Much to the dismay of the cafe staff, Picasso the homing Pigeon has become a regular at SeventhWave. This morning he greeted me outside the front of the Castle before clumsily taking flight into a Holm Oak. His ‘home’ or at least where he should be ‘homing’ to is apparently in Wales, but for the past few weeks it appears found a new home scavenging for chips along the cafe terrace (and even inside at times!).
Another curious sight outside the Castle, was the return of Dippy the Diplodocus dinosaur, whom had gone walkies from our Time Travellers trail last week. We had assumed both Dippy and the T-Rex had been stolen, so his return is most welcome! Please do keep an eye out for the still missing T-Rex when out on the park.
I walk down past the Dell; Willowherb, Bracken, and Hemp Agrimony, all springing up along this route. Some of the grasses here stand a good six foot tall, and beyond them, a carpet of Old Man’s Beard sprawls across the scrub. A pair of Bullfinches silently hop between the branches of a Hawthorn above, whilst the calls of Great Tit and Chiffchaff can heard somewhere beneath the undergrowth.
As I make my way down to Durlston Head, the salty sea air fills my nostrils. A Bloody-nose Beetle plods across the path, possibly aiming for a cheery patch of Restharrow on the other side. Here, a White-tailed Bumblebee and a Marbled White Butterfly flit around the bright purple flowers of freshly blossomed Knapweed.
Upon reaching the Observation Point, a familiar screeching drew my attention to peer over the wall. To my delight, I spot three Kestrels perched on the rocky ledge, just metres below. They sit together, watching over the cliffs, and occasionally taking flight just to return to the same spot. Further along the coast path it was lovely to see plenty of Guillemots and Razorbills still around, including three razorbills perched unusually high up on the cliffs.
We received two reports of Dolphins this morning, both sighted 1-2 miles off from Peveril Point, but headed this way towards Durlston.