A lovely spring morning, with the woodland filled with the fluty song of Blackcaps, the jazzy rhythms of Dunnocks, the drumming of a Great Spotted Woodpecker near the Aviary Glade and the excited, accelerating song of Chaffinches. A Treecreeper scuttles up the dappled stem of a London Plane, as a Buzzard wheels in steady spirals above Durlston Bay.
Beech and Elm are covered in intensely green leaves, while the woodland floor is carpeted with Primroses, Lords and Ladies, Dog Violets, Daisies, Bluebells and dense, Garlic-scented stands of Ramsons and Three-cornered Leek.
The meadows are a picture at the moment, with swathes of yellow Cowslips bobbing in the breeze. Among them, Early Purple and Green-winged Orchids are scattered like purple jewels. On the downs, hundreds of Early Spider Orchids peep out from among the grass, with the curious, geometric flower-heads of Salad Burnet, white flowered Common Mouse-Ear, Field Speedwell and the tiny fluffy flowerheads of Glaucous Sedge.
A Bullfinch holds forth from the scrub above Caravan Terrace, where some lovely displays of Ground Ivy can be seen on the short turf. Swallows swoop in off the sea (probably breathing a huge sigh of relief as they make landfall), with a few House Martins also arriving back from their winter in Africa.
Great views of a female Kestrel, screeching from just below the Observation Point, with a Peregrine Falcon, sleek and grey streaking past just below her.
Guillemots are scattered across the water, growling softly to each other, with many more crammed onto the cliffs above. A few Razorbills, noticeably blacker, also seen among the ’Bazaar’.
Above them, Fulmars circle on stiff wings, with a pair of Great Black-backed Gulls nesting on a nearby ledge.