Another bitterly cold morning, with a fierce easterly wind. A 'volcanic' sunrise set fire to the sky as I walked up the hill, with the ground in the meadows crunching underfoot, or slick with ice where pools and puddles have frozen solid.
Despite the chill, signs of spring are beginning to appear in the grassland. Green, corkscrew sprigs of Crow Garlic (a wild version of Chives) are twirling their way above the shorter grasses. They will remain ahead of them until April, when the grasses will catch up, only for them to 'reappear' in late summer, when they will be crowned with purple 'bulbils' looking a little like cloves of Garlic.
The large, distinctive leaves of Primrose and Early Spider Orchid stud the turf here and there, along with fresh leaves of Herb Robert and Lords and Ladies.
In the hedgerows, as the last Ivy berries fade, new, sticky buds are starting to appear on Horse Chestnut, and Hazel is covered with green-yellow catkins, dancing in the breeze, along with smaller, pink, female flowers.
On a short-cropped anthill, the grey-white droppings of a Green Woodpecker, looking a little like cigarette ash, found, with the bird itself seen later on Long Meadow.
Winter Heliotrope is still in bloom on the downs and in the woods, with it's strong marzipan scent noticeable even on a breezy morning.
Along the cliffs, 'white horses' gallop in to break at Tilly Whim, filling the air with salty spray, with bright white Gannets passing by out at sea.
Further along, Guillemots crowd onto the ledges, or flicker in and out to sea, with Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Cormorant and Shag also on the wing.