile, the rest of the flock circled above on huge, white wings tipped with black, close enough in to make out their ‘clotted-cream yellow’ throats and green legs and feet!
At the other end of the scale, relatively tiny, black and white Guillemots and Razorbills darted through the flock, their tiny wing flickering into a blur as they headed out to sea to feed, with more crammed onto the ledges further along the clifftop.
A few delicate-looking Kittiwakes soar through the gusty winds with Brent Geese passing by way out in the distance – little more than bulky black silhouettes against a brightening sky.
Great Black-backed Gull and Shag also on the wing, with a Peregrine (clearly having a ‘bad hair day’!) clinging to the windswept rocks near the Observation Point.
Jackdaws and Woodpigeons pass overhead near Tilly Whim, while at the top of the Lighthouse Field, Winter Heliotrope is in flower, it’s distinctive ‘Marzipan’ scent, carried along by the wind.
Down in the woodland, lots of fresh green Cow Parsley leaves are pushing up through the woodland floor, along with fresh leaves of Three-cornered Leek and Snowdrop.