Sunday August 8th

I decided to take my breakfast to the riverside by Sea Mills - Sunday is usually croissants and egg.   I cycled through town and onto the Portway, where I discovered that there was a charity event on, puzzled as to what it was at first, I later discovered that people were being taken over the river from the cliffs to the towpath on an aerial runway - for charity. Many other were walking and cycling on the Portway, enjoying the peace and quiet.  The closure of the Portway to traffic makes for a heavenly ride, no noise, no huge lorries rushing past, the gulls and other birds are audible, as are people talking on the other side of the river.  There were some very raucous ducks around.
Just before the Suspension Bridge there was a Heron standing at the river edge in the mud.  Then there were numerous ducks, sleeping on the mud, dabbling at the water edge, flying busily.  At Sea Mills I watched a Cormorant fishing, it would dive and surface every few yards, I did not see it catch anything, but later a cormorant was standing down river with its wings out, as they do when digesting food.  Maybe it was lucky.  Another Cormorant flew up-river, very close to the surface so I'm reminded of the Russian Ekranoplan!
At last I spotted some Redshank feeding on the mud. There were other birds, Martins, Swifts, Gulls, and a small one flitting among the reed tops;  later at the Peregrine Watch a Spotted Woodpecker flew past.  No sign of the Peregrines, either from the Watch, or below on the Portway.