A fine autumn morning, after some overnight rain, with the air just verging on the misty, but with sunshine casting golden pools of light onto a still, grey sea and the horizon tinged with salmon pink.
Autumn migration is well underway and this morning, the pond near the Learning Centre is covered in a whirling blizzard of Swallows and House Martins, filling the air with their excited chatter.
As the ‘call of the south’ grows ever more insistent, migrant birds are massing in the scrub or gathering in ever-growing flocks overhead. Lots of Willow Warblers dart and flutter as they feed up in preparation for the long journey ahead (one almost upside down at some points, as it tries to get the last few delicious insects from underneath a Bramble leaf!).
Overhead, a few snatches of the melodious notes of a passing Skylark, with numerous small flocks of Redpoll, Siskin, Linnet and Meadow Pipit also passing through.
Local birder (and former Ranger) Hamish was out early on our western boundary and was lucky enough to hear (and then see) a Ring Ouzel – the ‘upland version’ of a Blackbird – often initially located by it’s distinctive ‘clacking’ call.
Also seen or heard this morning – a few Firecrest, with Goldcrests seen among the Black Pines around the Car Parks, a Bullfinch near the Gully Bridge, with a Blackcap nearby sending leaves, seeds and berries tumbling to the ground as it hungrily wrenches berries from the scrub.
The hedgerows are a picture at the moment, strung with glistening silver Old Man’s Beard, crimson Hawthorn berries, ‘dusty’ midnight-blue Sloes and heavy ‘ropes’ of Bryony berries, like strings of beads.
The leaves of Sycamore, Sallow and Blackthorn are starting to turn, with shades from bright sulphur yellow to soft brown and rusty red.
Downland flowers still in bloom include Fleabane, Yarrow, Ragwort, Wild Parsnip, Wild Carrot, Wild Thyme and Knapweed.