4th July from the West Cliff Green, Bournemouth

When the sun manages to peep through it is wan and sickly. The chilly wind rakes the sea up into sharply pointed little waves. Ants are beginning to show where their nests are by the little dusty piles of sand in places where tree roots have burst through the surface of the path. Gulls are tossed high into the sky from where their voices filter down, half heard and ghostly. A juvenile crow with patchy brown and mottles plumage tries to arrange his feathers as he tries to remain upright on a fence post. The beach is flat and empty. A man in an orange hoodie seems to be slumped wearily on one of the benches. In the dark still places beneath the trees, pigeons coo.

From 4th July 2022

Tick tock. The sun shines warmly down. Tick Tock the cloud slides across and we feel the chill. Tick Tock, the sun appears again. Tick Tock the wind blows strong. Tick Tock the air is still. Meanwhile the sea is calm and rippled. Tick Tock. Ah here is the sun again. #bournemouth #westcliffgreen #summer #July

From 4th July 2021

The tall flowers - mallows, ragworts, Evening Primroses and mulleins - bend on the breeze and curve gracefully as they lean on the tall grasses, now dry and white with heavy seed heads. The shouts and laughter of three girls bobbing in the choppy surf carry up the cliff face on the breeze. Earlier, sheets of rain draped themselves across the West Cliff but now the scudding grey clouds allow brief glimpses of the sun. The sea is indigo and green and there is a heavy, lush green scent in the air from the bracken and foliage of the bushes.