9th May from the West Cliff Green, Bournemouth

The crow stands and stares at the man on the bench. The man on the bench stares back. I leave them to it. The morning is fresh and grey but by afternoon the sun is shining down from a filmy blue sky. There is real heat being reflected off the deep, grassy, brambly places. A warbler sits and gives its short phrases from a cliff top bush but it is difficult to see what it is exactly because it is silhouetted against the bright sea. It is probably the whitethroat again. A long, low swell reaches across the bay and breaks gently on the flat, empty sands. An elderly gentleman lying on a bench with his shirt off does not greatly enhance the beauty of the day. In a shady corner a clump of quaking grass is there to cheer us up with its bobbing and dancing. The flowers on the sycamore seem to be early this year. Blackbirds flute and pigeons coo.

From 9th May 2022

A slight haze and a streaky white sky moderate the heat of the noon day sun. The usual cool clifftop breeze makes the sea grumble as it meets the almost empty beach. The bay itself looks particularly wide with its shivering, rippling silver surface; full of possibilities and a way to the rest of the world. A dachsund takes command of the path sniffing disdainfully like a dowager duchess who has spied a speck of dust on the mantlepiece. The blackbird sings from his usual perch at the top of the Scots Pine, relaying what he can see of the world over the horizon to us lesser mortals. #Bournemouth #westcliffgreen #may #spring

From 9th May 2011

Weather clearing up nicely now. There'll be sunshine before the day is out.