The hills of Durlston woke up inside a thick cloud of fog this morning, with visibility dropping to just a few hundred feet at best. Fortunately this meant the Guillemots were still visible, huddled atop their cliff ledge, and loosely rafting alongside Razorbills on the water.
There is one section of the coast path here where the cliffs jut far enough out to catch a glimpse of small rock which sits just above the water’s surface. On windy days, the rock inevitably gets covered by the waves. However, on a calm day the rock is crammed with Guillemots, Razorbills, Shags, and the odd Cormorant. Today is one of those days. The sea is smooth, very gentle swells roll around the rock, barely causing a splash.
One by one, a few Guillemots make headway for the rock, paddling their little feet towards it and carefully choosing the right moment to hop onto it. Their wings burst into a frenzy of flapping as they burst out of the water and then continue to flap as they beat the water off their feathers.
If you don’t fancy the stroll down to the clifftops today, you can see a live feed of the Guillemots in the Castle through our cliff camera. In the past week, their eggs have been hatching, so you might be able to spot one of their new adorable chicks!
A colourful array of pink on the cliff edge provides a pretty foreground to the seabird action: Deep purple Mallow, Thyme, rose-pink Sea Thrift, and pale white Sea Campion.
Further onto the downs, the blooms are dominated by yellows; clumps of Horseshoe Vetch, Kidney Vetch, and Birds-foot Trefoil. These are foodplants for the caterpillars of Durlston’s blue butterflies including Adonis Blue, Common Blue, Small Blue, and Charlkhill Blue. None of which could be seen this morning, but maybe we’ll have more luck later if the fog clears.