Saturday March 31st

There was a very stiff wind blowing down Ladies Mile this morning, making a cold day feel very cold. I arrived at the Peregrine Watch to see a cormorant flying down river. One of the bird watchers pointed out the raven's nest on the cliff opposite. A large pile of sticks supported behind a small tree on the upper of the two rock fault lines. Telescopes show three chicks, the ravens were flying around the cliff.

Thursday 29th March

A cormorant was leaving the Gorge as I cycled towards Sea Walls, it is unusual to see them flying in this direction. At the Peregrine Watch I was treated to spectacular flying display by a peregrine, he was soaring around, and from some of the high speed swoops he made, probably looking for breakfast! He dived very fast at the cliff underneath me, maybe chasing the jackdaws that roost there. He scared the daylights out of one jackdaw on the other side of the river, driving it to a hasty retreat in the trees near the water edge. While he was flying the absence of other birds in the air was very noticeable . So far as I saw he did not find find his breakfast! At one point he was joined by another peregrine, but this one disappeared out over Leigh Woods.

Sunday, Monday, Wednesday 25,26, 28 March

The clocks went back on Sunday, so I was rather late arriving at the Peregrine Watch (around noon BST), and there was nothing notable going on in the local bird community! Wednesday was very foggy, so again nothing, in fact it was difficult to see over into Leigh Woods clearly. The tide is now low in the mornings, so there was a lot of mud visible, with mallard dabbling at the edges, but no redshank that I could see.
Monday was much more eventful. A kestral took off rapidly from outside No 25 Cairns Road, I could not see anything in the garden, no prey! On the mud below Sea Walls were our four redshank, clearly paired up now. No other raptors at the Peregrine Watch, but I did see three cormorants and a jay. Jays are far less common than are magpies, which I see nearly every morning.