Friday, October 26, 2007

Friday 26th October

The view from Sea Walls was misty, with Avonmouth obscured and with a higher, but ebbing, tide. There were no birds on the small amount of mud. A large flock of Crows pursued an unfortunate Buzzard past the cliffs and towards Horseshoe Bend, the Buzzard's top feathers flashed brown in the sunshine as he tumbled from side to side to avoid his tormentors.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Tuesday to Thursday, October 23rd to 25th

On Tuesday and Wednesday I cycled out around midday (once the sun had appeared). I had brief glimpses of Peregrines on both days: one circling in the sun haze up the Gorge from the Watch, the other a brief chase of some Buzzards, down river and above Leigh Woods. There were at least five Buzzards, maybe six, and the Peregrine disappeared from view after a few minutes, that was Wednesday. With the low tide there are a large group of sea gulls on the mud, sometimes spread out, at others working their way down river in a flock of 100 or more. Today, Thursday I spotted one redshank(!), but the sky was so overcast I did not stop long.
My bird handbook describes a Jay as 'a small colourful crow', and a Magpie as a medium sized crow. Whilst I often see several magpies in a group - frequently in pairs - I don't ever remember seeing more than one Jay at a time. Today I saw two, but on different parts of the Downs, they are certainly less obvious than the many Magpies. The flight modes of the two birds are very distinct, both have a kind of rising flap of flight(!) followed by a glide downwards.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Friday19th October & Monday 22nd October

On Friday we had brilliant sunshine - it made the legs of the Redshank glow! With a receding tide, the area of mud increases on each visit, and the mud is inhabited by numerous gulls and ducks. there was a Heron for a while. At the Peregrine Watch two birds were perched close together on a small tree to the left of the Banana Tree, the latter had one bird in it, but was difficult to see with the binoculars.
Monday was cold and dull with even more mud, and the Mallard and Gulls strung out for the whole river length. There may have been some Redshank, but they were well down river, only specks in the glasses. As I arrived at the Peregrine Watch a female flew from the cliff below us, and over to the opposite quarry where she disappeared into the small trees. I could not see where she landed. Too cold to linger!