Saturday 10th February

Cold, wet weather with snow until this morning. I cycled after breakfast and the Saturday shopping trip. Nevertheless it started to rain again as I passed Sea Walls for the second time. There were two oyster catchers on the mud among a group of gulls downstream from Sea Walls, the first I have seen, and again due to having binoculars, they were specks without the glasses. My first thought on seeing the black and white was of magpies! Not wading though! A green woodpeckers passed in front of me over Ladies Mile - they have a very characteristic flight.

Tuesday 6th February

No ride this morning, it was very cold. I walked over to the Gorge in the afternoon. O ff Ladies Mile a small flock of thrush-like birds were flying through the trees at the roadside, then coming down to feed in the grass. Fieldfare or Redwing? I think the latter, they were very dark coloured compared to the illustrations - as if someone had covered them in a brown coat, then applied the redwing character, they did have the characteristic bars over and above their eyes. At the gorge, no peregrines, but some redshank on the river mud, some lesser black back gulls and other common gulls. A cormorant flew downstream. Birdsong is much more noticeable when walking than when cycling.

Monday 5th February

A cold, cold morning for cycling. Groups of gulls were sitting around on the Downs, the black headed gulls are starting to get their black caps. (I saw one with a full black cap beside Temple Meads station later in the day). Not much else, a lone redshank was feeding on the small amount of mud which was just exposed from the outgoing tide. Quite a few wood pigeons can be spotted perched in the trees over in Leigh Woods with the aid of the binoculars, sideways and from the back these birds look white, from the front are pink.

Sunday 4th February

Regular blogs are a bit like diaries - or taking pills - quite easy to miss and forget! I had to catch up on three days today. The morning was very cold, with a heavy frost, and it was cold for most of my ride. Sunday always brings out the joggers, cyclists and others to enjoy Bristol's best place, this morning there were also large numbers of gulls scattered over the grass, the tide was high so that there was little mud, and I expect that this drives the gulls inland. At the Peregrine Watch a large group of birders was busy watching a bird perched in a tree opposite, his white front was very obvious in the sunshine. I had the glasses off him as he moved, so lost him. All I could see in the trees thereafter were pigeons. What was the bird? Not a peregrine with such a large obvious white front. A barn owl perhaps, I think the front was too white for a peregrine? The bird disappeared in to the trees - so more like an owl that a peregrine. I guess I should have asked the experts!

Wednesday, Thursday 31st January, 1st February

Not much to report on either morning, I returned to my usual route over the Downs. However I was struck by the long thin, glider-like wings of a couple of lesser black backed gulls as they flew up river. No views of any peregrines on either day, and I could not spot any redshanks from the cliff tops.