‘Hold onto your hat’ is what the weather station tells me on a day like today and it was certainly the case on my walk. This wind, alongside a chilly 7.1 degrees temperature reading, made for quite a brisk and chilly patrol, whilst on the search for cut scrub to collect on today’s volunteer work group.
The strong winds prevail from the Southwest; it ruffles through the grasslands, bobs the thickets of scrub, and swings the Holm Oak branches at the Small Copse. My hands quickly turn cold, and I make for hasty descent down the slopes of Lighthouse Field to duck for cover in the Gully.
A beautiful display of Blackthorn blossom appears as if a frosting of snow atop the scrub. Golden Gorse blooms are scattered between, with green leaves emerging below. Starting with Elder, followed by Bramble and Traveller’s Joy, and lastly, the budding Blackthorn.
The Gully offers a little respite from the full force of the storm, and my ears are granted a break from the monotony of gusting winds. Repetitions of a Chiffchaff’s two-tone call sound out, alongside a rapid call from a Wren somewhere also out of sight. In view, and unphased by the weather, a couple Magpies and a pack of Jackdaw upon the side of the hill.
I follow the muddy cattle tracks to the bottom. Larger Hereford hoof-puddles, mixed with dainty Roe Deer prints in the clay. Celandines lines the grassy path to the gully mouth where a crop of Scurvy Grass takes over, with the petals of most flowers closed to the elements.
It’s a tumultuous sea at Tilly Whim. Wave after wave hammers the cliffs, exploding in plume of sea foam and whitewater, and pumping through the Blowhole. Battling the winds out at sea; Guillemot, Shag, and Herring Gull, with many more gulls high in the sky. The Guillemot ledge is packed full of sheltering birds with Fulmar in flight above.