23rd April from the West Cliff Green, Bournemouth

The mist out in the bay blurs the division between sea and sky so that the fishing boats seem to be suspended in mid air. The morning is damp and drops of rain add to the moisture in occasional flurries. The three cornered leeks have brightened up and now share the shady spots with bluebells making a pleasing display. At first I think that is a bird on the end of a slender branch over the path but it is, in fact, a squirrel picking and eating the delicate green leaf buds and discarding the debris on the tarmac below. The coppery leaves of the sycamore are now almost fully out. Runners pound the paths and a great tit seesaws from high in a tree above.

From 23rd April 2022

The tall cow parsley shivers and shakes in the urgent northerly breeze. Waves of light and dark sweep across the long grasses. In the shelter of the pines it is quiet enough to hear the scratch scratch of the squirrels running up their rough bark. Bright yellow tidemarks at the edge of the path are drifts of pine pollen. It is not cold and the sun makes an effort to cast shadows now and again. The sea is jumping up and down and making light of a little white cruiser at anchor just off the shore. Little clumps have sprung up suddenly of a tiny white flowered plant that my big book tells me is Hoary Cress. But I find the cabbage family plants as difficult to tell apart as the carrot family which is why I just stick to a general "cow parsley". #westcliffgreen #bournemouth #April #spring

From 23rd April 2021

Late afternoon. The shadows are long and the air is April fresh. Big blue green waves curl into the beach making a steady rush of sound. A small plane drones across the blue sky and disappears into the glare of the setting sun..