Monday to Thursday, July 28th to 31st

The Avon Gorge, by Paul Evans. The picture was a present from my daughter Joanna and her partner Chris, painted for me as a present for my 70^th birthday. Somehow, Paul has captured the terrible rhythmic beauty that is the Gorge; a river of gold in the sunlight, but the dark sides of the trees and cliffs holding many shades and colours. The 'photo image below is not a very good one, but will have to suffice for now. See also the collaboration between Chris and Paul, in their work, "Cells"



On Monday there were bunches of flowers above Black Rocks at Sea Walls to lament yet another young girl's death; someone had removed them by Tuesday? The contrast with my weekend (birthday on Saturday 26^th, and our Ruby Wedding Anniversary a week earlier), for the family who had lost a loved daughter and sister, is terrible. The other flowers, just above the Peregrine nest, for another young girl, have faded but are still there.

The Peregrines were flying each day, sometimes briefly, with only a glimpse as they came into the cliff, other times noisily as a young bird chased a parent for food. They do mew a little like kittens! The mystery of the brown seagulls was finally laid to rest as I watched all three young birds begging from a Lesser Black Backed Gull parent. Perched on the rocks exposed by a low estuary tide, these young gulls blend perfectly into the background. An unusual sight on Tuesday was of a Buzzard flying low down over the river, it caused the gulls on the mud to get up and chase it as it passed.

Wednesday, Thursday 23rd, 24th July

Wednesday. Roger Yates and Mandy Leivers were at the Peregrine Watch when I arrived, Mandy on one of her missions to log the Downs fauna. She emailed me after, with a note of some of her "haul". Impressive! A juvenile peregrine swooping low over the Rooks at Sea Walls. A Song Thrush bashing a snail on an anvil. An adult female Green Woodpecker and a juvenile feeding on the lawns below Wills Hall. 13 meadow brown, 11 marbled white and 4 ringlet butterflies at the White Tree roundabout meadow (just been cut). A Kestrel on the Granny Downs. A Weasel at the Dumps.
About a minute after Mandy left us the large brown seagulls appeared again. Roger and I have decided they must be young Greater Black Backed Gulls, probably 2nd year, and there are three, so probably siblings. Yesterday one was playing with a bit of stick.
The three Peregrine kittens were flying around, chasing each other in the quarry opposite. One landed in the Jackdaw Tree to the consternation of the Jackdaws, and on the river we saw two groups of two cormorants on their way to the docks. Roger could hear a Blackcap. So Mandy's sightings show that to the watchful eye, the Bristol Downs are an amazing place for wildlife.

Thursday. A brief glimpse of the Peregrine, but the visit was darkened by finding three bunches of flowers attached to the fence just above the Peregrine nest. Someone had jumped from the cliffs to their death. What can I say?