Thursday April 10th

A couple of birds with an identity crisis this morning! Firstly a Cormorant, it circled the trees opposite the Peregrine Watch, then started to circle higher and higher, passing high over the river by The Gully. I stopped following it once it was high over the Downs and at a height I normally associate with the Peregrines and some Gulls, not a Cormorant.
A Peregrine came into the cliff beneath the Peregrine Watch, then left a little while later and made for the trees opposite. A very white (and obvious) Pigeon was sitting over in one of the lower oaks, the Peregrine flew at this target, but the Pigeon just flapped around in the tree. The Peregrine went into some ivy just above the Pigeon, now also in some ivy, remained for a while, then came out and flew at the Pigeon again. The same performance, but with a less persistent attack by the Peregrine, neither attack involved a strike onto the Pigeon. After this, the Peregrine lost interest and started to circle low over the trees, then down past the Ravens nest, and on down towards Nightingale Valley, then it rose higher and higher, finally disappearing behind the trees and towards the Zoo. Hunting behaviour more like that of a Sparrowhawk than a Peregrine?