Friday June 22nd

A warm, humid morning, my glasses mist up under my cycle-helmet! No sign of the peregrines, and the mud tracks looked as if they were there since yesterday (how long do they last in the mud?). A Heron flew down river, but decided to return up river at the small quarry entrance opposite?!

Wednesday, Thursday, 20th 21st June

Two grey days with low clouds, Thursday was also wet. On Wednesday a peregrine seemed to be perched rather high up in the banana tree, then when the sun made a brief appearance he disappeared. However I did not see him fly. The deer tracks were visible in the mud on both days, but apart from some cormorants, nothing, and Thursday was far too wet to linger.

Eye of the Falcon: Tuesday 19th June

Two pictures of the young female peregrines taken this morning as they perched at the top of the Avon Gorge just behind the grasses. Pictures by Chris Jones - see link http://www.chrisjphotography.com. For a closer view click on the images. See also the previous Blog entry below.





Chris also took an "aerial combat" 'photo yesterday (note the aircraft on the left):

Tuesday 19th June

A misty, warm blue morning with high, thin cloud. We are promised more rain. Yesterdays rain encouraged Jackdaws, Crows, Rooks and the occasional pigeon and gull to search the Downland grass behind Sea Walls. The tide was high, so no mud. Nothing much was happening at the Peregrine Watch, then Chris Jones (see http://www.chrisjphotography.com/) turned up and discovered the two female peregrines perched at the top of the cliff and just over to the right of the Watch. They were within a few meters of the metal fence!

What an amazing privilege, and certainly the closest that I have even been to a wild peregrine. They sat for a long while, sometimes with only one of them visible above the grasses, moving around a little on their rock perch, and seemingly oblivious to the three enthusiastic watchers behind them; each of us taking turns to peer at the youngsters. Looking into the eye of a wild falcon from that distance is an out-of-this world experience! Eventually the parents turned up, and the two started to fly around, again close to the cliff so that everyone had a good view. We also spotted a grey squirrel on the cliff behind the bushes, I wonder if he knew of the peregrines!

Chris. Thanks for the above pictures!

The third peregrine chick, assumed to be the male, was perched over on the other side of the Gorge on a little ledge just below the banana tree. So totally still that he was like a piece of the rock.

For some time I have wondered what caused the small yew trees on the opposite side of the Gorge to die. Now I know, they were killed deliberately! If this was really necessary why were they not cut down?