Sweet Robin song carries all around the Dell, each of the melodies flowing down from the Holm Oaks. Chimes from a Chiffchaff can also be heard, along with the sound of fluttering wings as a Chaffinch hurries into undergrowth.
Horsetails spring up between the unfurling fronds of Hart’s Tongue Fern and the fresh auburn leaves of Sycamore saplings. Aptly timed, the mayflower blossom is just opening upon the Hawthorn. The branches of one tree, weighted down sideways by a leafy Honeysuckle which has twisted along its branches.
Stepping down alongside the bridge, the ground flora becomes thick with Wood Dock, Bramble and Enchanters Nightshade. Beautiful pink blossom can be found upon the Crab-apple and the little ballerinas hanging from the Fuchsia.
Woodpigeons scatter as I step through to Caravan Terrace. It spits with rain - much to the delight of the Slugs which abound through the Daisy meadow. Primrose remain in flower but are now dwarfed by the surrounding Nettles, Stinking Iris, and Hemp Agrimony. Sparrow and Blackcap in the Sycamore.
Durlston head is adorned with clusters of Wayfaring flowers. A small yacht passes by with wind in its sail, it heels over, and makes headway west. Gannets in the sky above, their vast white wingspan sticking out against the gloomy grey.
Many Guillemots raft together below the seacliffs; Fulmars and Herring Gulls on the wing. Their curious sounding groans echoing out, between the squeaking Jackdaw and piping Oystercatcher. A group of three Razorbills float separately in their own little raft and two more perch on a rock. It’s cool to see a Shag flying high at eye-level level, close enough to see its bright yellow gape.
Sea Thrift is beginning to turn the clifftops pink. Sea Campion and Plantain also in flower, and a cheery patch of Kidney Vetch above the ledges at Tilly whim. Goldfinch tinkling in flight.