The biggest surprise to me, walking along the edge of the plantations were the number of Coal Tit and Goldcrests calling. I expected both these species to be hit quite hard by the hard winters, but Goldcrests in particular accompanied us everywhere, feeding high in the tree tops right down to bracken level.
Just before Telegraph Hill, a nice male Dartford Warbler came out to shout at us for a while, it was the only one we saw or heard that day but this is a species together with Stonechats which really does seem to have been hit hard this winter. I didn't get any photos of him and didn't want to disturb him further so we walked on to find this group which are pretty unlikely to find themselves on the British list
We walked along the top of Black Gutter and I fully expected to find a nice Hen Harrier, but no, it was almost devoid of birds of any species apart from the odd Crow and Black-headed Gull. However, these very wary Sika deer, including a nice stag, were good to see, but having been spotted, I wasn't very likely to get any closer.
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