A wonderfully bright, still and quiet morning, the only thing breaking the silence is the gentle cooing of a Wood Pigeon and the song of a Blackbird. The blossom of the Blackthorn shines in the morning the sun and the leaves of a Bullace begin to open.
I look out on to the amazingly calm sea from the woodland, a shroud of fog hides the Isle of White and creates the illusion of the cruise ships floating in the sky. A single Swallow whips by as 3 Herring Gulls fly in formation.
Wandering down the coast path, the tree lines are dotted with the beautiful white blossoms of Apple, curiously one sits in full bloom while one on the opposite side of the path is just beginning to bud. A heavily cut back Willow shows it resilience with a flourish of new shoots and catkins.
Along the woodchip path, the fresh leaves of the Horse Chestnut trees look like tiny closed parasols. Below an Ash I spot the clear signs of a Great Spotted Woodpecker hard at work, a spread of sawdust and 3 holes drilled into the tree. Further down the path, the giant Beech is covered in new buds, standing upright like candles.
Arriving in Sunnydale, the quiet is broken by the cawing of Crows and the call of the hardworking Woodpecker. The enormously large and difficult to identify Prunus begins to blossom as the newly planted Winter-Flowering Cherry starts fade. The delicate white flowers of the Osmanthus Burkwoodii create a nice contrast to the surrounding green and simple leaves of Wild Garlic.
Returning to the top, I spot a pair Blue Tits busily making their nest, cheekily in a Bat Box.